Seldom do recordings of previously unissued material from the past demand jazz history be re-written. Live in Europe 1969 Vol. 2 is one such release – three CDs and one DVD that is now the most exciting representation of Miles Davis extant. Forget In a Silent Way (February 1969) and Bitches Brew (August 1969) and any of the other studio recordings during this period that subsequently surfaced in later years on compilations such as Directions or Big Fun, as a commentary of where Miles Davis' music was in 1969. Live in Europe Vol. 2 blows all that out of the water – where In a Silent Way was a pleasant – placid, even – curtain-raiser for Davis' ‘electric’ period, and Bitches Brew turgid and even boring in places, these European recordings of the Davis Quintet of the period are among the most exciting jazz ever recorded, every musician at the peak of their form, taking jazz to places it had never been before, and it's fair to say, probably never will be again. The reason why they emerge now as such a sensation is that this version of Davis' ensembles never got to record for Columbia in their own right; yes, they appeared on Directions and Bitches Brew, but augmented by other musicians so they never got to do their thing. It is for this reason that Davis' Class of 69 has become known as ‘The Lost Quintet’, and jazz history was constructed as an after-the-fact rationalisation around available recorded evidence (there was no shortage of first hand accounts testifying that this was probably Davis' best ensemble ever, but they were never considered).

You really don't have to get past the first two tracks on CD1 (recorded live at the Antibes Jazz Festival in July 1969 – the month before Bitches Brew was recorded) to realise what a distorted picture of history we now have.

Which is the delight of this collection – here is jazz at the highest level of creativity as timeless now as it was then.

In 2009 there were press features and a TV documentary that posited 1959 may have been the high-watermark for jazz (the year of Kind of Blue, Time Out and so on) and it's been all down-hill since then. This recording single-handedly makes the case for 1969.