As with Ascenseur Pour L'Echafaud, this isn't one of Miles' most celebrated recordings, but it's still pretty damn good.
While I said Ascenseur was a Sunday morning album, this is more crepuscular. All of it was composed by Palle Mikkelborg, specifically for Miles. Apparently it was (in 1984) the first time Miles had played with an orchestra since his collaborations with Gil Evans in the early '60s. John McLaughlin also plays on the album, and don't know whether this might have been the first time since the early '70s that he'd played with Miles.
It's a concept album, with each of the colours that make up the track titles reflecting a different aspect of the aura that Mikkelborg perceived Miles as having. But you can ignore that and not lose anything as a result. Some of the pieces are up-tempo funk fusion compositions that suffer slightly from the trademark mid-'80s synth and bass sound; and the more pastoral pieces are more timeless in that respect. The bit at the end of Blue with the harp is particularly beautiful.
I believe I bought this album in the two years between its release and Miles' death. Was it the last new recording he put out before he died? Or might that have been his soundtrack to The Hot Spot with John Lee Hooker?
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