Miles Davis – Nefertiti

Spinning a 1977 Columbia reissue and this sounds beautiful and vibrant. Cymbals shine, horns amazing. I find these Columbia orange label reissues to be generally underrated. A great affordable option. Likely unnecessary but also ordered the 45rpm
MoFi just for comparison sake and to fill out the Miles MoFi collection.

IMHO it's Kind of Blue, Bitches Brew, and Nefertiti. Those are the three greatest Miles Davis albums. Every moment of this record is enthralling! The compositions here are second to none -- Herbie and Wayne turned in an album of standard after standard. And the performances are simply magnificent. The rhythm section in particular is just so cutting-edge, so fresh, even now. They were the best in the business. Listen to the way the piano and ride cymbal furiously alternate (and in opposite channels) at the end of Madness.

The mighty “Nefertiti”. Not only does this entry rank so majestically from within the “2nd Great Quintet’s” output, it also ranks as “top shelf” within Miles’ entire catalogue. Many would claim “Miles Smiles” as the 2nd Quintet’s crowning achievement (others may even vote for the groundbreaking “E.S.P”), and while “...Smiles” certainly plays confidently and frenetically, with each player seemingly in peak form (not unlike how the “1st Great Quintet” played together on the brisk sounding “Milestones” album), it somehow feels rather brief, and the affair is over before the listener knows it.....“Nefertiti” on the other hand, rules over the listener with a Queen’s reign, it haunts relentlessly, dominating until subdued, and it never let’s you go, even when the record ends, her mood and melodies linger—it’s a little like being hypnotized, or left feeling stunned.....“Nefertiti’s” actual reign was short lived however, the album was quickly replaced by the new electric sounds of “Miles In The Sky” within less than a year (but the Queen would have her revenge almost a decade later in 76’, where three fairly strong outtakes from the 67’ “Nefertiti” sessions fill the whole first halve of the “Water Babies” compilation album), with Mr. Miles turning his sights to the future of “Jazz”, and never turning back....

Mono or Stereo you ask? Well, in 68’ Mono was being made obsolete, and Stereo was being promoted as the superior listening experience (the Stereo cut of “Nefertiti” in my opinion is the better of the two, and is the first indispensable “original” Stereo mix option since “Kind Of Blue”—you have to have it!) Both formats have their “qualities” of course, however, there are distinctions to be made; the commercial Stereo cut is warm and wide, with a consistent deep base (mixed appropriately with a real focus in “360 Stereo Sound”), while the “Special Radio Station” Mono cut is mixed a little too thin (most likely for AM Radio), with it’s base cutting in and out like a phantom, yet, there is a certain clarity within it’s depth.

As mentioned above, Miles departs from all acoustic “Jazz” after this release in 68’, maybe out of boredom (“Nefertiti” the title track is basically “Jazz” flipped upside down structurally, signaling that Miles might have gone as far as he could go with the perimeters of traditional “Jazz”), he had influenced and remolded much of the genre into his own image up until the release of “Nefertiti”, and apparently he was ready for something new, because within less than a year (months really), “Miles In The Sky” saw release, and indeed he did move “Jazz” into his so called “electric period”, soon to become known as “Jazz Fushion”. For me, “Nefertiti” draws the line between “Miles Davis-The Great Jazz Musician & Innovator”, & “Miles Davis-The Great Artist, period”, a further distinction to be made in 68’.