Nefertiti
Studio album by
Miles Davis
ReleasedMarch 1968[1][2]
RecordedJune 7 – July 19, 1967 (1967-06-07 – 1967-07-19)
StudioColumbia 30th Street
New York City
Genre
Length39:08
LabelColumbia
ProducerTeo Macero, Howard Roberts
Miles Davis chronology
Sorcerer
(1967) 		Nefertiti
(1968) 		Miles in the Sky
(1968)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[4]
DownBeat[5]
Encyclopedia of Popular Music[6]
Penguin Guide to Jazz[7]
Q[8]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide[9]
The Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide[10]
Tom Hull – on the WebA−[11]
Xgau SezA−[12]

Nefertiti is a studio album by jazz musician Miles Davis, released in March 1968.[13] Recorded at Columbia's 30th Street Studio over four dates between June 7 and July 19, 1967, the album was Davis' last fully acoustic album. Davis himself did not contribute any compositions – three were written by tenor saxophonist Wayne Shorter, two by pianist Herbie Hancock, and one by drummer Tony Williams.[4]

Music

The fourth album by Miles Davis's Second Great Quintet, Nefertiti is best known for the unusual title track, on which the horn section repeats the melody numerous times without individual solos while the rhythm section improvises underneath, reversing the traditional role of a rhythm section.[4] C. Michael Bailey of All About Jazz cited it as one of the quintet's six albums between 1965 and 1968 that introduced the post-bop subgenre.[3]

Shortly after this album, Hancock recorded a different version of "Riot" for his 1968 album Speak Like a Child. In 1978, Shorter recorded a new version of "Pinocchio" with Weather Report for the album Mr. Gone.

This album, along with others by this particular group, demonstrates their willingness to fundamentally alter the basics of a composition during the recording process. For example, the quintet initially rehearsed 'Madness' as a slow waltz. On the next two takes (including the released version) it is rendered at a fast tempo in predominantly 4/4 time. Similarly, Pinocchio is a relatively fast composition on the released version and yet the group rehearsed it at a much slower pace, with the horns repeating the head whilst the rhythm section improvises underneath, in a similar manner to the master take of 'Nefertiti'.[14]

Nefertiti was the final all-acoustic album of Davis' career. Starting with his next album, Miles in the Sky, Davis began to experiment with electric instruments, marking the dawn of his electric period.[15]

Critical reception

Nefertiti has been received positively by critics. DownBeat writer Howard Mandel said it "seems perched on the cusp" of innovation, with "perfectly pitched" performances and trumpet ideas marked by "cyclical melodies, subdued in mood and sonically bejeweled". However, Mandel lamented the solos for "revert[ing] to regular rhythms", limiting the resulting music from more transcendent possibilities.[5] Robert Christgau considered it among the "great work" Davis recorded with his quintet of the 1960s,[16] although he would later say that "the late-'60[s] Wayne Shorter edition of Miles's band is my least favorite Miles—not that I think it's bad, but I've always found Shorter too cool."[12] Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic was more enthusiastic about its relatively subtler "charms" while finding it a clear forerunner to the jazz fusion that would follow: "What's impressive, like on all of this quintet's sessions, is the interplay, how the musicians follow an unpredictable path as a unit, turning in music that is always searching, always provocative, and never boring."[4]

Track listing

Columbia – CS 9594[17]

Side one
No.TitleWriter(s)Recording session[18]Length
1."Nefertiti"Wayne ShorterJune 7, 19677:52
2."Fall"Wayne ShorterJuly 19, 19676:39
3."Hand Jive"Tony WilliamsJune 22, 19678:54
Side two
No.TitleWriter(s)Recording session[18]Length
1."Madness"Herbie HancockJune 23, 19677:31
2."Riot"Herbie HancockJuly 19, 19673:04
3."Pinocchio"Wayne ShorterJuly 19, 19675:08
Total length:39:08
CD Reissue (Columbia – CS 9594)[19]
No.TitleWriter(s)Recording session[18]Length
7."Hand Jive" (First Alternate Take)Tony WilliamsJune 22, 19676:50
8."Hand Jive" (Second Alternate Take)Tony WilliamsJune 22, 19678:17
9."Madness" (Alternate Take)Herbie HancockJune 23, 19676:45
10."Pinocchio" (Alternate Take)Wayne ShorterJuly 19, 19675:08
Total length:1:06:08

Personnel

The Miles Davis Quintet

Production

Chart history

Billboard Music Charts (North America) – Nefertiti[4]

References

  1. ^ Billboard March 23, 1968
  2. ^ Carter, Ron; et al. (2012). Miles Davis: The Complete Illustrated History. Voyageur Press. p. 126. ISBN 978-0760342626. Retrieved July 20, 2013.
  3. ^ a b "Miles Davis – Nefertiti (CD)". Discogs. Retrieved February 4, 2017.
  4. ^ a b c d e "Nefertiti – All Music Review". All Music. Retrieved February 4, 2017.
  5. ^ a b Frank Alkyer Enright; Jason Koransky, eds. (2007). The Miles Davis Reader. Hal Leonard Corporation. pp. 305–6. ISBN 978-1617745706.
  6. ^ Larkin, Colin (2007). The Encyclopedia of Popular Music (4th ed.). Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0195313734.
  7. ^ Cook, Richard; Morton, Brian (2006). The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings. Penguin Books. p. 325.
  8. ^ "Review: Nefertiti". Q. London: 89. January 1992. Acoustic jazz couldn't go far after this masterpiece...
  9. ^ Considine, J. D.; et al. (November 2, 2004). Brackett, Nathan; Hoard, Christian (eds.). The New Rolling Stone Album Guide: Completely Revised and Updated 4th Edition. Simon & Schuster. p. 215. ISBN 0-7432-0169-8.
  10. ^ Swenson, J., ed. (1985). The Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide. USA: Random House/Rolling Stone. p. 58. ISBN 0-394-72643-X.
  11. ^ Hull, Tom (n.d.). "Grade List: Miles Davis". Tom Hull – on the Web. Retrieved July 22, 2020.
  12. ^ a b Christgau, Robert (August 21, 2018). "Xgau Sez". robertchristgau.com. Retrieved September 23, 2022.
  13. ^ Carter, Ron; et al. (2012). Miles Davis: The Complete Illustrated History. Voyageur Press. p. 126. ISBN 978-0760342626. Retrieved July 20, 2013.
  14. ^ Waters, Keith (2011). The Studio Recordings of the Miles Davis Quintet, 1965-68. Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp. 217–228. ISBN 9780195393835.
  15. ^ "Rediscovering the Miles Davis Quintet". Slate. Retrieved February 4, 2017.
  16. ^ Christgau, Robert (September 5, 1977). "Christgau's Consumer Guide". The Village Voice. Retrieved September 23, 2022 – via robertchristgau.com.
  17. ^ "Miles Davis – Nefertiti (LP)". Discogs. Retrieved February 4, 2017.
  18. ^ a b c "Miles Davis – Nefertiti". milesdavis.com. Retrieved February 4, 2017.
  19. ^ "Miles Davis – Nefertiti (CD)". Discogs. Retrieved February 4, 2017.
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