Time After Time: Miles in the Studio and on the Road

As I noted in a post from 2011, I was knocked out by and 1987 performance where Miles Davis played “Time After Time” (immediately following “Human Nature”) in Avery Fisher Hall in Lincoln Center, NYC. The tune has haunted me ever since.

Here I offer three versions of it. The first is a studio recording while the other two are from live gigs. The studio version has a single climax near the end, as do the live versions. The live versions are longer than the studio version. They also have a greater range of volumes, from very soft to very loud. I’ve made some informal notes on the studio version and the 1989 live version. The 1988 live version resembles the 1989 more it does than the studio version.

At the end I have a short video where Sonny Rollins discusses Miles. FWIW, yesterday, May 26, was Miles’ birthday (b. 1926).

Studio recording 1984

In the recording studio, January 26-27, 1984, Record Plant Studio, New York City, New York

Miles Davis: Miles Davis (tpt); John Scofield (g); Robert Irving III (synth); Darryl Jones (el-b); Al Foster (d); Steve Thornton (perc)

I’m sure I heard Cyndi Lauper sing this back in the day. But I don’t remember it. I started following along with the sheet music, to see the form more clearly, and it became apparent that Miles has done some recomposing of the melody. Which is common, and fine. This is not a tune with a lot of melodic action, so parsing it is a little tricky.

Opens with Miles on muted trumpet, the rhythm section enters quickly. Melody at about 0:18. Miles, with keys shadowing on chords.

Miles will continue playing in relation to the melody, sometimes hitting, sometimes embellishing, recomposing, and every now and then an excursion away. But he’s always in sight of it.

Repeat 0:45.
Bridge: 1:19.
Back to the beginning: 2:14.
Repeat: 2:55.
Bridge: 3:34.
High note: 4:14. The only one in the recording, establishing a single climax.
Back to beginning: 4:29.
From about 4:42 Miles plays fairly freely
Strong melodic reference, 5:12
Another reference, 5:18, fade to end.

Live in Chicago 1989

JVC Jazz Festival, Chicago Theatre, Chicago, Illinois, June 5, 1989

Miles Davis (tp, keyb); Kenny Garrett (as, ss, fl); Joe ‘Foley’ McCreary (lead bg); Adam Holzman (synth); Kei Akagi (synth); Benny Rietveld (el-b); Ricky Wellman (d); Munyungo Jackson (perc)

The overall approach is similar to the studio recording. Miles is almost always playing in relation to the melody; we’re rarely very far from reference to or quote from the melody. But the whole performance is opened up; Miles makes more use of phrases that start high and go low; and he has a dialog with his lead bassist, Foley, before the final open-trumpet push to the end.

Miles starts unaccompanied, noodling on open trumpet, middle and lower register, some half valves, accompaniment comes up softly and slowly.
Bass and drums, 0:36
High-to-low, 1:03
Middle-to-low, 1:19-25,
Miles stays silent (while he inserts mute)
Starting high soft and muted, out of nowhere and staying more or less up, noodling, 1:44 – 2:04
Drops straight down for a short phrase, 2:05
Miles plays the melody at 2:15
Still on melody, comes down to bottom, 3:21
Melody reference, 4:20, 2 tumbling down phrases
Melody reference, 4:35
Bridge, 4:55
An air of finality, 5:24
Volume picks up, 5:43
Miles, open trumpet, high, 5:46, working his way down as volume builds
High ‘squeal’ from Miles, short, then he goes silent, 6:14, and the rhythm section drops way down, they knew it was coming.
Muted Miles noodles softly with Foley, on ‘lead’ bass, 6:23
Miles high & soft, 7:19, continuing with Foley, trading phrases
Miles has stopped playing, 8:31, the rhythm section starts bringing up the volume
Miles, open horn, starts in upper middle register, 8:52, goes up, then
tumbles down a bit & goes silent Miles re-enters, 9:20,
Bass drum hits, 9:32,
Miles peals off a quick upper register hit, 9:34
We’re done.

Munich, Germany 1988

MILES DAVIS – Live in Germany 1988 (Munich Philharmonic Concert Hall)
MILES DAVIS – trumpet,
KENNY GARRETT – saxophone
BOBBY IRVING – keyboards
ADAM HOLZMAN – keyboards
JOSEPH „FOLEY” McCREARY – guitar BENJAMIN RIETVELD – bass
MARILYN MAZUR – percussion
RICKY WELLMAN – drums

Almost the same band as for Chicago, 1989. The instrumentation is the same except for Mazur and Irving.

Note that “Time After Time” doesn’t start until 0:26. The overall performance is organized in the same way. Notice how he initiates the interchange with Foley (c. 6:49) and how they play facing one another.