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In a March 29 post on Slate, Fred Kaplan writes about the newly released bootleg recording of Miles Davis’ quintet (featuring John Coltrane), The Final Tour, a four-CD box set of live concerts in Europe from 1960.  The tour happened a year after the release of Kind of Blue, so many of the tunes played during it are from that classic album.  According to Kaplan, the music heard on this Columbia/Legacy set is “radically different” and such a “jarring departure” from the album that “it demands we revise the conventional wisdom about these two musicians (Miles and Coltrane) and fills in some blanks…in the story of jazz, and where it was going, in those pivotal years.”

Kaplan’s essay includes a critique of the music itself – but of particular interest is his reminder of the Miles/Coltrane partnership at this critical time in the music’s path, a “contrast in character and style” that “made their collaboration so exciting, so flush with creative tension.”

This intelligent and intriguing piece is worth your time, and can be viewed by clicking here.