Live-Evil (Miles Davis Album)

Live-Evil (Miles Davis Album)

Live-Evil is an album by Miles Davis, much of which was recorded live at The Cellar Door on December 19, 1970, and part of which was recorded in Columbia's Studio B, with different personnel, on February 6 and June 3–4, 1970. Though all compositions were originally credited to Miles Davis, the studio recordings "Little Church" ("Igrejinha"), "Nem Um Talvez" ("Not Even a Maybe") and "Selim" are by Brazilian composer and multi-instrumentalist Hermeto Pascoal, who also played with the Davis band on these tracks.

One of the key musicians on the album, John McLaughlin, was not a regular member of Miles Davis's band during the time of recording. McLaughlin joined the band for one of the four nights at the Cellar Door, rather like a session player; this is not the case for other Davis albums that he worked on.

Davis had originally intended the album to be a spiritual successor to Bitches Brew, but this idea was abandoned when it became obvious that Live-Evil was "something completely different".