Dark Magus: Live at Carnegie HallAnticipates Developments in Jungle, Noise, and Drum n Bass Music: Funky, Free-Form Miles Davis Double Album Is an Exhilarating Jazz-Rock Trip

On Domestic Vinyl for the First Time: Mobile Fidelitys Numbered-Edition 180g 33RPM 2LP Set Presents Performances with Absorbing Detail and Color

1/4 / 15 IPS analog copy to DSD 256 to analog console to lathe

Its safe to assume no one in the audience at Carnegie Hall on March 30, 1974 anticipated what Miles Davis would play at the concert documented onDark Magus: Live at Carnegie Hall. Recorded near the tail end of his electric period, the double album remains the darkest, most ferocious statement of Davis careera visionary effort that foresaw developments in jungle, noise-rock, funk, and drum n bass.

Initially issued in Japan in 1977,Dark Maguswaited two decades for U.S. release. Now, more than 50 years after Davis and his ensemble blew minds at the famous New York venue, it gets its first-ever domestic issue on vinyland on a definitive-sounding pressing at that.

Mastered at Mobile Fidelity’s California studio, housed in a Stoughton gatefold jacket, and pressed at Fidelity Record Pressing, this numbered-edition 180g 33RPM 2LP set ofDark Magusinvites you to pull up a seat and wrap your head around an exhilarating performance that simultaneously functions as an audition, experiment, release, and magnificent explosion of jazz-rock fusion. We hope your turntable and speakers are up to the challenge.

This collectible reissue presents the improvisational magic that unfolded onstagethe skronking tonalities, wah-wah-pedal bluster, acid-washed effects, furious drumming, run-the-voodoo-down grooves, menacing riffs, crashing cymbalswith incredible detail, color, and pace. It also captures the bands unbelievable energy, rendering both instruments and on-the-fly changes with revealing depth, definition, and dynamics. At its core, MoFis audiophile set takes you deep into the boundless mystery, promise, and uncertainty of Davis and companys efforts like never before.

The story behindDark Magusis nearly as unbelievable as the spur-of-the-moment compositions that resulted when Davis brought drummer Al Foster, bassist Michael Henderson, percussionist James Mtume, horn virtuoso Dave Liebman, and guitarists Pete Cosey and Reggie Lucas together, and, in a new twist for the concerts second half, added guitarist Dominique Gaumont and tenor saxophonist Azar Lawrence to mix. That the latter two instrumentalists had never seen each other until that night adds to Davis legendand penchant for bold, unorthodox moves.

Ditto Davis own actions that spring evening, which reportedly included showing up to the show an hour late and taking the stage with his back facing the crowd. The strategy worked. Davis inspired the group to play in a bold manner that few, if any, had heard before.Dark Magusis a rhythmic bonanza. Rooted in Afro-centrist techniques, avante-garde sensibilities, and exploratory moods, the songs eschew set arrangements and solos, and, for the most part, melodic devices.

For Davis,Dark Magusrepresented a personal triumph amid a period marked by health issues, addictions, and critical decline. The latter slight would be corrected, but not until decades later whenDark Magussaw Stateside release in 1997 via a CD reissue. Of course, the free-form patterns, unpredictable passages, dense structures, and distorted blues that course through the songstitled after Swahili numeralsare not for everyone. And certainly not for the fainthearted. ThoughDark Maguscontains majestic moments marked by quiet restraint and something on the level of balladry, its rich and radical concoction of tormented thwacks, thumps, cracks, clatters, wails, bleeps, burbles, stomps, and enigmatic beats remains its adventurous heart and soul.

Primal and enigmatic, fierce and jagged, forceful and revolutionary, jolting and terrifying,Dark Magusseemingly attacks from any and all directions. Turn it up loud and let the prophetic brilliance of this inimitable and relentlessly funky album wash over you.

Format / LP
Released / 02/28/2025
Catalogue / LMF-566
Barcode / 198028170314
Artist /Miles Davis
Label /Mobile Fidelity
Genre /Jazz