Miles Davis was thin and cool, his face half hidden behind bumblebee shades. He glanced warily at his band and past the cameras ringing the stage at the 1973 Montreux Jazz Festival. The electronic tinkle and hum from the musicians as they warmed to the groove sounded closer to Pink Floyd than post-bop, exemplifying Davis' desire to push forward toward the ever-receding horizon of the new.
“Ife,” the performance opening the chronologically arranged DVD Live at Montreux: Highlights 1973-1991, is a rare and wonderful window onto Davis in one of his most adventurous phases. Directing his band with subtle gestures, he blew muffled fragments and employed a wah-wah pedal as the elastic electro-African rhythms weaved their spell. Highlights fast forwards to the '80s, where the rhythm section could have backed any R&B act and Davis executed funk abstractions on his amplified trumpet.
Unfortunately, 1967 was Montreux's first year and Davis' '73 debut at the festival was followed by a long hiatus. Highlights is unable to provide a visual overview of Davis' long career (that would be a great DVD set!) but is primarily a record of his last years. One of his final projects for Montreux was a performance from his superb 1960 album Sketches of Spain. Surrounded by the Gil Evans Orchestra and the George Gruntz Concert Jazz Band with Quincy Jones conducting, Davis looked frail and overwhelmed by the mass of musicians. He would die only a few months later. The audio quality of Highlights is good and the close-ups offer an unusually intimate look at an artist whose glowering persona tended to keep the world at arm's length.
