Miles Davis – Seven Steps to Heaven 
SACD rip via PS3 to iso | 3.04GB | Artwork
Reissue of 1963 Columbia/Sony Music by Analogue Productions 
3-channel SACD CAPJ 8851 SA | Released 9/14/2010 | Genre: Jazz


"The Columbia/Legacy reissue of the original session of 1992 remastered the original tapes & is quite good, but an A/B comparison with the 3-channel SACD from Analogue Productions shows a much more realistic and musical-sounding piano. When Miles comes in on center, his trumpet is more colorful, detailed & rich-sounding than on the standard CD. The drums also possess a more varied & detailed presence in the mix." - John Henry, Audiophile Audition, September 2010

In 1963, Miles Davis was at a transitional point in his career, without a regular group and wondering what his future musical direction would be. At the time he recorded the music heard on this disc, he was in the process of forming a new band, as can be seen from the personnel: tenor saxophonist George Coleman, Victor Feldman (who turned down the job) and Herbie Hancock on pianos, bassist Ron Carter, and Frank Butler and Tony Williams on drums. Recorded at two separate sessions, this set is highlighted by the classic "Seven Steps To Heaven," "Joshua" and slow passionate versions of "Basin Street Blues" and "Baby Won't You Please Come Home."

     Tracks:

1. Basin Street Blues
2. Seven Steps To Heaven
3. I Fall in Love Too Easily
4. So Near So Far
5. Baby Won't You Please Come Home
6. Joshua

    Time: 46.2 min.

Mastered by George Marino at Sterling Sound


Miles Davis, trumpet; 
Victor Feldman, piano; 
Herbie Hancock, piano; 
George Coleman, tenor sax; 
Frank Butler, drums; 
Anthony Williams, drums; 
Ron Carter, bass.


This is the classic Miles session when he was still being fairly tonal & straightforward. He picked up Herbie Hancock from Blue Note & Victor Feldman from Ava Records & unlike his Someday My Prince Will Come album of the same period, this one comes with an excellent essay in the note booklet by Leonard Feather. All the performers are 1st rate & Miles didn’t direct them overmuch – he tended to expect they would follow his plans by intuition.

The opening track of Basin Street Blues is nothing like you might be familiar with from trad jazz recordings, but still rather straightforward in its handling of the theme. It is also by far the lengthiest of the 6 tracks, at 10½ minutes. Of course the title track, the next one up, is one of the most famous Miles’ themes ever. The Columbia/Legacy reissue of the original session of 1992 remastered the original tapes & is quite good, but an A/B comparison with the 3-channel SACD from Analogue Productions shows a much more realistic & musical-sounding piano (though it’s unknown which of the 2 pianists is at the keyboard).  When Miles comes in on center, his trumpet is more colorful, detailed & rich-sounding than on the standard CD.  The drums also possess a more varied & detailed presence in the mix. There is no mention of the 3-channels anywhere except for the little box that says Multi-ch & Stereo.  That is similar to the Everest SACD reissue of Villa-Lobos & Ginastera – it is labeled multichannel for its 3 front channels.  I believe all the other jazz SACD reissues from Analogue Productions are 2 channel.

Though Gil Evans was not involved in these 2 sessions, I think Miles picked up some fine pointers from his earlier work with Evans which made this session much deeper & more sophisticated than one would expect from a typical jazz quintet featuring trumpet. Of course with Miles it’s not typical at all.


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1a29a29ac7731b6b711619f9337062b7 *Miles Davis - Seven Steps To Heaven.iso