Miles Davis Quintet - Freedom Jazz Dance: The Bootleg Series Vol 5 – pure instinct

The Guardian 100

(Columbia)

This three-CD box set contains Davis’s 1966-68 studio work with his glorious second quintet (Wayne Shorter, Herbie Hancock, Ron Carter, Tony Williams). This was the band that seemed to function on pure instinct, without the usual safety net of chord sequences and so on. How did they do it? Well, more than two hours of unreleased session reels, while fascinating to listen to, don’t reveal many secrets. Some tricky bits are painstakingly rehearsed, but it’s mostly phenomenally sharp ears and quick reactions. Three classic albums resulted from these sessions: Miles Smiles, Nefertiti and Water Babies. Hard to believe it was 50 years ago. Nobody’s done it better since, and few have even tried.