Miles Davis
Miles Smiles

Among Davis' studio albums, after “Kind Of Blue,” the greatest is “Miles Smiles.” The other numerous Davisian masterpieces are a notch below. And while from a purely melodic point of view, the 1959 masterpiece remains unsurpassable, the orange album represents an equally monumental achievement from a rhythmic point of view.

We are in '66, and the best rhythm section in the world has been playing together for three years. The first time it happened at Davis' house. The shaman left them rehearsing for three days while he listened to them through the intercom. The impassive Miles, already a veteran of many adventures, was genuinely astonished for once, overwhelmed with euphoria!

His words about it, taken from the autobiography: “I immediately knew this would be a great group. For the first time in a long time, I felt really excited because if they already played so well together after a few days, what would happen after a few months? Damn, I could feel that music bursting with energy everywhere.” On the 17-year-old Tony Williams: “Just hearing that little guy brought back my enthusiasm. (...) I felt this would become one of the greatest sons of bitches who ever played drums. (...) no one has ever played with me as well as he does.” On Herbie Hancock: “Herbie was a step ahead of Bud Powell and Thelonious Monk, and I've never heard anyone go beyond him.” On Ron Carter: “Ron was a bassist with balls like this. (...) On stage, I always stood close to Ron because I wanted to listen to what he was playing. (...) You had to be careful because when that son of a bitch started going hard, you really had to bust your ass to keep up with him, or you'd make a fool of yourself.” Never in his life was Miles so lavish with compliments, he, known for bluntly crushing emerging young musicians. But these guys were too far ahead.

Completing the quintet was the brilliant and enigmatic Wayne Shorter, a great tenor sax whose arrival in the group in '64 was the cause of the definitive takeoff of their music. They were now enriched by a breathtaking composer, with a natural inclination for ambiguity, allusions, the unspoken. His melodic lines are labyrinthine, his vision of rhythm is like a shattered mirror. From this album onward, Wayne emerged as the group's main composer.

“Miles Smiles” is the second studio album recorded by this lineup, and it is the most loved, most revered, most idolized, and most studied by jazz musicians worldwide regarding the concept of interplay and the very idea of an acoustic quintet, here crystallized to absolute perfection. More than forty years after this creation, no one has reached their levels! If you want proof, just listen to “Footprints,” “Circle,” and “Gingerbread Boy.” And you will understand why Miles' expression on the cover... the rhythm is no longer rigidly marked, but it is a pulse that gets under your skin; the cymbals, drums, and bass strings are used melodically, liberating the rhythm section from the restrictive role of mere accompaniment. Ron Carter and Tony Williams do nothing but push the soloists to the limit, “forcing” them to give their best. Herbie Hancock perhaps reaches his brightest documented moments on record in his solos. “Footprints” sees him create one of the most illuminating minutes in music history. Only syncopated and fast chords, with a corrosive, acidic sound, using truly complex and unpredictable harmonic modulations. Behind all this is Bill Evans' lesson in “Kind Of Blue,” taken to its extreme consequences. And on “Circle,” young Herbie seems like a cross between Chopin and Lennie Tristano! What about the front line? Miles constantly soars in the stratosphere, Wayne is a creator of unique sounds with strong intellectual tension. It is the birth of “Freebop,” otherwise known as “Outburn.” A modern bebop, that borrows from free jazz only the desire to experiment. Experimenting WITH the form, not without form (like some obtuse avant-garde), bending the rules not for the sheer sake of breaking them, but to exponentially increase expressive potential.

An album of great depth, to listen to and relisten to throughout life, also laden with those small imperfections in the trumpet and saxophone unisons that betray its nature of spontaneity and freshness (“Dolores” in particular); very few rehearsals, everything taken on the first take! And freedom of the participants as a philosophy of an entire group: Tony Williams, after about 7'30'' of “Footprints,” instead of closing the piece, which was fading, refuses to end his urge to play that simple yet spectacular rhythm, and restarts at a gallop in the grip of a Wagnerian orgasm, which we can enjoy live!

A must-have at all costs.