Consumer Guide Album

Miles Davis: Miles Davis at Fillmore [Columbia, 1970]
And I thought Bitches Brew was unfocused. Well, it was--and it was also pretty great. This is more unfocused, and not great. Comprising four (apparently unedited) twenty-five-minute swatches entitled "Wednesday Miles," "Thursday Miles," etc., it noodles unforgivably--the electric keyboards of Chick Corea and Keith Jarrett on Wednesday provide one of the most aimless patches. Every side does offer at least one treasures--the cool atmospherics that lead off Wednesday, the hard bop in extremis toward the end of Thursday, the way Miles blows sharply lyrical over Jack DeJohnette's rock march and Airto Moreira's jungle sci-fi for the last few minutes of Friday, all the activity surrounding Steve Grossman's solo on Saturday. Just wish the damn records were banded. B