Miles Davis - Seven Steps to Heaven (2LP, 45RPM)
Trumpet – Miles Davis [click here to see more vinyl featuring Miles Davis]
Piano – Herbie Hancock (B1, C1, D1) [click here to see more vinyl featuring Herbie Hancock]
Piano - Victor Feldman (A1, B2, C2)
Drums – Anthony Williams (B1, C1, D1), Frank Butler (A1, B2, C2)
Bass – Ron Carter [click here to see more vinyl featuring Ron Carter]
Tenor Saxophone – George Coleman [click here to see more vinyl featuring George Coleman]
2 LPs, Gatefold jacket
Original analog Master tape : YES
Heavy Press : 180g
Record color : black
Speed : 45RPM
Size : 12”
Stereo
Studio
Record Press : Quality Record Pressings
Label : Analogue Productions
Original Label : Columbia
Recorded at Columbia 30th Street Studio and Columbia Studios, Hollywood
Engineered by Fred Plaut
Produced by Teo Macero
Remastered by Ryan K. Smith at Sterling Sound
Originally released in 1963
Reissued in 2010
Tracks :
Side A:
- Basin Street Blues
Side B:
- Seven Steps To Heaven
- I Fall In Love Too Easily
Side C:
- So Near, So Far
- Baby Won't You Please Come Home
Side D:
- Joshua
Reviews :
"...The Analogue Productions sound is visceral and crisp in the best sense, and the quiet pressings ensure that no musical detail is even mildly obscured...with these 45rpm LPs, if your system is up to the task, you'll hear boundless high-frequency reach and lavish dynamic nuance and harmonic delicacy." - Marc Mickelson, The Audio Beat, December 2010
"Seven Steps to Heaven finds Miles Davis standing yet again on the fault line between stylistic epochs. In early 1963, pianist Wynton Kelly, bassist Paul Chambers, and drummer Jimmy Cobb left to form their own trio, and Davis was forced to form a new band, which included Memphis tenor player George Coleman and bassist Ron Carter. When Davis next entered the studio in Hollywood, he added local drummer Frank Butler and British studio ace Victor Feldman, who ultimately decided not to go on the road with Davis. It's easy to see why Davis liked Feldman, who contributed the dancing title tune and "Joshua" to the session. On three mellifluous standards -- particularly a cerebral "Basin Street Blues" and a broken-hearted "I Fall in Love Too Easily" -- the pianist plays with an elegant, refined touch, and the kind of rarefied voicings that suggest Ahmad Jamal. Davis responds with some of his most introspective, romantic ballad playing. When Davis returned to New York he finally succeeded in spiriting away a brilliantly gifted 17-year-old drummer from Jackie McLean: Tony Williams. On the title tune you can already hear the difference, as his crisp, driving cymbal beat and jittery, aggressive syncopations propel Davis into the upper reaches of his horn. On "So Near, So Far" the drummer combines with Carter and new pianist Herbie Hancock to expand on a light Afro-Cuban beat with a series of telepathic changes in tempo, texture, and dynamics. Meanwhile, Feldman's "Joshua" (with its overtones of "So What" and "All Blues") portends the kind of expressive variations on the basic 4/4 pulse that would become the band's trademark, as Davis and Coleman ascend into bebop heaven." AllMusic Review by Rovi Staff
Ratings :
AllMusic 4.5/5 , Discogs 4.5 / 5