Ran across an album tonight from 2007 that I somehow missed entirely, a cross-cultural collaboration of American jazz musicians and Indian classical musicians playing the music of Miles Davis.
An outrage, you say?
Not really — Miles’ “electric period” lends itself really well to Indian music treatment. Both rely on long modal passages with implied melody, and the modes used are similar. Add to that that this band gooses up some of the tunes from 4/4 time to 9/4 to reach a more Indian tempo, and they do not slavishly rely on the original arrangements either. Very creative treatments, often only vaguely relatable to the originals.
Many parts sound like Nicky Skopelitis and Bill Laswell and Material and that whole New York post-ethnic groove.
How did I miss this gem???
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