Sun Drenched

Another of the Miles Davis / Gil Evans joint projects, this one is Sketches Of Spain. There is a popular conception that the entire disk is a reworking of Rodrigo's Concierto de Aranjuez but in fact only the adagio of that work is included and represents about a third of the album which also has a piece by De Falla and Gil Evans originals. Apparently Rodrigo hated the interpretation, strangely given the inherent musicality of it which you would have thought a fellow professional would recognise. There's certainly no sense of ripping up the original, the orchestrations and jazz nuances of Evans are understated and Miles plays a restrained mute that evokes the atmosphere of the work. The whole album is a disciplined work, the orchestra plays Evans's arrangements straight ( not all of them are strict jazzers ) and it is only Miles who improvises to any extent and he isn't exactly cutting loose. Apart from the Concierto, the other extended number is Solea, written by Evans, which is a rhythmically intricate march with flamenco and blues interlinked. The shorter tracks all retain the Spanish ambience of the disk and while this is a one off project, it did point the way to the inclusion of more exotoc influences on jazz players ( ok, there had been odd instances before but this kick started it ).