The contrasts between Evans velvety but complex backdrops and Davis' extemporaneous work out front is compelling from start to finish.
It opens with a march and a fanfare, and then Davis blasts an uncanny solo- slow, choosing between a small handful of notes, but so intent and concentrated that his trumpet almost seems to be splintering. He sounds especially impassioned on "Saeta", a piece whose scales reflect the influence of North African music on flamenco. Davis is the only soloist on the record, and he burrows deeply into the melodies, turning them over with a huge, bulbous tone that's both strong and vulnerable. Sometimes the music just seems to hang in the air, and sometimes it lurches toward an unexpected climax. Using French horn, harp, oboe, and bassoon, as well as more typically jazz brass instruments like trumpet and trombone (Paul Chambers and Jimmy Cobb, the rhythm section of Davis' band, are both on hand, but they're playing charts- there's no room here for improvisation), Evans creates a shifting tapestry of luscious sound.
YOUTUBE MILES DAVIS SKETCHES OF SPAIN FULL
It's a piece by Spanish composer Joaquín Rodrigo, and if you hear it played with a classical guitar and full orchestra, you realize both how faithful Evans was to it in terms of structure and what he accomplished as far as texture. There's a real charge that comes from the distant, clattering percussion that begins "Concierto de Aranjuez (Adagio)", the opening track and centerpiece. But Sketches of Spain does something special. If we want something more forward with more improvisation and interplay, hey, there are a billion other records out there.
The majority of people encountering a record like Sketches of Spain for the first time probably have no special interest in jazz as an idea, and the notion of pursuing atmospheric records whose primary selling point is an overriding feel and an abiding surface-level prettiness is nothing to be embarrassed about. There is some merit to their claim, but the criticism now seems, interestingly, dated. The writers of The Penguin Guide to Jazz felt that the moodiness of Sketches of Spain dominated to the point where it added up to something closer to glorified elevator music. It's the kind of album that dims the light in the room whenever it plays. It's often quiet and atmospheric, at points coming over as almost ambient. There's a lot going on in the music that rewards a close listen, but it's also something you can put on and read to (though admittedly, some of the dynamic surges could be a little jolting). That's partly up to its potential contexts being so variable. So much so that, like its predecessor, it became the kind of record that someone with only two or three albums by jazz artists might have in their collection.
It's hard not to be taken in immediately.Īnd that's the first thing to note about Sketches of Spain: Where Davis' "Is this jazz?" albums from the late-60s forward were often dense and challenging ("Is this even music?" even came up now and then), Sketches of Spain was always easy to like.
While Evans' distinctive approach to harmony and tonal color- one of the most enjoyable "Hey, I get it!" moments as you first explore jazz is when you start to recognize his arrangements- inhabits a form that to the uninitiated can sound mysterious and exotic and sensual. Davis takes what is most striking about his trumpet style- the controlled soloing in the middle register, with a mastery of subtle shifts in focus- and amplifies it, creating measured phrases of almost painful intensity. So to say both were in strong form here would be an understatement. Davis was piling up hall of fame-caliber jazz albums with alarming regularity, while Evans, in addition to working with Davis frequently in the late 1950s, recorded what was perhaps his finest solo album in 1960, Out of the Cool (it vaguely shares a vibe with Sketches, but is in my estimation just a hair better). The two old friends and collaborators were on a huge roll creatively during this period. Working with arranger Gil Evans, Davis cooked up a concept album, looking to the structure and texture of Spanish folk and classical music for inspiration.
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