''Aura'' is a
concept album by
Miles Davis
Miles Dewey Davis III (May 26, 1926September 28, 1991) was an American trumpeter, bandleader, and composer. He is among the most influential and acclaimed figures in the history of jazz and 20th-century music. Davis adopted a variety of musi ...
, produced by Danish composer/trumpeter
Palle Mikkelborg
Palle Mikkelborg (born 6 March 1941) is a Danish jazz trumpet player, composer, arranger and record producer.
He is self-taught on the trumpet, although he studied conducting at the Royal Music Conservatory in Copenhagen. He became a professio ...
, released in 1989. All compositions and arrangements are by Mikkelborg, who created the suite in tribute when Davis received the
Léonie Sonning Music Prize
The Léonie Sonning Music Prize, or Sonning Award, which is recognized as Denmark's highest musical honor, is given annually to an international composer or musician. It was first awarded in 1959 to composer Igor Stravinsky. Laureates are now s ...
in December 1984, the year ''
Decoy
A decoy (derived from the Dutch ''de'' ''kooi'', literally "the cage" or possibly ''ende kooi'', " duck cage") is usually a person, device, or event which resembles what an individual or a group might be looking for, but it is only meant to lu ...
'' was released. This was Miles Davis' final album released in his lifetime.
Background
The main theme consists of 10 notes, yielded by the letters "M-I-L-E-S-D-A-V-I-S" (see
BACH motif, and
Schoenberg hexachord
6-Z44 (012569), known as the Schoenberg hexachord, is Arnold Schoenberg's signature hexachord, as one transposition contains the pitches Es, C, H, B, E, G (A. Schoenberg), E, B, and B being Es, H, and B in German.Friedmann, Michael L. (1990) ...
"EsCHBEG", and the chart at
Musical notes#Accidentals). It is introduced at the beginning over a sustained chord of these same notes. The following 9 movements of the suite represent the colours Mikkelborg sees in Davis's aura.
The music is scored for an extended jazz big band, and the core of the band is formed by the
Danish Radio Big Band, featuring
Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen
Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen (, 27 May 1946 – 19 April 2005), also known by his abbreviated nickname NHØP, was a Danish jazz double bassist.
Biography
Pedersen was born in Osted, near Roskilde, on the Danish island of Zealand, the son of ...
,
Thomas Clausen Thomas Clausen may refer to:
* Thomas Clausen (educator) (1939–2002), educator from Baton Rouge, Louisiana
*Thomas Clausen (musician) (born 1949), Danish jazz pianist
*Thomas Clausen (mathematician)
Thomas Clausen (16 January 1801, Snogbæk, ...
and
Marilyn Mazur
Marilyn Mazur (born January 18, 1955) is an American-born Danish percussionist. Since 1975, she has worked as a percussionist with various groups, among them Six Winds with Alex Riel. Mazur is primarily an autodidact, but she has a degree in ...
. Guests such as
John McLaughlin John or Jon McLaughlin may refer to:
Arts and entertainment
* John McLaughlin (musician) (born 1942), English jazz fusion guitarist, member of Mahavishnu Orchestra
* Jon McLaughlin (musician) (born 1982), American singer-songwriter
* John McLaug ...
and Davis' nephew Vince Wilburn are featured. The sessions took place in Copenhagen in 1985 at Davis' own initiative, as he had been very honored and satisfied with the suite. It was the first time Miles Davis had recorded with a big band for over 20 years. ''Aura'', however, is not a conventional big band jazz album. The music is perhaps best categorized as
fusion jazz
Jazz fusion (also known as fusion and progressive jazz) is a music genre that developed in the late 1960s when musicians combined jazz harmony and improvisation with rock music, funk, and rhythm and blues. Electric guitars, amplifiers, and ke ...
with a strong flavor of modern classical music, as many of the orchestral passages reveal Mikkelborg's inspiration from composers like
Olivier Messiaen and
Charles Ives.
Although the album was recorded at Easy Sound Studios in Copenhagen in 1985, contractual issues delayed its release until 1989. Davis claimed in September 1985 that Columbia would not release it and gave this as a reason for switching labels and signing to Warners, while Columbia itself said the problem was connected with Mikkelborg's own contracts. The album won a
Grammy Award in 1990 for
Best Jazz Instrumental Performance.
Critical reception
''Aura'' was well received by
music critics
Music journalism (or music criticism) is media criticism and reporting about music topics, including popular music, classical music, and traditional music. Journalists began writing about music in the eighteenth century, providing commentary on w ...
.
AllMusic
AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databa ...
editor Thom Jurek described its music as "an amalgam of
classical impressionism,
European new music,
jazz
Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a m ...
,
rock
Rock most often refers to:
* Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids
* Rock music, a genre of popular music
Rock or Rocks may also refer to:
Places United Kingdom
* Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...
,
electronic
Electronic may refer to:
*Electronics, the science of how to control electric energy in semiconductor
* ''Electronics'' (magazine), a defunct American trade journal
*Electronic storage, the storage of data using an electronic device
*Electronic co ...
, and other genres."
He called the album Mikkelborg's "fine parting gift" for Davis and wrote, "As a tribute and separate orchestral work, it's quite moving and beautiful, full of moody interludes and evocations of nuance, color, texture, and dynamic. With Davis added, soloing in his trademark muted, rounded warmth, the music becomes almost breathtaking."
Wes Long of ''
PopMatters
''PopMatters'' is an international online magazine of cultural criticism that covers aspects of popular culture. ''PopMatters'' publishes reviews, interviews, and essays on cultural products and expressions in areas such as music, television, fi ...
'' called ''Aura'' "ruthlessly inventive", an "ever-moody masterpiece", and "quite possibly the last monumental effort" from Davis.
Fred Kaplan of ''
New York'' commented that the release emerged from an era of "mechanical rut" for Davis and called ''Aura'' "a jolting synthesis of jazz, rock, and
Messiaen
Olivier Eugène Prosper Charles Messiaen (, ; ; 10 December 1908 – 27 April 1992) was a French composer, organist, and ornithologist who was one of the major composers of the 20th century. His music is rhythmically complex; harmonicall ...
-influenced
classical music
Classical music generally refers to the art music of the Western world, considered to be distinct from Western folk music or popular music traditions. It is sometimes distinguished as Western classical music, as the term "classical music" also ...
that lit up a future path lamentably unfollowed."
Todd S. Jenkins of ''
All About Jazz
''All About Jazz'' is a website established by Michael Ricci in 1995. A volunteer staff publishes news, album reviews, articles, videos, and listings of concerts and other events having to do with jazz. Ricci maintains a related site, ''Jazz Near ...
'' commented that the album "successfully blends Miles’ electric style with the feel of his earlier
big-band
A big band or jazz orchestra is a type of musical ensemble of jazz music that usually consists of ten or more musicians with four sections: saxophones, trumpets, trombones, and a rhythm section. Big bands originated during the early 1910s and ...
works with
Gil Evans
Ian Ernest Gilmore Evans (né Green; May 13, 1912 – March 20, 1988) was a Canadian–American jazz pianist, arranger, composer and bandleader. He is widely recognized as one of the greatest orchestrators in jazz, playing an important role ...
, another of Mikkelborg’s prime inspirations."
He wrote in conclusion, "Mikkelborg’s work offered Miles the chance to touch once more upon many of the phases his career had touched and then sailed past. If any post-''
Bitches Brew'' album by Miles should be considered essential, this is the one. Pure magic from beginning to end."
In ''
Christgau's Record Guide: The '80s'' (1990), music critic
Robert Christgau
Robert Thomas Christgau ( ; born April 18, 1942) is an American music journalist and essayist. Among the most well-known and influential music critics, he began his career in the late 1960s as one of the earliest professional rock critics and ...
cited it as Davis' best release during the 1980s. In ''
(The New) Rolling Stone Album Guide'' (2004), music journalist Paul Evans called ''Aura'' "an adventurous and pointedly non-pop-oriented big-band suite".
[Evans et al. Brackett & Hoard (2004), p. 219.]
Track listing
All tracks composed and arranged by Palle Mikkelborg
# "Intro" – 4:48
# "White" – 6:07
# "Yellow" – 6:55
# "Orange" – 8:41
# "Red" – 6:05
# "Green" – 8:13
# "Blue" – 6:36
# "Electric Red" – 4:19
# "Indigo" – 6:06
# "Violet" – 9:04
Personnel
* Trumpet: Miles Davis
* Trumpets and flugelhorns: Benny Rosenfeld,
Idrees Sulieman
Idrees Sulieman (August 7, 1923 – July 23, 2002) was an American bop and hard bop trumpeter.
Biography
He was born Leonard Graham in St. Petersburg, Florida, United States, later changing his name to Idrees Sulieman, after converting to Isl ...
,
Jens Winther, Palle Bolvig, Perry Knudsen,
Palle Mikkelborg
Palle Mikkelborg (born 6 March 1941) is a Danish jazz trumpet player, composer, arranger and record producer.
He is self-taught on the trumpet, although he studied conducting at the Royal Music Conservatory in Copenhagen. He became a professio ...
* Trombones: Jens Engel, Ture Larsen,
Vincent Nilsson
Vincent Nilsson is a Swedish jazz trombonist and arranger.
Biography
Nilsson played in the orchestra on the Miles Davis recording ''Aura'' in 1985.
Nilsson recorded ''Jazz Trombone Spirituals'' for Storyville Records in 1998. On the album, he u ...
* Bass trombone: Ole Kurt Jensen
* Bass trombone, tuba: Axel Windfeld
* Saxophones and woodwinds:
Bent Jædig
Bent Jædig (28 September 1935 – 9 June 2004) was a Danish jazz musician. He played tenor saxophone and flute.
Born and raised in Copenhagen, Bent Jædig first studied clarinet before playing saxophone. In the 1950s, he settled in Germany and ...
, Flemming Madsen,
Jesper Thilo
Jesper Thilo (born 28 November 1941) is a Danish jazz musician, mainly known as a tenor saxophonist, alto saxophonist and clarinetist. He is considered to be one of the top European straight-ahead jazz musicians of the post-1970 period. Ben ...
, Per Carsten, Uffe Karskov
* Oboe and English horn:
Niels Eje
* Keyboards: Kenneth Knudsen, Ole Kock Hansen,
Thomas Clausen Thomas Clausen may refer to:
* Thomas Clausen (educator) (1939–2002), educator from Baton Rouge, Louisiana
*Thomas Clausen (musician) (born 1949), Danish jazz pianist
*Thomas Clausen (mathematician)
Thomas Clausen (16 January 1801, Snogbæk, ...
* Guitars: Bjarne Roupé,
John McLaughlin John or Jon McLaughlin may refer to:
Arts and entertainment
* John McLaughlin (musician) (born 1942), English jazz fusion guitarist, member of Mahavishnu Orchestra
* Jon McLaughlin (musician) (born 1982), American singer-songwriter
* John McLaug ...
* Bass:
Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen
Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen (, 27 May 1946 – 19 April 2005), also known by his abbreviated nickname NHØP, was a Danish jazz double bassist.
Biography
Pedersen was born in Osted, near Roskilde, on the Danish island of Zealand, the son of ...
* Fender bass and fretless bass:
Bo Stief
Bo Stief (born 15 October 1946) is a Danish jazz and rock bassist, composer, and arranger born in Copenhagen.
He has worked or recorded with Don Cherry, Miles Davis, Stan Getz, Dizzy Gillespie, Dexter Gordon, Johnny Griffin, Jackie McLean, G ...
* Drums: Lennart Gruvstedt
* Electronic drums: Vincent Wilburn Jr.
* Percussion: Ethan Weisgaard,
Marilyn Mazur
Marilyn Mazur (born January 18, 1955) is an American-born Danish percussionist. Since 1975, she has worked as a percussionist with various groups, among them Six Winds with Alex Riel. Mazur is primarily an autodidact, but she has a degree in ...
* Harp: Lillian Thornquist
* Vocals: Eva Hess-Thaysen
Production
* Producer:
Palle Mikkelborg
Palle Mikkelborg (born 6 March 1941) is a Danish jazz trumpet player, composer, arranger and record producer.
He is self-taught on the trumpet, although he studied conducting at the Royal Music Conservatory in Copenhagen. He became a professio ...
* Engineers: Henrik Lund, Niels Erik Land
* Art Direction: Stacy Drummond
* Photography: Gilles Larrain
Notes
References
*
External links
* ? (2011)
"Miles Davis: ''Aura'', ''MilesDavis.com''.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Aura
1989 albums
Miles Davis albums
Columbia Records albums
Grammy Award for Best Large Jazz Ensemble Album
Concept albums