Now, where were we? Ah yes, The Second Great Quintet (1964-1968)
By the time of 'E.S.P.' (1965) Davis' lineup consisted of Wayne Shorter, Herbie Hancock, Ron Carter (bass) and Tony Williams (drums). Picking up where the first quintet picked off, the Live At The Plugged Nickel set from 1965 shows them still playing mainly Be-bop & standards but slowly & surely, as confidence grew, their playing style modified with Wayne Shorter becoming the main composer within the quintet. The quintet's approach to improvisation came to be known as "time no changes" or "freebop", because they abandoned the chord-change-based approach of bebop for a modal approach.
Through 'Nefertiti', the studio recordings consisted primarily of originals composed by Shorter, and to a lesser degree of compositions by the other sidemen. In 1967, the group began to start to play their live concerts as continuous sets, a format that was to continue until Miles' withdrawl from music in 1975.
'Miles in the Sky' and 'Filles de Kilimanjaro', on which electric bass, electric piano and guitar were introduced on some tracks, pointed the way to his subsequent fusion phase, along with more rock-oriented rhythms. By the time the second half of 'Filles de Kilimanjaro' had been recorded, Dave Holland and Chick Corea had replaced Ron Carter and Herbie Hancock in the working band, athough both Carter and Hancock would occasionally contribute to future recordings. It was at this point that Miles began to take over the compositional duties of his sidemen.
Essential listening from this period would be the wonderful 'Miles Smiles' from 1966 or 'Nefertiti' from 1967. The Bitch was beginning to Brew ... |
London Jazz Festival Friday 30 November 2007 23:30-1:00: Jez Nelson presents the final programme from the 2007 London Jazz Festival, featuring highlights from the Adventures in Sound event at the Southbank Centre.
