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1 of 2 found the following review helpful:
 noise Oct 02, 2008
Considering all the 5 star reviews, I felt that should mention that I found this album unlistenable. Sure there are a lot of great musicians in the band, but without any framework for the improvisation it just ends up sounding like chaos. The players themselves, quoted in the liner notes, express reservations, saying that they had no idea what to play when Miles walked off the stage. It was a short-lived band and all but the leader moved on to more structured forms of music. Obviously others hear something here that I don't, but it just gave me a headache trying to listen to it.
The day future passed! Oct 28, 2007
This is referred to as the 'Lost Quintet'. Hear these 2 cds and you'll know why. The band was, in hindsight as important as Miles 2 previous master bands from the late 50s and, mid 60s. The only notable exception was John Mclaughlin who had hooked up with Tony Williams Lifetime.
By now Miles had completely embraced the electronic energy and distortion-laden sound of Jimi Hendrix and groove-heavy rhythms of James Brown and Sly Stone.
Yet this is Jazz in the best tradition - free-form explorations, angular jams, raw collective improvs of a band that was just beginning to discover itself. Miles & Co. were telling the the Jazz world that the music had to progress and evolve to mirror the changing socio-cultural landscape (this was the era of Woodstock & Isle of Wight).
And who would know that better than Miles.
1 of 1 found the following review helpful:
Clarification Due Jul 27, 2007
Firstly, this double cd IS scorching. The powers that be who didn't release this record for 31 years should be imprisoned for aural robbery.This is by far the best document of this band (including the grossman stuff) I think this is one of the farthest OUT playing Miles has just about ever done (along with the cellar door, agartha) For those reviewers on here who compare this set to Bitches Brew, you must understand this set is an entirely different beast. Bitches Brew was pieced together in the studio and the drumming is very different. Bitches Brew, while not being a "Live" take, had a much more patient feel to it. This music is set apart by Jack Dejohnette. He plays particularly loose on alot of the tracks and it makes the entire band float. Airto only adds to the polymetric, pulse driven energy music. For a while I was surprised at how incredibly loose the approach is, and on repeated listens it continues to gratify. Check out the DVD, Miles Daves:A Different Kind of Electric Blue (? title) on DVD for a set of this band at the Isle of White festival.
10 of 11 found the following review helpful:
A furious barrage of free jazz and intense performances Sep 06, 2006
This live March 7, 1970 release is burning hot and intense. Oddly enough, Miles was warming up for the Steve Miller Blues Band and Neil Young and the response from the audience is halfhearted and lukewarm. It seems likely that fans of the comparatively more straightforward material of those two bands were in no way shape or form prepared for this wild barrage of free jazz, jazz-rock, and unfettered experimentation. It's too bad too - this is easily the best set I have heard from this period of Miles (1969-1971) and reinforces in my mind the incalculable impact he had on music.
Alongside Miles (trumpet) is a virtual who's who of the jazz rock scene: Chick Corea (Fender Rhodes electric piano); Jack DeJohnette (drums); Dave Holland (electric bass guitar and acoustic bass); Wayne Shorter (soprano and tenor saxophone); and Airto Moreira (percussion). These guys are all top shelf musicians and turn in some of the most "out there" performances I have ever heard. Chick Corea is especially wild and simply tears the electric piano up - the furious, free-form barrage with Dave Holland during the first set is simply unbelievable. Speaking of the bassist, I happen to like Dave Holland quite a lot - a lot more in fact than Motown bassist Mike Henderson (who played on the Live Evil album, 1971). Dave is a technically superior player and he truly interacts with the other players rather than just laying down an ostinato. Jack DeJohnette is also in top form and churns out a swirling mass of impenetrably dense rhythms, while Wayne Shorter cuts loose with furious torrents of notes that recall free jazzer Eric Dolphy at his most intense. Whew. Let us just say that the performances on this live recording are hot.
Tracks 1-4 comprise a 42 minute jam that holds your attention all the way through, while the second set provides more of the same. Musically, the pieces incorporate elements of free jazz, although some influences taken from James Brown and other soul/funk musicians can be heard as well - even though they really take a back seat to the free jazz and experimental jazz rock.
If you enjoyed this live album, you might also like Bitches Brew (1970); Live Evil (1971); A Tribute to Jack Johnson (1971); and On the Corner (1972). This is all simply amazing stuff and Miles was an extremely forward thinking musician. Very highly recommended.
2 of 3 found the following review helpful:
The Lost Quintet Live - The Power & Dynamic is just AWESOME! Sep 03, 2006
The playing on these two discs is masterful and intense. The Fillmore audience full of stoned teens and college students must have been taken aback by this sonic assault. There's some polite applause here and there but they must have been wondering "WTF was that?"
Holland and DeJohnette provide a punishing, pulsing, swinging foundation to the other players to improvise upon - Shorter and Miles go wild. As usual, I am not wild about Corea's distorted electric Fender Rhodes with that Ring Modulator gadget (not a particular good effect in my opinion but it must have been "trippy" at the time), but his playing is fabulous. I will say this disc is probably only for the die-hard Electric Miles collector. Some listeners are going to hate it because there's a lot of "free jazz" (in the Ornette Coleman sense of the expression) going on in here and the cacauphony will be a bit overwhelming at times. This is not a collection I can listen to at any ol' time and it certainly isn't "background music", but I am glad I purchased it.
Just because you like Bitches Brew, Big Fun, Jack Johnson, and On the Corner doesn't mean you are going to like this. The playing is very hot but it's also very free form in places. Some of it even reminds me of Holland and Corea's Circle - The Paris Concert with Anthony Braxton. Fidelity is a little muddy for bass and drums but don't let that put you off. Apparently, according to the Cellar Door Sessions booklet, the engineers were still trying to figure out how to record this band with this concert took place.
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