Since today is Miles Davis’ birthday, I thought I would like to share with you one of my favorite albums of his. Around the time I began exploring the music of John Coltrane, I had been familiar with Miles’ earlier modal jazz like Kind Of Blue and Sketches Of Spain. Then one day, I was listening to a radio show called Jazz Profiles. This particular episode focused on the evolution of electric instruments being included in jazz. They played an excerpt of “Pharaoh’s Dance” (the first trumpet solo from around the 3:40 – 5:35 mark) and I was fascinated hearing each instrument playing freely, while also keeping a groove. Then I asked both my mom and dad to find this album, even though I was very nervous about the title at the time. When it arrived, I listened to it constantly.

Like King Crimson, Miles Davis was exploring free improvisation with his band. There would be a simple form, maybe a couple of chords per section, and the players would just play what they felt in the moment. There would be a main theme: Rhodes melody on “Pharaoh’s Dance,” a bassline on the title track, another bassline on “Miles Runs The Voodoo Down,” etc…

What’s also wild are the two Rhodes pianos, two basses, and two drummers all playing at the same time! This was also my intro to John McLaughlin’s guitar playing. He was playing with a clean tone, rather than the full distorted sound he would get later on in his career. Then there’s the bass clarinet which I had never been familiar with in jazz music, along with the expressive playing of Wayne Shorter’s soprano saxophone. It was also cool that these players would later go on to form Weather Report, and the Mahavishnu Orchestra, two of my favorite fusion bands.

Just like with my first King Crimson pick for this list, I pictured each instrument as a character, and each song as a different place. It would be very difficult to explain it without hearing the music, and without knowing the time length of each particular section.

“Pharaoh’s Dance” in my head was an introduction leading to adventure. The title track had lots of unique twists in the groove sections, sometimes exploring out of tune moments, looping, like on “Pharaoh’s Dance” (which I had never heard on a jazz recording before, except on a Nu Jazz compilation with remixes), and the spacy echos in the free sections get to me every time, especially the trumpet phrases from 2:14 to 2:25. I also tried recreating Miles’ first solo in the groove section using my adaptive recording program on my computer called Sonar. I was fascinated by the less-is-more approach in Miles’ and Wayne’s playing, in contrast to the multiple dialogue from the rhythm section. One drummer would play a groove, while the other played more textures. Or on the first track where one drummer plays a rocking groove with the high hat, and the other is playing in a more jazzy feel with the ride cymbal. Then there are the different reverbs in each instrument.

As I’m listening to this track again, I’m reminded of how wild it was for the band to play in a really cool rocking groove, and twist harmonies between the two keys of C and B major, improvise in unusual modes, bring in dynamics, etc. Someday, I would like to write or make up an idea that would be rocking, or any groove, and twist chords, and key signatures around.

On “Spanish Key,” I’ve always loved how it changes between three keys: E, D, and G major. Because I had already been familiar with the Spanish explorations on Sketches Of Spain, I was excited to hear what he and the others would explore in those modes.

I’ve always enjoyed the bluesy “Miles Runs The Voodoo Down.” I used to sing Miles’ solos just for fun, play the Rhodes solos on my Nord keyboard, etc.

I hope you’ll find this album fascinating, and that you will enjoy it.