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The Miles Davis Lost Quintet and Other Revolutionary Ensembles by Bob Gluck

2017; Music Library Association; Volume: 74; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1353/not.2017.0087

1534-150X

Jeremy A. Smith,

Music Technology and Sound Studies

Reviewed by: The Miles Davis Lost Quintet and Other Revolutionary Ensembles by Bob Gluck Jeremy A. Smith The Miles Davis Lost Quintet and Other Revolutionary Ensembles. By Bob Gluck. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2016. [xii, 264 p. ISBN 9780226180762 (cloth), $37.50; ISBN 9780226303390 (e-book), varies; ISBN 9780226527000 (paperback, forthcoming 11 2017, $27.50]. Illustrations, bibliography, discography, index. In 2012, the University of Chicago Press published Bob Gluck's You'll Know When You Get There, a book focused on Herbie Hancock's early 1970s band, Mwandishi. Gluck describes his latest book, The Miles Davis Lost Quintet and Other Revolutionary Ensembles, as a "companion piece" (p. ix) to the 2012 book. With this new work, Gluck analyzes the musical, social, and economic ties among three ensembles that historically have been categorized as much by their differences as their similarities: Miles Davis's "Lost" Quintet (1968–1970), Circle (1970–1971), and the Revolutionary Ensemble (1970–1977). Gluck's overarching objective is to demonstrate that these three groups operated on "a single artistic continuum" of "shared musical values" (p. xi). Importantly, he also argues that their social milieus overlapped in provocative ways, though they functioned within notably distinct economic structures. Gluck's methodology emphasizes "a close, comparative look at the music itself and the musical relationships between players" (p. 5). His impressive knowledge of the music comes from hours of close listening to recordings over many decades, aided by his experience with related material as a performer (for more on his performance of this repertoire, see Gluck, You'll Know When You Get There, p. x). His knowledge of the relationships between players is based in part on his interviews of at least nineteen [End Page 108] musicians and producers who were associated with the three groups. Gluck appears to have transcribed much of the music under study (e.g. n. 86 and n. 87 for p. 77), but he has chosen to avoid musical notation in the book, relying instead on textual description to convey points about the material. In general this is an effective strategy, as it both expands the book's audience to non-specialists and conveys useful information about experimental improvisation, a musical approach that often defies formal notation. There are times, however, when either transcriptions or technical descriptions would help to clarify Gluck's terms of evaluation. For example, he refers to "a folksy [Leroy] Jenkins harmonica solo" (p. 77) without specifying what "folksy" connotes. Similarly, when describing an electric piano entrance by Chick Corea on a Miles Davis recording, he writes: "What happens next is about neither the groove nor playing that is free of harmonic constraints. It is about the pure sonic experience. And it is wild and otherworldly" (p. 97). A more precise explanation of how the music achieved its affect would have enhanced that passage's descriptive utility. Gluck is not averse to technical musical jargon, however, including terms such as portamento, arco, ostinato, and harmonic minor (see, e.g., pp. 145–46). His use of these terms without definition makes it all the more curious that he chose to define other technical terms (e.g. "virtuosity" on p. 152), but that is a minor inconsistency. Overall his writing style aspires to, and regularly achieves, an informative blend of musical and cultural analysis that is meaningful to specialists without alienating non-musicians. Gluck organizes the book around three goals, the first of which is "to explore how Davis's recorded performances from 1968 through 1970 illuminate the unfolding of his musical thinking during a period of personal transition" (p. 2). The years in question were marked by the end of Davis's Second Great Quintet, which had been a mainstay for much of the 1960s. Inspired in part by his relationship with Betty Mabry, Davis was updating his sartorial style, training as a boxer, and embracing elements of popular culture. He was also navigating between two seemingly oppositional musical approaches: an increased interest in rhythmic groove and electronic instruments associated with popular music, and the experimentation and open improvisation more commonly associated with free jazz. Gluck argues that the elements of free jazz regularly embraced by the Lost Quintet (so named...