Agharta (album)
Encyclopedia
Agharta is an album recorded by jazz trumpeter Miles Davis
in 1975. Both Agharta and Pangaea
were recorded on the same day in Osaka
, Japan
. The Agharta concert took place during an afternoon matinée, whereas Pangaea was recorded in the evening.
On all versions of this release Tracks 1 and 2 on the second disc are mixed up, so the second disc's first track is really the one labeled "Theme From Jack Johnson" (which is really a full performance of "Right Off" and ends with a version of the theme from "So What", a tune from Davis's 1959 LP Kind of Blue
). So Track 2 is really the one labeled "Interlude" and is a medley of "Ife" and "For Dave".
The master tapes for both Pangaea
and Agharta were quite heavily remixed when prepared for release on CD. This led to a lot more details and separation of instruments being heard on the original LP releases, as well as an overall richer and fuller sound. This has somewhat been corrected with the Japanese DSD sound remaster that was released on CD in 2006.
Disc Two
All compositions by Miles Davis
box set, along with the original Japanese cover.
Miles Davis
Miles Dewey Davis III was an American jazz musician, trumpeter, bandleader, and composer. Widely considered one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century, Miles Davis was, with his musical groups, at the forefront of several major developments in jazz music, including bebop, cool jazz,...
in 1975. Both Agharta and Pangaea
Pangaea (album)
Pangaea is a double album recorded by jazz trumpeter Miles Davis in 1975. Both Pangaea and Agharta were recorded on the same day in Osaka, Japan...
were recorded on the same day in Osaka
Osaka
is a city in the Kansai region of Japan's main island of Honshu, a designated city under the Local Autonomy Law, the capital city of Osaka Prefecture and also the biggest part of Keihanshin area, which is represented by three major cities of Japan, Kyoto, Osaka and Kobe...
, Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
. The Agharta concert took place during an afternoon matinée, whereas Pangaea was recorded in the evening.
On all versions of this release Tracks 1 and 2 on the second disc are mixed up, so the second disc's first track is really the one labeled "Theme From Jack Johnson" (which is really a full performance of "Right Off" and ends with a version of the theme from "So What", a tune from Davis's 1959 LP Kind of Blue
Kind of Blue
Kind of Blue is a studio album by American jazz musician Miles Davis, released August 17, 1959, on Columbia Records in the United States. Recording sessions for the album took place at Columbia's 30th Street Studio in New York City on March 2 and April 22, 1959...
). So Track 2 is really the one labeled "Interlude" and is a medley of "Ife" and "For Dave".
The master tapes for both Pangaea
Pangaea
Pangaea, Pangæa, or Pangea is hypothesized as a supercontinent that existed during the Paleozoic and Mesozoic eras about 250 million years ago, before the component continents were separated into their current configuration....
and Agharta were quite heavily remixed when prepared for release on CD. This led to a lot more details and separation of instruments being heard on the original LP releases, as well as an overall richer and fuller sound. This has somewhat been corrected with the Japanese DSD sound remaster that was released on CD in 2006.
Track listing
Disc One- "Prelude (Part One)" – 26:01
- "Prelude (Part Two)" – 6:33
- "Maiysha" – 12:20
Disc Two
- "Theme from Jack JohnsonA Tribute to Jack JohnsonA Tribute to Jack Johnson is a studio album by American jazz musician Miles Davis, released February 24, 1971 on Columbia Records. It also serves as the soundtrack for a documentary by Bill Cayton about the heavyweight world champion boxer Jack Johnson....
" – 26:50 - "Interlude" – 25:16
All compositions by Miles Davis
Miles Davis
Miles Dewey Davis III was an American jazz musician, trumpeter, bandleader, and composer. Widely considered one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century, Miles Davis was, with his musical groups, at the forefront of several major developments in jazz music, including bebop, cool jazz,...
Personnel
- Miles DavisMiles DavisMiles Dewey Davis III was an American jazz musician, trumpeter, bandleader, and composer. Widely considered one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century, Miles Davis was, with his musical groups, at the forefront of several major developments in jazz music, including bebop, cool jazz,...
– electric trumpet with wah-wahWah-wahWah-wah is an imitative word for the sound of altering the resonance of musical notes to extend expressiveness, sounding much like a human voice saying the syllable wah. The wah-wah effect is a spectral glide, a "modification of the vowel quality of a tone"...
, organ - Sonny FortuneSonny FortuneSonny Fortune is an American jazz alto saxophonist and flautist. He also plays soprano saxophone, tenor saxophone, baritone saxophone and clarinet.-Biography:...
– soprano saxophone, alto saxophone, flute - Pete CoseyPete CoseyPete Cosey is an African-American guitarist most famous for playing with Miles Davis' band between 1973 and 1975. His fiercely flanged and distorted guitar bore comparisons to Jimi Hendrix...
– electric guitar, synthesizer, percussion - Reggie LucasReggie LucasReginald "Reggie" Lucas is an American musician, songwriter and record producer. Lucas is most famous for his production work with percussionist Mtume and for producing the majority of Madonna's 1983 self-titled debut album.-Biography:...
– electric guitar - Michael HendersonMichael HendersonMichael Henderson is an American bass guitarist and vocalist best known for his bass playing with Miles Davis in the early 1970s, on early fusion albums such as A Tribute to Jack Johnson, Pangaea, and Live-Evil.- Biography :He was one of the first notable bass guitarists of the fusion era as well...
– electric bass - Al FosterAl FosterAl Foster is an American jazz drummer. Foster played with Miles Davis's large funk fusion group in the 70s, was one of the few people to have contact with Miles during his retirement, and was also part of his comeback album The Man With the Horn of 1981...
– drums - MtumeJames MtumeJames Mtume is a jazz and R&B musician and a radio personality. Mtume's group is perhaps best known for their 1983 R&B hit song "Juicy Fruit". The song was sampled by The Notorious B.I.G. in his song "Juicy"...
– conga, percussion, water drum, rhythm box
Production
- Producer – Teo MaceroTeo MaceroTeo Macero , born Attilio Joseph Macero, was an American jazz saxophonist, composer, and record producer...
- Director – Keiichi Nakamura
- Engineer – Tamoo Suzuki
- Assistant Engineer – Mitsuru Kasai, Takaaki Amano
Alternative versions
The Japanese CD pressing indexes both "Prelude"s into one track, and the entire second disc is also indexed as one 60-minute track. http://www.discogs.com/release/1046026 This is also the index used on the 2009 CD release included in the Miles Davis: The Complete Columbia Album CollectionMiles Davis: The Complete Columbia Album Collection
Miles Davis: The Complete Columbia Album Collection is a box set by jazz musician Miles Davis, released in 2009. It contains all the official releases on the Columbia Records label. The box set consists of 70 CDs and 1 DVD.- Album groups :...
box set, along with the original Japanese cover.