MILES DAVIS - Aura (1989) APE (image+.cue), lossless

Miles' last recording for the Columbia label before heading for the financial allure of Warner Bros. in the mid-'80s was not released until 1989. This critic's guess is because largely they had no idea what to do with it. Unlike anything else in his catalog, Aura is a ten-part suite composed by Danish flügelhornist Palle Mikkelborg as a tribute. Influenced deeply by serialism and the inspiration of Gil Evans, Mikkelborg composed a theme from ten notes based on the letters of Davis' first and last names. The notes yielded a chord, which led him through the work. Employing a full orchestra and the guitar talents of former Davis collaborator John McLaughlin and famed European bassist Niels-Henning Ørsted Pederson, Aura's sections are named for the color spectrum, with the addition of white and "electric red." The music is an amalgam of classical impressionism, European new music, jazz, rock, electronic, and other genres. 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. The Gil Evans influence is everywhere apparent in the way strings segue into keyboards and float there until the trumpet or wind section comes for them and brings them home. It's easy to be cynical about a work like this, and call it a pastiche of Miles clichés. Far harder is it to place the entirety of Davis' career in one place and hear it expressed with so much warmth and elegance, because that career was so mercurial. Mikkelborg gave Miles a fine parting gift when he left Columbia, and listeners are so very fortunate for his generosity.  by Thom Jurek 
Tracklist:
1 Intro 4:25
2 White 6:02
Soloist, Guitar – John McLaughlin
3 Yellow 6:45
4 Orange 8:34
Soloist, Guitar – John McLaughlin
5 Red 9:56
6 Green 4:20
Soloist, Acoustic Bass – Niels Henning Oersted Pedersen
Soloist, Fretless Bass – Bo Stief
7 Blue 6:33
8 Electric Red 4:16
9 Indigo 5:58
Soloist, Acoustic Bass – Niels Henning Oersted Pedersen
Soloist, Piano [Acoustic] – Thomas Clausen
10 Violet 9:01
Soloist, Guitar – John McLaughlin
Credits:
Bass – Niels Henning Oersted Pedersen
Bass Trombone – Axel Windfeld, Ole Kurt Jensen
Cor Anglais, Oboe – Niels Eje
Drums – Lennart Gruvstedt
Electric Bass [Fender Bass], Fretless Bass – Bo Stief
Electronic Drums – Vince Wilburn
Flugelhorn [Additional], Trumpet [Additional] – Palle Mikkelborg
Guitar – Bjarne Roupé, John McLaughlin
Harp – Lillian Thornquist
Keyboards – Kenneth Knudsen, Ole Koch-Hansen, Thomas Clausen
Percussion – Ethan Weisgaard, Marilyn Mazur
Piano – Thomas Clausen
Saxophone, Woodwind – Bent Jaedig, Flemming Madsen, Jesper Thilo, Per Carsten, Uffe Karskov
Trombone – Jens Engel, Ture Larsen, Vincent Nilsson
Trumpet – Miles Davis (tracks: 1 to 8, 10)
Trumpet, Flugelhorn – Benny Rosenfeld, Idrees Sulieman, Jens Winther, Palle Bolvig, Perry Knudsen
Vocals – Eva Thaysen