MILES DAVIS / GIL EVANS
Sketches Of Spain, Concierto De Aranjuez (Adagio)
I may get people hollering at me about this but In no way am I attempting to take a thing away from Miles on this wonderful recording, but to me it was always Gl Evans featuring Miles Davis. This is my favorite cut on the album
The opening piece, taking up almost half the record, is an arrangement by Evans and Davis of the adagio movement of Concierto de Aranjuez, a concerto for guitar by the contemporary Spanish composer Joaquín Rodrigo. Following the faithful introduction of the concerto's guitar melody on flugelhorn, Evans' arrangement turns into a "quasi-symphonic, quasi-jazz world of sound", according to his biographer.[4] The middle of the piece contains a "chorus" by Evans unrelated to the concerto but "echoed" in the other pieces on the album.[4] The original melody then reappears in a darker mode.
Davis plays flugelhorn and later trumpet, attempting to connect the various settings musically.[5] Davis commented at rehearsal, "The thing I have to do now is make things connect, make them mean something in what I play around it".[5] Davis thought the concerto's adagio melody was "so strong" that "the softer you play it, the stronger it gets, and the stronger you play it, the weaker it gets", and Evans concurred.[5]
According to Davis' biographer Chambers, the contemporary critical response to the arrangement was not surprising, especially given the scarcity of anything resembling a jazz rhythm in most of the piece. Martin Williams wrote that "the recording is something of a curiosity and a failure, as I think a comparison with any good performance of the movement by a classical guitarist would confirm". The composer Rodrigo was also not impressed, but royalties from the arrangement brought him "a lot of money", according to Evans.
Miles Davis – trumpet, flugelhorn....
Danny Bank – bass clarinet....
Bill Barber – tuba....
John Barrows – French horn....
Albert Block – flute....
James Buffington – French horn...
Eddie Caine – flute, flugelhorn....
Paul Chambers – bass....
Earl Chapin – French horn...
Jimmy Cobb – drums....
Johnny Coles – trumpet...
Gil Evans – arranger, conductor...
Harold Feldman – clarinet, flute, oboe....
Bernie Glow – trumpet....
Dick Hixon – trombone....
Elvin Jones – percussion....
Taft Jordan – trumpet....
Jack Knitzer – bassoon....
Jose Mangual – percussion....
Jimmy McAllister – tuba....
Tony Miranda – French horn....
Louis Mucci – trumpet....
Romeo Penque – oboe....
Janet Putnam – harp....
Frank Rehak – trombone....
Ernie Royal – trumpet....
Joe Singer – French horn....
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