‘World’-Class Funk by Davis

MILES DAVIS

“Live Around the World”

Warner Bros.

* * * 1/2

If jazz funk is your thing, this is about as good as it gets. Which means it is not the classic Davis of the ‘50s and ‘60s. Once that expectancy is laid aside, however, there’s a lot of fascinating music in this collection of live performances, recorded in venues around the world from 1988 to 1991.

Although Davis allocates most of the solo space to his players--saxophonist Kenny Garrett, keyboardist Adam Holzman, etc., either via repetitious rhythm vamps or in extended choruses--there are moments, especially in the earlier dates, in which his remarkable, minimalist melodies are a model of how to make music out of the interfacing of sounds and silences.

The final track, “Hannibal,” was recorded at the Hollywood Bowl in August 1991, just weeks before Davis died of pneumonia, respiratory failure and a stroke at 65. It was Davis’ last performance, and an awareness of that fact gives the piece a special poignancy. More to the point--and even more poignantly--it displays a Davis still capable of playing with technical control, creative imagination and rhythmic urgency.

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