Live in Vienna October 1969

Description

Chick Corea: "We really should have recorded the pieces live, because it was the time when the group was on fire... This quintet developed some beautiful improvisations. We would play two or three pieces that flowed into each other throughout the concert, and we created this wonderful, wonderful composition." Jeremy Erwin described the concert of a single continuous piece they played in Vienna in October 1969 as "supremely bizarre," starting with "one of the most abstract versions" of Bitches Brew. Given that Miles was sharing the bill with Lionel Hampton and Duke Ellington as part of George Wein's Newport Jazz Festival European tour, it may not be surprising that a large portion of the audience left the venue during the first ten minutes. But those who stayed then witnessed a brilliant Wayne Shorter, quoting Super Nova throughout Agitation, a fifteen-minute version of Miles Runs The Voodoo Down, and a closing with I Fall in Love Too Easily/Sanctuary. According to Erwin, "the bandleader knew that a dose of serenity was the only solution for a set as wild as this." The "Lost Quintet never recorded" that toured Europe in October/November 1969 had spent the previous month rehearsing and recording a new double album, Bitches Brew, within a sort of rock big band. But here, there was no John McLaughlin on guitar; Wayne Shorter was on saxophones, Chick Corea on Fender Rhodes, Dave Holland on bass, and Jack DeJohnette on drums. This quintet had recorded well for Columbia in November 1968, but the session was not released until 1981 on the album Directions.