Could anyone ever truly offer The Last Word on Miles Davis?  Warner Bros. and Rhino attempted to do just that back in 2001-2002, with the planned release of a box set of the same name.  Of course, the set was planned to be the last word on the trumpeter's Warner Bros. years, the last period of his lengthy career.  The Last Word began as a 6-CD set, and a little sleuthing around the ‘net will yield a fascinating track listing of a 77-track comprehensive box, loaded with previously unreleased material including the Prince collaboration “Can I Play with U,” as well as soundtrack spots and guest appearances on records by Toto, Cameo, Paolo Rusticelli, Chaka Khan and others.  Soon, legal and licensing issues arose, and six discs became four.  The abridged 4-CD set was announced and released for review (you can read one assessment here) before being abandoned.

Flash forward to 2011.  Warner’s European arm has at long last issued a box set of Miles Davis’ 1986-1991 years at the Warner Bros. label.  The 5-CD The Warner Years: 1986-1991 doesn’t offer the wealth of riches that the previous box would have.  Gone are all but four of the previously unreleased tracks, along with some of the collaborations including the much-heralded Prince track.  Much, but not all, of the licensed material is absent, with “We Three Kings” from the film Scrooged and all but one track from Jack Nitzsche’s soundtrack to The Hot Spot among the deleted tracks.   What remains?  The Warner Years offers the complete albums Tutu (1986), Amandla (1989), Live Around the World (1996), Miles and Quincy Live at Montreux (1991) and  Doo-Bop (1991), plus seven selections from the soundtrack of Dingo (1991) and five from Siesta (1987).  Its fifth disc includes four unreleased songs and performances on which Davis accompanied Scritti Politti, Cameo, Chaka Khan, Zucchero, Kenny Garrett, Marcus Miller and Shirley Horn.  As it stands, The Warner Years is a hybrid between a “Complete Recordings” box set and a period overview/anthology.  (The box follows the release earlier this year of Tutu as a deluxe 2-CD edition, with a second disc of unreleased live material.)

We pick up the story after the jump!

The Warner Bros. years marked a period of great change for Davis.  Frustrated by what he perceived as poor treatment at the hands of the Columbia Records brass, he left the label that had been his home since 1957.  His final Columbia release was You’re Under Arrest, a 1985 album which included renditions of some then-current pop songs such as Cyndi Lauper’s “Time After Time” and Michael Jackson’s “Human Nature.”  For his 1986 Warner debut Tutu, Davis reunited with Marcus Miller, a collaborator since 1981’s Man with the Horn at Columbia.  Tutu was well-received, even picking up a Grammy Award in 1987.  Davis busied himself with the scores to four films (Street Smart, Siesta, The Hot Spot and Dingo) and even appeared onscreen in Bill Murray’s 1988 Scrooged as well as on the small screen in Miami Vice!   Amandla, the proper studio follow-up to Tutu arrived in 1989, and Davis’ cachet was higher than it had been in years.  At the instigation of Quincy Jones, Davis even consented to revisit his 1950s repertoire with Gil Evans for the first time in decades at the Montreux Jazz Festival.  This performance was released posthumously as Miles and Quincy Live at Montreux.  Davis died on September 28, 1991 at the age of 65, and his final album, the hip hop-influenced Doo-Bop, was released after his death.

As this period in Davis' career is so often overlooked, The Warner Years: 1986-1991 might be just the right box to fill in those gaps in your Davis discography.  It's available from Warner Europe now, and should arrive stateside next week.  A pre-order link and track listing with discographical information is just below!

Miles Davis, The Warner Years: 1986-1991 (Warner Music Europe, 2011)

CD 1: Tutu (Tracks 1-8), Music from Siesta (9-13), Amandla (14-15)

1. Tutu
2. Tomaas
3. Portia
4. Splatch
5. Backyard Ritual
6. Perfect Way
7. Don’t Lose Your Mind
8. Full Nelson
9. Siesta – Kitt’s Kiss – Lost In Madrid Part II
10. Theme For Augustine – Wind – Seduction – Kiss
11. Lost In Madrid Part IV – Rat Dance – The Call
12. Claire – Lost In Madrid Part V
13. Los Feliz
14. Catémbe
15. Cobra

CD 2: Amandla (Tracks 1-6), Dingo: Original Soundtrack (7-13), Live Around the World (14-16)

1. Big Time
2. Hannibal
3. Jo-Jo
4. Amandla
5. Jilli
6. Mr. Pastorius
7. The Arrival
8. Concert On The Runway
9. The Departure
10. Trumpet Cleaning
11. The Dream
12. Paris Walking II
13. The Jam Session
14. In A Silent Way (live)
15. Intruder (live)
16. New Blues (live)

CD 3: Live Around the World (Tracks 1-8), Miles and Quincy Live at Montreux (9-15)

1. Human Nature (live)
2. Mr. Pastorius (live)
3. Amandla (live)
4. Wrinkle (live)
5. Tutu (live)
6. Full Nelson (live)
7. Time After Time (live)
8. Hannibal (live)
9. Introduction By Claude Nobs And Quincy Jones (live)
10. Boplicity (live)
11. Introduction To Miles Ahead Medley (live)
12. Springsville (live)
13. Maids Of Cadiz (live)
14. The Duke (live)
15. My Ship (live)

CD 4: Miles and Quincy Live at Montreux (Tracks 1-9), Doo-Bop (10-18)

1. Miles Ahead (live)
2. Blues For Pablo (live)
3. Introduction To Porgy And Bess Medley (live)
4. Orgone (live)
5. Gone, Gone Gone (live)
6. Summertime (live)
7. Here Come De Honey Man (live)
8. The Pan Piper (live)
9. Solea (live)
10. Mystery
11. The Doo-Bop Song
12. Chocolate Chip
13. High Speed Chase
14. Blow
15. Sonya
16. Fantasy
17. Duke Booty
18. Mystery (Reprise)

CD 5: Rarities & Studio Guest Appearances

1. Maze (previously unreleased, rec. 1985)
2. See I See (previously unreleased, rec. 1985)
3. Rubber Band (previously unreleased, rec. 1985)
4. Digg That (previously unreleased, rec. 1987)
5. Oh Patti (Don’t Feel Sorry For Loverboy) -Scritti Politti feat. Miles Davis (Virgin single VS 1006, 1988)
6. In The Night - Cameo feat. Miles Davis (Machismo, Atlantic 836002, 1988)
7. Sticky Wicked - Chaka Khan feat. Miles Davis (C.K., Warner Bros. 25707, 1988)
8. I’ll Be Around - Chaka Khan feat. Miles Davis (C.K., Warner Bros. 25707, 1988)
9. Dune Mosse - Zucchero feat. Miles Davis (rec. 1988, appears on album Zucchero and Co., Universal Italy  981 998-0, 2004)
10. Big Ol’ Head - Kenny Garrett feat. Miles Davis (Prisoner of Love, Atlantic 82046, 1989)
11. Free Mandela - Kenny Garrett feat. Miles Davis (Prisoner of Love, Atlantic 82046, 1989)
12. Rampage - Marcus Miller Featuring Miles Davis (The Sun Don't Lie, P.R.A. 60201-2, 1993)
13. Gloria’s Story (The Hot Spot Original Soundtrack, Antilles 422-846 813-2, 1990)
14. You Won’t Forget Me - Shirley Horn feat. Miles Davis (You Won't Forget Me, Verve 847 482-2, 1991)