StLJN Saturday at the Movies:Miles Davis - "Call It Anything"

Instead of featuring video clips from two different artists, this week we've got an extended performance from Miles Davis, broken into four parts to comply with YouTube's upload limits. It was recorded in 1970 at the Isle of Wight music festival in Hreat Britain, and features an all-star lineup of musicians including Davis (trumpet), Keith Jarrett (keyboards), Chick Corea (electric piano), Jack DeJohnette (drums), Gary Bartz (soprano sax), Dave Holland (electric bass) and Airto Moreira (percussion).

Although there are a few bits and pieces that recall some of the other things Miles did on record during this period, this particular performance was essentially one long untitled improvisation, which created something of a problem for Columbia Records when they went to release it as part of a 3-LP set of music from the Isle of Wight fest. When asked by a record company exec what the piece should be called on the label, in the liner notes, etc., Miles is reported to have said, "Call it anything" - and so they did.

Part 2


Part 3


Part 4