AT the start of the pandemic I needed an all-consuming distraction, like many of us, and I became really interested in listening to a lot of live Miles, almost to the point of obsession. I had the live albums of the period, and a smattering of bootlegs, but it felt as though there was still an incomplete picture of the evolution from ’69 to ’75. I started to search out the tapes between the tapes I had, piecing together the evolution.
It was interesting for myself, but I imagined, given the difficulty with finding so many of these tapes, I was probably not alone. So I started the blog, going chronologically – two years later and we’re probably 11 or 12 shows from the end. It was always Miles’ singular vision, but he still had to convince the band to go with him. I think that took until 1970 – there’s a great show on February 22 in Ann Arbor with John McLaughlin, which seems to be one of the shows where the band finally gets it.