Tom Barney temporarily replaced Marcus Miller, and John Scofield was called in to assist Mike Stern. A simple bass riff conveys the jam session spirit of “Come Get It.” But the two guitarists (and the discrete presence of Gil Evans in the recording booth) directed the music toward the angular and virtuoso melodic abstraction of chromatic funk. Gil Evans often took the melodic lines—developed but not reduced to the coupletrefrain schemas of pop—from the sessions’ solos, listening to them again in the evening, and choosing excerpts to transcribe for the guitar and saxophone. Thus, “Star On Cicely” was borrowed from Mike Stern, and “Speak” and “It Gets Better” from John Scofield. This last one is not far from Miles’ return to the blues in his repertoire, as his part in “It Gets Better” shows. This is the last time Teo Macero was producer, and the first time Miles’ drawings were used for the cover of the album.
Original issue: Columbia LP FC 38657 and CD CK 38657 in April 1983
Producer: Teo Macero
Engineers: Lou Schlossberg, Ken Robertson, Harold Tarowski, Bill Messina (Columbia Studios), Ron Lorman (location recording), Jay Messina (Record Plant)
All compositions by Miles Davis, unless otherwise noted
August 11, 1982 (a): Miles Davis (tpt, synth); Bill Evans (ss, ts, fl, el-p); Mike Stern (el-g); Marcus Miller (el-b); Al Foster (d); Mino Cinelu (perc); Gil Evans (arr)
Columbia Studio B, NYC
August 28, 1982 (b)
Same personnel as August 11
Live at the Jones Beach Theatre, NY
September 1, 1982 (c)
Same personnel as August 11
Columbia Studio B, NYC
January 5, 1983 (d)
Same personnel as August 11, except add John Scofield (el-g)
The Record Plant, NYC
February 3, 1983 (e): Miles Davis (tpt, synth); Bill Evans (ss, ts, fl, el-p); Mike Stern (el-g); John Scofield (el-g); Tom Barney (el-b); Al Foster (d); Mino Cinelu (perc)
Live at Cullen Auditorium, Houston, Texas
- Come Get It [b]
- It Gets Better [d]
- Speak/That’s What Happened [e]
- Star People [c]
- U ‘n’ l [c]
- Star On Cicely [a]
