Miles Davis Dark Magus (2 LP)

Numbered, Limited Edition 180g Vinyl 2LP from Mobile Fidelity!
1/4"/15 IPS Analog Copy to DSD 256 to Analog Console to Lathe!
It's safe to assume no one in the audience at Carnegie Hall on March 30, 1974 anticipated what Miles Davis would play at the concert documented on Dark Magus: Live at Carnegie Hall. Recorded near the tail end of his electric period, the double album remains the darkest, most ferocious statement of Davis' career — a visionary effort that foresaw developments in jungle, noise-rock, funk, and drum 'n' bass.
Original and enigmatic, wild and rugged, powerful and revolutionary, evocative and terrifying, Dark Magus attacks seemingly from all directions.
The album was originally released in Japan in 1977 and waited two decades for a release in the United States. Now, more than 50 years after Davis and his ensemble made a splash in the famous New York venue, the album is being released on vinyl for the first time - in a pressing that can be heard.
Mastered at Mobile Fidelity's California studio, housed in a Stoughton gatefold jacket, and pressed at Fidelity Record Pressing, this numbered-edition 180g 33RPM 2LP set of Dark Magus invites you to pull up a seat and wrap your head around an exhilarating performance that simultaneously functions as an audition, experiment, release, and magnificent explosion of jazz-rock fusion. We hope your turntable and speakers are up to the challenge.
This collectible reissue presents the improvisational magic that unfolded onstage — the skronking tonalities, wah-wah-pedal bluster, acid-washed effects, furious drumming, run-the-voodoo-down grooves, menacing riffs, crashing cymbals — with incredible detail, color, and pace. It also captures the band's unbelievable energy, rendering both instruments and on-the-fly changes with revealing depth, definition, and dynamics. At its core, MoFi's audiophile set takes you deep into the boundless mystery, promise, and uncertainty of Davis and company's efforts like never before.
The story behind Dark Magus is nearly as unbelievable as the spur-of-the-moment compositions that resulted when Davis brought drummer Al Foster, bassist Michael Henderson, percussionist James Mtume, horn virtuoso Dave Liebman, and guitarists Pete Cosey and Reggie Lucas together, and, in a new twist for the concert's second half, added guitarist Dominique Gaumont and tenor saxophonist Azar Lawrence to mix. That the latter two instrumentalists had never seen each other until that night adds to Davis' legend — and penchant for bold, unorthodox moves.
Ditto Davis' own actions that spring evening, which reportedly included showing up to the show an hour late and taking the stage with his back facing the crowd. The strategy worked. Davis inspired the group to play in a bold manner that few, if any, had heard before. Dark Magus is a rhythmic bonanza. Rooted in Afro-centrist techniques, avante-garde sensibilities, and exploratory moods, the songs eschew set arrangements and solos, and, for the most part, melodic devices.
For Davis, Dark Magus represented a personal triumph amid a period marked by health issues, addictions, and critical decline. The latter slight would be corrected, but not until decades later when Dark Magus saw Stateside release in 1997 via a CD reissue. Of course, the free-form patterns, unpredictable passages, dense structures, and distorted blues that course through the songs — titled after Swahili numerals — are not for everyone. And certainly not for the fainthearted. Though Dark Magus contains majestic moments marked by quiet restraint and something on the level of balladry, its rich and radical concoction of tormented thwacks, thumps, cracks, clatters, wails, bleeps, burbles, stomps, and enigmatic beats remains its adventurous heart and soul.
Primal and enigmatic, fierce and jagged, forceful and revolutionary, jolting and terrifying, Dark Magus seemingly attacks from any and all directions. Turn it up loud and let the prophetic brilliance of this inimitable and relentlessly funky album wash over you.

Features:

• Numbered, Limited Edition
• 180g Vinyl
• Double LP
• Recorded Live at Carnegie Hall, New York City, March 30, 1974
• Mastered from the 1/4" / 15 IPS Analog Copy to DSD 256 to Analog Console to Lathe
• Pressed at Fidelity Record Pressing
• Stoughton Gatefold Jacket

Musicians:

• Miles Davis, trumpet, Yamaha organ
• David Liebman, tenor & soprano saxophone
• Azar Lawrence, tenor saxophone
• Peter Cosey, guitar
• Reggie Lucas, guitar
• Dominique Gaumont, guitar
• Michael Henderson, bass
• Al Foster, drums
• James Mtume, percussion

Selections:

Side A
1. Moja (Part I)
2. Moja (Part II)
Side B
1. Wili (Part I)
2. Wili (Part II)
Side C
1. Tatu (Part I)
2. Tatu (Part II)
Side D
1. Nne (Part I)
2. Nne (Part II)