MILES DAVIS - What It Is - Montreal 7/7/83 - 2LP Vinyl - RSD 2022 June Drop

This double LP release showcases one of Miles Davis' final great bands including John Scofield on guitar, Bill "The Other Bill Evans" Evans on saxophones, flute and electric piano, Darryl Jones on bass, Al Foster on drums and percussionist Mino Cinelu. Miles was back in amazing form ("incandescent and iridescent as ever" as Greg Tate noted) when he mounted the stage at the Theatre St-Denis during the Festival International de Jazz de Montreal in July 1983 and this 2LP 12" vinyl pressing marks the first release of this revelatory performance.

The recording has been lovingly mixed and mastered and will be included on CD and digitally in the next edition of the Miles Davis Bootleg series (focusing on the 1981-1985 period) coming later in the year; but the Record Store Day pressing of What It Is: Montreal 7/7/83 is its exclusive release on vinyl. What It Is includes tracks from Star People, the Marcus Miller tune "Hopscotch," and the song "Jean-Pierre" that appeared on 1982's We Want Miles. Miles thought so well of these recordings of "What It Is” and "That's What Happened” that he utilised them, in heavily edited form, for his 1984 release Decoy; What It Is presents these tracks for the first time in their complete form. Packaged in beautiful gatefold packaging, What It Is: Montreal 7/7/83 features liner notes penned by the incomparable music journalist Greg Tate in one of his final writing pieces.