Water Babies (album)

Water Babies is a compilation album by American jazz trumpeter Miles Davis.[1] It compiled music Davis recorded in studio sessions with his quintet in 1967 and 1968,[2] including outtakes from his 1968 album Nefertiti and recordings that foreshadowed his direction on In a Silent Way (1969),[3] while covering styles such as jazz fusion and post-bop.[4] Water Babies was released by Columbia Records in 1976 after Davis had (temporarily) retired.[5]

Water Babies
Compilation album by
Miles Davis
ReleasedNovember 1976
RecordedJune 7, 13, 23, 1967
November 11–12, 1968
Studio
Genre
Length52:51
LabelColumbia
ProducerTeo Macero
Miles Davis chronology
Pangaea
(1976)		 Water Babies
(1976)		 Dark Magus
(1977)

Background

Released during Miles Davis's retirement in the second half of the seventies, it was originally a collection of five outtakes, three from the June, 1967 Nefertiti sessions with the Miles Davis Quintet (1967), and two from November 1968, recorded between the sessions that made up Filles de Kilimanjaro (Jun-Sep. 1968) and In a Silent Way (Feb. 1969).

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 with arrangements that reflected the early jazz fusion style that Shorter continued to develop in the first few Weather Report albums.

Side 1 of the original LP features the second great quintet of Davis, Shorter, Hancock, Williams and Carter playing the three Nefertiti outtakes. On Side 2 of the LP, Ron Carter is replaced by Dave Holland and Chick Corea doubles with Hancock on electric piano for two extended pieces from 1968. For the CD reissue, a third piece from November 1968 (Splash) was added to the album. The line-up of the 1968 sessions is very similar to the one that recorded In a Silent Way in 1969, with the exception of John McLaughlin and Joe Zawinul, who were not present on the 1968 sessions. Likewise, Shorter played tenor saxophone on the 1968 sessions, but switched to soprano saxophone for In a Silent Way.

In 2002, the album was reissued with "Splash" as a bonus track. "Splash" had been previously released on The Complete In a Silent Way Sessions, with an edited version released on Circle in the Round.

Title

Wayne Shorter named his composition "Water Babies" after the 1863 children's novel The Water-Babies, A Fairy Tale for a Land Baby. Shorter has said that the book was the first entire book that he read as a child. The book is a fairy tale that follows a boy named Tom who falls into a river and is transformed into a "water-baby", a type of fairy with gills that can live underwater. Shorter told an interviewer that story created within him "this wonder about the netherworld, about the places that we can't see, but that we can enter anytime. After death, I wondered, is it something like that?"[6]

Release and reception
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[2]
Down Beat[7]
Encyclopedia of Popular Music[8]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide[9]
The Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide[3]
Tom Hull – on the WebB+ ((2-star Honorable Mention)(2-star Honorable Mention))[10]
The Village VoiceB+[11]

Water Babies was released in November 1976 by Columbia Records.[12] In The Village Voice, Robert Christgau said the compiled recordings were not "quite vintage Miles", being particularly critical of "Dual Mr. Tillman Anthony" while finding "the rest is better".[11] Rolling Stone magazine's Bob Blumenthal was more enthusiastic, writing that the record showcased some of the best music by Davis' 1964-68 quintet, who were revealed with the passage of time to be "as daring and fascinating as any in the long Davis career".[13] "Although not an essential set", Scott Yanow wrote in AllMusic, "this album fills in some gaps during Davis's transitional period from adventurous acoustic playing to early electric performances."[2]

Track listing

All songs composed by Wayne Shorter except as noted.

1976 original LP version
Side one
No.TitleLength
1."Water Babies"5:06
2."Capricorn"8:27
3."Sweet Pea"7:59
Side two
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Two Faced" 18:01
2."Dual Mr. Tillman Anthony"Miles Davis, Tony Williams13:18

2002 CD reissue bonus track
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
6."Splash"Miles Davis10:05
  • Track 5 is retitled “Dual Mr. Anthony Tillmon Williams Process” on the 2002 CD reissue.

Personnel

Tracks 1-3

Tracks 4-6

References
  1. Freeman, Philip (2005). Running the Voodoo Down: The Electric Music of Miles Davis. Hal Leonard Corporation. p. 105. ISBN 1-61774-521-9.
  2. Yanow, Scott (2011). "Water Babies [Bonus Track] - Miles Davis | AllMusic". allmusic.com. Retrieved 20 July 2011.
  3. Swenson, J., ed. (1985). The Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide. USA: Random House/Rolling Stone. pp. 58. ISBN 0-394-72643-X.
  4. McCarthy, Harlan (May 4, 2016). "6 Essential Miles Davis Albums". The Riverfront Times. Retrieved June 24, 2016.
  5. Santoro, Gene (1995). Dancing in Your Head: Jazz, Blues, Rock, and Beyond. Oxford University Press. p. 169. ISBN 0195101235.
  6. Mercer, Michelle (2007). Footprints: The Life and Work of Wayne Shorter. Penguin. p. 18. ISBN 9781440629112.
  7. Alkyer, Frank; Enright, Ed; Koransky, Jason, eds. (2007). The Miles Davis Reader. Hal Leonard Corporation. p. 272. ISBN 978-1423430766.
  8. Larkin, Colin (2006). The Encyclopedia of Popular Music (4th ed.). MUZE. p. 210. ISBN 0195313739.
  9. Considine, J. D. (1992). "Miles Davis". In DeCurtis, Anthony; Henke, James; George-Warren, Holly (eds.). The Rolling Stone Album Guide (3rd ed.). Random House. p. 180. ISBN 0-679-73729-4.
  10. Hull, Tom (May 10, 2021). "Music Week". Tom Hull – on the Web. Retrieved May 13, 2021.
  11. Christgau, Robert (September 5, 1977). "Christgau's Consumer Guide". The Village Voice. Retrieved June 15, 2016.
  12. "Miles Davis Water Babies". Sony Music Entertainment. Retrieved June 15, 2016.
  13. Blumenthal, Bob (April 21, 1977). "Water Babies". Rolling Stone. Retrieved June 15, 2016.
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