Water Babies | ||||
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Compilation album by Miles Davis | ||||
Released | November 1976 | |||
Recorded | June 7, 13, 23, 1967 November 11–12, 1968 |
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Studio | Columbia 30th Street Studio and Columbia Studio B in New York City | |||
Genre | Jazz fusion, post-bop | |||
Length | 53:05 | |||
Label | Columbia | |||
Producer | Teo Macero | |||
Miles Davis chronology | ||||
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Professional ratings | |
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Review scores | |
Source | Rating |
AllMusic | |
Down Beat | |
Encyclopedia of Popular Music | |
The Rolling Stone Album Guide | |
Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide | |
The Village Voice | B+ |
Water Babies is a compilation album by American jazz trumpeter Miles Davis. It compiled music Davis recorded in studio sessions with his quintet in 1967 and 1968, including outtakes from his 1968 album Nefertiti and recordings that foreshadowed his direction on In a Silent Way (1969), while covering styles such as jazz fusion and post-bop.Water Babies was released by Columbia Records in 1976 after Davis retired.
Released during Miles Davis's retirement in the second half of the seventies, it is a collection of stylistically diverse "leftovers" spanning eighteen months, from the Nefertiti sessions with the Miles Davis Quintet (1967) to the experimental, transitional period between Filles de Kilimanjaro and In a Silent Way (late 1968).
Due to these recordings being released years after they were recorded, the three Wayne Shorter compositions recorded during the 1967 session had made their first appearance in 1969 on Shorter's album Super Nova in a much more free jazz, avant-garde style.
Side 1 features the second great quintet of Davis, Shorter, Hancock, Williams and Carter. On Side 2, Ron Carter is replaced by Dave Holland and Chick Corea doubles with Hancock on electric piano; this line-up is very similar to the one that recorded In a Silent Way minus John McLaughlin and Joe Zawinul, tracks 4 to 6 being from those sessions. Shorter would switch from tenor to soprano saxophone after this session.