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. ~ Rovi Staff