Live in Switzerland 1985 - The Last Miles

It is no exaggeration to say that 1985 was a highly significant year for Miles. During the summer, he left Columbia Records after a thirty-year association and signed to Warner Bros. At the beginning of the year, he recorded two albums: You’re Under Arrest and Aura, and at the end, he started work on another, Rubberband. As a result, the concert set-list for this album is very diverse, encompassing music from several past studio albums plus a planned album, as well as several songs that so far, haven’t appeared on any Miles Davis studio album.

Album front cover.

By the end of October 1985, Miles’s band had expanded into a nonet – his largest of this period. It was a relatively short-lived band, playing just eleven gigs between 24th October and 8th November 1985. What’s more, all of the gigs were on mainland Europe: this nonet never played in the US, UK or Japan – three of Miles’s biggest markets. Miles formed another nonet in March 1986, but with a new bassist and a radically altered set-list, so this recording documents a rare period of Miles’s 1980’s era.

The band and the set-list are the same as those from the Miles gig from the previous night, on 1 November in Berlin, Germany. Note that this recording is NOT the same concert!

Album back cover.

The band had two specialist keyboard players, Robert Irving III and Adam Holzman, and two percussionists – Steve Thornton and Marilyn Mazur. Miles played trumpet and synthesiser. Bob Berg played tenor sax, soprano sax and synthesiser, and Mike Stern was on guitar. The rhythm section was bassist Angus Thomas and drummer Vince Wilburn Jr. The band varied enormously in experience. Mike Stern had played with Miles from 1981-83, and returned in the summer of 1985, replacing John Scofield. Robert Irving III joined Miles’s band in August 1983. Bob Berg and Steve Thornton had been with Miles for more than a year. Vince Wilburn Jr joined the band in March 1985, while Angus Thomas and Marilyn Mazur made their debut on 17 August 1985. Second specialist keyboardist Adam Holzman played his first gig on 24 October 1985.

The source for this recording is a Swiss radio broadcast and this release is one of those grey market releases found in Europe. Sound quality is good and the full concert, which lasts 2 hours and 15 minutes, is on two CD discs. The album is packaged in an A5-sized digipak, which opens up to reveal two CDs. The cover photograph is from a concert Miles played in Japan in the summer of 1985. The image is used on both CD labels. Oddly, the inside cover has a shot of Miles taken during his mid-1970s period, and bassist Michael Henderson can be seen in the background. The back photograph is of Miles playing live in summer 1991. The short liner notes contain little information and the band credits on the back cover omit Robert Irving III and Marilyn Mazur.

The first disc features a handful of songs from You’re Under Arrest – ‘Opening Medley’ (the alternate name for ‘One Phone Call/Street Scenes’), ‘Something On Your Mind,’ ‘Human Nature,’ Ms Morrisine,’ and ‘Time After Time.’ On ‘Something’s On Your Mind,’ Mike Stern lets loose with a scorching guitar solo, followed by a long, blistering solo on tenor sax from Bob Berg. ‘Human Nature’ has a different arrangement from the album version, and now featured the band playing a one-chord vamp based on the old Miles tune ‘Milestones,’ near the coda, over which both Berg and Stern play alternate solos.

Miles Davis Live in Switzerland 1985 CD digipak with two CDs and liner notes.

The Digipak opens to reveal two CDs and brief liner notes.

Miles was arguably at his peak in terms of health, stamina and technique during this period, and his playing on the ballads ‘Star People,’ and ‘Time After Time,’ is long, sustained and moving. The band also plays the uptempo jazz-funk number ‘Maze,’ which Miles started playing live in April 1985. This band (minus Adam Holzman) recorded a nine-minute studio version on 23 September 1985 at Record Plant studios in Los Angeles, although this recording wasn’t officially released until 2011 by Warner Music France on the boxed set Miles Davis – 1986-1991 The Warner Years. The live version is punchy and energetic, featuring more powerful tenor sax playing by Bob Berg.

Disc 2 features an interesting mix of songs, and at the time these songs were performed, only ‘Code MD’ from the Decoy album had featured on a Miles Davis album. ‘Pacific Express,’ was written by John McLaughlin and featured on the 1984 album Mahavishnu, with a reformed Mahavishnu Orchestra band that included two Miles alumni, saxophonist Bill Evans and drummer Billy Cobham. The band plays a long (13-minute) atmospheric version, with bassist Angus Thomas playing a slow repeating pulse.

‘Burn,’ an uptempo jazz-rock tune, is a throwback to The Man With The Horn sessions. It was recorded around 1980 by the Chicago band, led by Miles’s nephew Vince Wilburn Jr as a possible track on Miles’s comeback album, but it was never released. Miles didn’t start playing ‘Burn’ live until October 1985 and it seems that he considered including it on his debut Warner Bros. album. The track includes lots of fiery guitar playing from Stern.

Miles Davis Live in Switzerland 1985 CD labels.

The two CD disc labels are printed with the cover shot.

In contrast, the next number is a ballad, ‘Stronger Than Before,’ co-written by Burt Bacharach, and covered by Chaka Khan on her 1984 album I Feel For You. Miles plays a beautiful rendition of the song, which has a lovely melody. Mike Stern also solos, but instead of his trademark explosive guitar sound, his playing is light and melodic. ‘Hopscotch’ was recorded during the You’re Under Arrest sessions, but the studio version wasn’t released until the That’s What Happened Bootleg series boxed set in 2022. It’s a tour de force version that includes some hyperactive soloing by percussionists Steve Thornton and Marilyn Mazur. The band plays ‘Hopscotch’ with lots of energy, but its performance of the same tune in Berlin the night before has more fire to it.

Miles had only recorded the song ‘Rubberband’ on 17 October, and at the time of this concert, the song was a contender for the title track of Miles’s first Warner Bros. album. But the Rubberband album was shelved and wouldn’t be released until 2019. This concert features a lively percussive version, with a long, stirring Mike Stern solo, and Miles switching between open and muted horn.

The encore was the Mr Mister pop hit ‘Broken Wings.’ The band (again without Holzman) had recorded a studio version on 24 September 1985, which so far, remains unreleased. This was only the second time the band played the tune live and in fact, Miles would only play it a further three times before dropping it from future set-lists, so this number is a rarity.

Angus Thomas starts things off with a thumbed riff, before the band joins in and Miles’s plays the vocalist’s part on muted trumpet. It’s a sweet rendition and a shame that Miles didn’t keep it for longer in his set-list – I would have liked to have seen him play it live. I’d also have loved to have seen this nonet in action, so it’s good to have this full concert from the band available on disc.

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The Man With The Horn	We Want Miles	Star People	Decoy
You're Under Arrest	Aura	Rubberband	Tutu
Siesta	Amandla	Dingo	The Hot Spot
Doo-Bop	Live Around The World	Montreux 1973 - 1991	miles alive
Miles Davis Trilogy	Time After Time	Perfect Way	Hollywood Bowl 1981
Original Classics	Complete Columbia Collection	Tutu Deluxe Edition	Montreal Concert
1986 - 1991 Warner Years	Perfect Miles Collection	On The Crest Of The Airwaves	The Last World
Tutu Deluxe LP	Rubberband	Music from Birth of the Cool	Original Album Series
Merci Miles! Live at Vienne

praise for The Last Miles