Product Description

As Miles Davis' music evolved in the early '60s, he worked through aspects of his old repertoire, show tunes and the music of Gil Evans with a series of transitional bands, whose members dated from the late '50s on up. As he gradually assembled his dream band, the music began to take on a more modernist perspective, but it wasn't until he added saxophonist Wayne Shorter that this quintet finally gelled.
E.S.P. marks the beginning of the quintet's collective evolution toward a new brand of modernism: freely inflected, with plenty of room for collective interplay, but still deeply rooted in chordal harmony and swing. After working with Hank Mobley, George Coleman and Sam Rivers, Miles finally got his man whenWayne Shorter left the Jazz Messengers to begin a five yearstint with the trumpeter in 1964. The moody impressionisticchords Shorter penned to open "Iris" signal a new texture and harmonic palette for Miles' band, and his serpentine melodic invention, as epitomised by the title cut, acted as a creative catalyst for the entire band.
Shorter went on to become the band's de facto musical director, but on E.S.P. Davis, Hancock and Carter all make significant contributions. "Eighty-One" presages Miles' growing interest in funky, blues-based materials, while "Agitation" features an evocative intro by 19-year old Tony Williams, already moving beyond simple choruses into layers of metre and texture, and followed by Davis, Shorter and Hancock's own jittery coiled solos.

Track Listing

1. ESP
2. 81
3. Little One
4. RJ
5. Agitation
6. Iris
7. Mood

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #14179 in Music
• Released on: 1998-10-26
• Number of discs: 1

Amazon.co.uk Review
ESP was the first of the Miles Davis Quintet albums featuring Wayne Shorter on tenor sax, Tony Williams on drums, Ron Carter on bass and Herbie Hancock on piano. Released in 1964 it was Miles' attempt to stretch acoustic jazz further whilst avoiding the free style of the then happening Ornette Coleman. The result is a stunning collection of numbers where the musings of Miles intertwine with the muscularity of Shorter's sax. But then the whole band are superlative, not least the young drummer (indeed because of Williams's age many clubs banned them from playing and Miles insisted that he grew a moustache to add some years to his look). With an artist of the calibre of Miles and with his almost uniquely extensive list of great albums it is difficult to pick his best, but it is probable that ESP would be somewhere near the top. All eight tracks are beautiful examples of just how moving jazz can be and are now even more so, with the excellent remastering. Numbers such as the title track and "Agitation" have influenced and inspired jazz musicians and listeners alike since its release. --Phil Brett

Customer Reviews

Five stars, no argument
This is a really good CD. Everything this quintet produced was magnificent, but this one has it all. The variety is astonishing and the playing is fascinating as it drifts between dazzling virtuosity, mellow duets and trios, and the majesty of the whole band playing together.

It feels like the band are playing within themselves - not going for the more eccentric and distant scales and modulations that they moved into from Nefertiti onwards. This makes ESP more accessible, but in my view it's all the more remarkable for the level of control and understated mellowness that characterises the whole set.

The ultimate chill out
This is my ultimate chill out album - I stick it on, tension flows away, and time stops. All five members of the band are virtuosos and each drive the music. Listen to how Ron Carter's perfectly placed bass notes keep "Eighty-one" moving forward. Tony Williams has infinite ways of dividing up the beat and driving the direction of the music. Miles and Wayne Shorter provide the melodic flights of fancy, conjuring lines out of nothing, it seems, whilst Herbie Hancock supports with his usual classiness. The sound of "the cool" coming of age.

One of the best Jazz albums of the sixties
Great recording from one of the best groups there ever was. Explores radical concepts and ideas but remains like many of Davis' recordings highly listenable even to the non-jazz fan. Stop reading about it and go out and buy it.