Largely improvisational with strokes of a brush painting a musical picture is how one could describe Miles Davis In a Silent Way. Known for his more structured compositions, Davis’s methodology is incorporated in this pioneering fusion album. Side one of the LP gives us electric instruments (except for Miles’s trumpet) with John McLaughlin’s bent notes as he shines on guitar. With minimal improvisation, Miles plays more textural on his composition “Peaceful.” This is a subtle taste of what’s to emerge in the 1970s.
Side two of the LP opens with a composition by Joe Zawinal that stars a droning note that becomes the foundation of other notes subtly intermingling to give fodder for John McLaughlin and Wayne Shorter’s performances. Each instrumental phrase morphs into another. The creation is moody, celestial, and “beautiful” at the same time. Also highlighted on this track is Chick Corea, Joe Zawinal with guest performances by Herbie Hancock. The sustained sounds and tone clusters put their stamp on this piece.
John McLaughlin during the recording session:
“Miles whispered to me, why don’t you play it alone. He wanted just the chords and melody, and I told him it would take a minute to work it out. He had put me on the hot seat; I was sweating. Then she said why don’t you play it like you don’t know how to play the guitar. In the meantime the red [recording] light is on. Wayne comes in and Miles comes in and we end. He tells Tio to play it back . . . I listened to ‘In a Silent Way.’ It was unbelievably beautiful.”
“It’s About That Time” is written by Miles and is supported by a metronomic yet commanding beat coupled with superior brushwork by Tony Williams. At the end of the composition, Miles does a great solo, spotlighting his technical chops. This fades out and back into the all too familiar drone of A Silent Way with Miles’s subtle placement of notes above the staff, bringing the album to a fantastic close.
Topping the Billboard charts, mostly because of its suggestion of soul and funk, as well as the use of electric guitar and electric piano, labeled In A Silent Way as an “electric period” for Miles. A lonely trumpet played over Dave Holland’s repeated bass lines, shuffling drums, and walking piano scales executed flawlessly by Chick Corea and Herbie Hancock makes the case as to why In a Silent Way is a beautiful album that can be played over and over again, it is pure genius with a collaborative musical brilliance.
Over time, In A Silent Way did receive the respect it deserves. Many times the “firsts” aren’t appreciated until decades later, and this was the case with this album. Deemed the first jazz-fusion offering, In A Silent Way inspired endless musicians to experiment and extrapolate on Miles Davis’s inventiveness, leading to their own unique experimental electric music . . . again, an extension of the first fusion invention. Miles Davis effectively used electric instruments in jazz in 1969 when musicians were still swinging to an acoustic blueprint, and though somber, melancholic, and safely constructed, In A Silent Way remains the pioneering album that sparked the jazz-fusion era.
Musicians:
Tenor Saxophone – Wayne Shorter; Trumpet – Miles Davis; Bass – Dave Holland; Drums – Tony Williams; Electric Piano – Chick Corea, Herbie Hancock; Electric Piano, Organ – Josef Zawinul; Guitar – John McLaughlin
Track Listing
Shhh / Peaceful 18:30 A1 Shhh A2 Peaceful In A Silent Way / It’s About That Time 20:00 B1 In A Silent Way B2 It’s About That Time
(Recorded – February 18, 1969 – CBS 30th Street Studio)
