In a Silent Way

Occupation

In A Silent Way is an album of jazz trumpeter Miles Davis. It appeared in 1969 and his first fusion album. It was recorded on 18 and 20 February 1969 in the Columbia studios in New York. Composed by Joe Zawinul title track " became the signature of the fine spiritual jazz-rock ".

Background to the album

His wife Betty Mabry, who was friends with Jimi Hendrix, is seen as a major influence on Davis ' former musical development. After his album Filles de Kilimanjaro (the final session was held in September 1968 ) Miles Davis went into the recording studio again in November and expanded his band to a third keyboard (next to Hancock and Corea ), a native of Austria Joe Zawinul. Moreover, this decline is the mitspielende in the later Bitches Brew drummer Jack De Johnette, as Tony Williams intended to leave the band. In this cast the title "Splash" were added the two takes of " Directions" and the title " Ascent ". " Zawinul was able through the different tone colors of the keyboard that changing textures and " to produce patterns " that produced Gil Evans orchestral way. But the main difference was that the musicians with whom ( Miles ) now worked, could react spontaneously to the improvising soloists, "wrote the biographer Erik Davis Nisenson. "With this session, Miles discovered a method that seemingly disparate elements to combine: the use of electronics and the freedom of improvisation, the spontaneous music of the moment - that was the essence of jazz for him still - and the complex timbres that previously only be achieved by complex orchestral arrangements were. " After the" Directions " session met the young English, especially in New York angekommenene guitarist John McLaughlin to Davis band. With McLaughlin the first session was for " In a Silent Way " instead.

The album

Compared to its previous album Filles de Kilimanjaro, on which he played for the last time with his " classic quintet ", is " completed on " In a Silent Way " a total exemption from the Bop concept. Tension and intensity are no longer bound to trumpet and tenor saxophone in essence, but are generated by the " background contrasts " of electric guitar and keyboards. Heat is built quickly to the same cool down, mostly due to short guitar riffs that are contrapuntal applied to ostinalen bass playing, while the drums rock related but relaxed rhythms contributes, "said Davis biographer Peter Wießmüller.

In this album, Davis has finally adopted by the dense chromatic improvisations by the mid-sixties and has returned to the long diatonic and modal lines of the 1950s. But at the same time is no longer the solo in the foreground, but the overall musical expression. New to the music of this album is that the two pieces, each of which fill an entire record side, were cut together from different recordings. From a total of about 80 minutes of material, the pieces were cut by cutting, assembling, copying and repeating.

The most surprising aspect of this album was " the easy accessibility of music, so they ventured in many ways may seem ." Thus, it paved the way for the resultant in August 1969 album Bitches Brew, which became another major milestone in this phase of work of Miles Davis.

The title

The Complete " In a Silent Way ' Sessions

Under this title, published Columbia Legacy / Sony Music in 2001, the two edited tracks as well as the entire unedited recordings, which were recorded for the album and its predecessor album Filles de Kilimanjaro. Some early titles have already appeared in the 1970s on the Columbia compilations " Water Babies ", " Circle in the Round" and " Directions". " Of real interest ," said Richard Cook and Brian Morton express critical of the Edition, " are the" alternate takes " of the title track and " Shhh / Peaceful ", but could not keep up with the then published versions. A rarity and the only title of real importance is the title of " The Ghetto Walk"; he takes Miles Davis ' return to the Blues at the end of his life in advance. The documentation of the many material ultimately shows the skill Maceros Teo and Miles Davis ' to have it created " timeless masterpieces". You'll listen to it a hundred times " In a Silent Way "; you may listen to you but only three times these tracks, only to be amazed at how this miracle was achieved. "

Disc 1

Disk 2

Disk 3

Quote

" And please: do not forget that Miles Davis ' " Bitches Brew " would never have seen the light of day without Joe Zawinul. It was Joe, the electronic keyboard in jazz helped on the side of Miles breakthrough - and a year earlier heralded the birth of jazz fusion with "In a silent way". Joe was the bridge to the future, has gone on the Miles Davis. "

Record label Columbia Records Genre John McLaughlin (musician) 1960s Diatonic scale Richard Cook (journalist) Wirtschaftswoche
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