Miles Davis: Nefertiti [MUSIC ON VINYL/COLUMBIA]

Why you'll love it

This remastered 180g Music On Vinyl pressing was made in the EU. The title track flips jazz convention, with the horns repeating the melody while the rhythm section improvises, and the quintet's albums of this period helped introduce post-bop.

This edition

• Remastered
• 180g vinyl
• Pressed in the EU

About the album

For a bandleader, Miles Davis was remarkably happy to let other people write the tunes. Every composition on Nefertiti came from his sidemen, three by Wayne Shorter, two by Herbie Hancock and one by drummer Tony Williams, and Davis turned the quintet loose on them at Columbia's 30th Street Studio over four dates in June and July 1967.

The title track is the famous one, with Shorter and Davis playing the haunting melody again and again, no solos, while Hancock, Ron Carter and Williams swirl and build underneath. "Madness" was first rehearsed as a slow waltz before the band took it at a gallop, and "Pinocchio" also picked up speed between rehearsal and tape. Shorter's "Fall" is a gorgeous, drifting ballad, Williams's "Hand Jive" swings hard, and Hancock's "Riot" is a quick, bright burst. Throughout, the group reshapes the tunes as it plays them.

Hancock recut "Riot" for Speak Like a Child, Shorter brought "Pinocchio" to Weather Report on Mr. Gone, and Davis went on to plug in for Miles in the Sky, starting his electric period. The quintet signed off its acoustic years on a high; everyone else then spent about a decade working out exactly what had happened.

Also at Kops: more Miles Davis on vinyl · browse Classic Jazz

Tracklist

Listen

On Columbia / Music On Vinyl (cat# MOVLP031), a reissue of the 1968 album.