Big Fun (Miles Davis album)

Big Fun presents music from three phases of Miles Davis's early-seventies "electric" period. The album is named for a composition Davis recorded in 1973, but it was not released until 2007 on the box set The Complete On the Corner Sessions. Sides one and four ("Great Expectations/Orange Lady" and "Lonely Fire") were recorded three months after the Bitches Brew sessions and incorporate sitar, tampura, tabla, and other Indian instruments. They also mark the first time since the beginning of Miles Davis's electric period that he played his trumpet with the Harmon mute which had been one of his hallmarks, making it sound much like the sitar. This contributed to creating a very clear and lean sound, highlighting both the high and low registers, as opposed to the busier sound of Bitches Brew which placed more emphasis on the middle and low registers. "Ife"—named after James Mtume's daughter—was recorded after the 1972 On the Corner sessions, and the framework is similar to tracks from that record. It has a drum and electric bass groove (which in fact at one point breaks down due to mistiming) and a plethora of musicians improvising individually and in combinations over variations on the bassline. == "Go Ahead John" ==

Recording Recorded on March 3, 1970, DeJohnette provides a funky, complex groove, Holland plays bass with one constant note repeated, and McLaughlin plays in a staccato style with blues and funk elements. Approximately six minutes into it, McLaughlin's guitar solo succeeds Davis's first solo, as the band vamps. In Milestones: The Music and Times of Miles Davis, Chambers writes of Davis's segment and the complex production of "Go Ahead John", "In spite of the gimmickry, the blues segment manages to state some old verities in a new context, and state them powerfully. Most jazz listeners can hope that someday Go Ahead John will be unscrambled and re-presented to them as, among other things, an unhurried blues by Davis accompanied only by Holland". AllMusic editor Thom Jurek writes of the recording, "There is no piano. What's most interesting about this date is how it prefigures what would become 'Right Off' from Jack Johnson. It doesn't have the same fire, nor does it manage to sustain itself for the duration, but there are some truly wonderful sections in the piece". In Running the Voodoo Down: The Electric Music of Miles Davis, Phil Freeman calls the recording "one of the best things Miles and Macero created during the 1970s", writing that "It's a singular achievement in production, one that presents Miles in a different light than anything else in his catalog". == Release and reception ==

Released on April 19, 1974, by Columbia Records, Big Fun debuted at number 193 on the U.S. Billboard Top LPs chart and sold 50,000 copies in its first week. It ultimately reached number 179 on the chart and number six on Billboards Top Jazz LPs chart. According to Todd S. Jenkins of All About Jazz, "The long, ever-droning, darkly exotic electric music, and in fact the very idea of just four songs taking up four full sides of an album, was not too appealing to critics or the general market at a time when short, sharp disco tunes were beginning to chart like wildfire. So Big Fun received generally weak reviews". In a positive review, Billboard stated "Much of the existentialism in musical forms that has characterized Miles Davis' recent offerings are embodied in this new album, but Davis has the creativity of mind and expertise of profession to break away from the conventional and still remain an exciting, interesting, innovative and acceptable artist. This album is in that genre". Bob Palmer of Rolling Stone commented that "essentially Big Fun is the most consistently appealing, varied and adventurous Miles Davis album since Live/Evil, commands attention as such, and will doubtless give Davis's many imitators something to think about". == Legacy and reappraisal ==

}} In ''Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies'' (1981), Robert Christgau believed three of the album's "side-long" compositions "wind down prematurely", but "for the most part this is uncommonly beautiful stuff, and it gets better". He singled out "Lonely Fire" as a highlight, writing that "after meandering at the beginning [it] develops into lyrical mood music reminiscent in spirit and fundamental intent of Sketches of Spain". The Rolling Stone Album Guide (2004) said the album "defies easy categorization, although its dark, moody tracks boast a strong undercurrent of Indian classical rhythms in addition to the expected swathes of rock and funk". Alternative Press called the album "essential....colorful and exotic" and wrote that it represents "the high water mark of his experiments in the fusion of rock, funk, electronica and jazz". The Penguin Guide to Jazz described it as "an entertaining simulation of a top-drawer R&B band, just about pushed into the jazz zone", with the key elements of Davis's "electronic" sound. Stylus Magazines Edwin C. Faust commented that "a world without this music would be a considerably emptier place" and cited it as Davis's "greatest achievement" with regard to an album's "overall effect". Faust felt that critics who originally found it "scattered" and "unfocused" might not have if they had had "the knowledge of recording dates and band line-ups", while elaborating on its significance to Davis's catalogue: DownBeat critic John Ephland commented that "there is indeed a sense of adventure, of taking chances with so much talent, and with such skeletal designs", adding that "Big Fun reinforces the notion that Miles' primary contributions to music have come via orchestrating, organizing, enabling. How this music was put together proves to be as interesting as any solo or ensemble work [...] Incidentally, the digital sound quality is consistently high throughout". ==Track listing==

All compositions by Miles Davis, except "Mulher Laranja" and "Recollections", composed by Joe Zawinul. Original release Note: Some issues mistakenly omit "Mulher Laranja" (better known as "Orange Lady"), along with its composer, from the liner notes and tracklist. However, the piece does appear on all editions of the album. ==Personnel== Musicians ; "Great Expectations/Orange Lady" (19 November 1969 – Columbia Studio E) • Miles Davis – trumpet • Steve Grossman – soprano saxophone • Bennie Maupin – bass clarinet • John McLaughlin – electric guitar • Khalil Balakrishna – electric sitar • Bihari Sharma – tabla, tanpura • Herbie Hancock – electric piano • Chick Corea – electric piano • Ron Carter – double bass • Harvey Brooks – Fender bass guitar • Billy Cobham – drums • Airto Moreira – percussion ; "Ife" (12 June 1972 – Columbia Studio E) • Miles Davis – electric trumpet with wah wah • Sonny Fortune – soprano saxophone, flute • Bennie Maupin – bass clarinet, flute • Carlos Garnett – soprano saxophone • Lonnie Liston Smith – electric piano • Harold Ivory Williams Jr. – electric piano • Michael Henderson – electric bass • Al Foster – drums • Billy Hart – drums • Badal Roy – tabla • James Mtume – African percussion ; + "Recollections" (6 February 1970 – Columbia Studio B) • Miles Davis – trumpet • Wayne Shorter – soprano saxophone • Bennie Maupin – bass clarinet • John McLaughlin – electric guitar • Joe Zawinul – electric piano (left) • Chick Corea – electric piano (right) • Dave Holland – electric bass guitar • Billy Cobham – triangle • Jack DeJohnette – drums • Airto Moreira – cuíca, percussion ; + "Trevere" (28 November 1969 – Columbia Studio E) • Miles Davis – trumpet • Steve Grossman – soprano saxophone • Bennie Maupin – bass clarinet • Chick Corea – electric piano • Larry Young – organ, celeste • Khalil Balakrishna – electric sitar • Bihari Sharma – tamboura • Harvey Brooks – electric bass guitar • Dave Holland – double bass • Jack DeJohnette – drums • Billy Cobham – drums • Airto Moreira – cuíca, berimbau ; "Go Ahead John" (3 March 1970 – Columbia Studio E) • Miles Davis – trumpet • Steve Grossman – soprano saxophone • John McLaughlin – electric guitar • Dave Holland – bass guitar • Jack DeJohnette – drums ; "Lonely Fire" (27 January 1970 – Columbia Studio B) • Miles Davis – trumpet • Wayne Shorter – soprano saxophone • Bennie Maupin – bass clarinet • Khalil Balakrishna – sitar, Indian instruments • Chick Corea – electric piano • Joe Zawinul – electric piano, Farfisa organ • Dave Holland – double bass • Harvey Brooks – Fender bass guitar • Jack DeJohnette – drums • Billy Cobham – drums • Airto Moreira – Indian instruments, percussion ; + "The Little Blue Frog" (28 November 1969 – Columbia Studio E) • Miles Davis – trumpet • Steve Grossman – soprano saxophone • Bennie Maupin – bass clarinet • John McLaughlin – electric guitar • Chick Corea – electric piano • Larry Young – organ, celeste • Khalil Balakrishna – electric sitar • Bihari Sharma – tamboura • Harvey Brooks – electric bass guitar • Dave Holland – double bass • Jack DeJohnette – drums • Billy Cobham – drums • Airto Moreira – cuíca, berimbau ; + "Yaphet" (19 November 1969 – Columbia Studio E) • Miles Davis – trumpet • Steve Grossman – soprano saxophone • Bennie Maupin – bass clarinet • John McLaughlin – electric guitar • Herbie Hancock – electric piano (left) • Chick Corea – electric piano (right) • Khalil Balakrishna – electric sitar • Bihari Sharma – tampura, tabla • Harvey Brooks – electric bass guitar • Ron Carter – double bass • Billy Cobham – drums, triangle • Airto Moreira – cuíca, berimbau Additional personnel ; 2-LP original • Teo Macero – original record producer • Seth Rothstein – project director • Frank Laico, Stan Tonkel – original audio engineer • Russ Payne, Stan Weiss, John Guerriere – original mix engineer • Steve Berkowitz – A&R for Legacy • Patti Matheny, Darren Salmieri – A&R coordination • Corky McCoy – original cover art ; 2-CD reissue • Bob Belden – reissue producer • Seth Foster – reissue digital remastering at Sony Music Studios, NYC • Bennie Maupin – reissue main liner notes • Swing Journal Co., Ltd. Japan – reissue backcover photography • Uve Kuusik – reissue liner notes photography • Howard Fritzson – reissue art direction • Randall Martin – reissue design • Rachel Dicono – packaging manager • John Jackson – production assistance == Notes ==