Tokyo 1973;

The early-to-mid 1970s marked perhaps the most unique and radical period in Miles Davis' career. With bands such as Sly & The Family Stone and Parliament/Funkadelic becoming increasingly popular, Davis began to draw considerable influence from their uptempo, electronic funk sound. As his then recently-developed penchant for including longer and longer compositions on his albums continued, Davis enlisted the talents of some of the finest jazz fusion players around, including John McLaughlin, Joe Zawinul, Chick Corea, Wayne Shorter and Billy Cobham. With their abilities at hand, Davis would produce a trio of studio LPs that would be considered among the best in his catalogue: In A Silent Way (1969), Bitches Brew (1970) and Jack Johnson (1971). Davis also saw a major shift in his live performance protocol, accepting significantly lower fees in order to open for popular rock groups including the Steve Miller Band, Neil Young, Grateful Dead and Santana - an unusual choice for such an esteemed jazz musician. By 1973, Miles was showing little sign of slowing the pace of his extraordinary workload. Two more albums, Live-Evil (1971) and On The Corner (1972), had been released during this time, and Davis had continued to tour relentlessly worldwide. The 19th June '73 saw him take to the stage at Shinjuku Kohseinenkin Kaikan in Tokyo, Japan, backed by a band of Dave Liebman on saxophone and flute, guitarists Pete Cosey and Reggie Lucas, Michael Henderson on electric bass, Al Foster on drums and James Mtume Forman on percussion. Playing two sets, both of which are included here, Davis' band are on interstellar form. Playing a selection of previously-recorded numbers and extended jams, during a show broadcast live across the region by a local FM station in superb quality, the music performed by the famed trumpeter and his majestic band at this superb show pushes the musical boundaries even further than Davis had at any time in the past.