Miles Davis - Live Evil
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Live Evil is one of those records that takes a while to fully reveal itself — and that's exactly why it repays repeated listening.
Recorded across two nights at Washington D.C.'s Cellar Door club in December 1970 and spliced with Columbia studio sessions by producer Teo Macero, it sits at a fascinating crossroads in Davis's career — the electric period in full flight, with a band that included Keith Jarrett, John McLaughlin, Gary Bartz, Michael Henderson and Airto Moreira. The lineup alone tells you something about the ambition.
What makes Live Evil unusual even by Davis's standards is the editing. Macero treated the recordings almost like a collage, cutting between live performances and studio takes to create something that doesn't feel like a conventional live album — more like a document of a particular creative moment, raw and restless. Nearly 100 minutes across four sides, it moves between explosive groove, electric abstraction and moments of genuine stillness.
Highlights are "What I Say", "Funky Tonk" and the meditative "Nem Um Talvez" — but honestly it rewards listening as a whole rather than track by track.
Long out of print and hard to find, copies have just landed at Pattern Records. A serious record for serious collections.