Miles Davis / Bill Laswell – Panthalassa: The Music Of Miles Davis 1969-1974 (1997)

November 7, 2020

Having being slightly disappointed by Miles’ early 90s attempts at bridging into a more electronic music / hiphop direction (hey, just imagine what that could have done for popular music), I was a little anxious going in to this. As much as I would trust Bill Laswell with any band (except maybe Swans hahaha) I was indeed skeptical.

But of course, my worries were quickly put to rest. What we have here is a gorgeous mirage of jazz fusion set to the backdrop of Laswell’s studio trickery and dub wizardy. Davis tracks are splintered into four approx-15-min collages of gorgeous sound.

I will have to return to this album in a few years, once I have explored the Davis (and Laswell) catalog a bit more thoroughly and can greater appreciate what is going on.