MILES DAVIS — E.S.P. (review)

Album · 1965 · Post Bop

5/5 · 2025-04-11
FunkFreak75

After a couple of years of touring, testing out new lineups and new formats while trying to form a new quintet (and releasing several live albums in the interim), Miles has his new dream lineup--what will be remembered as his "Second Great Quintet"--as superstar Wayne Shorter has finally come aboard to join Miles and Ron Carter with wunderkinder Tony Williams and Herbie Hancock. The first studio album to feature the full lineup of the Second Great Quintet is recorded at Columbia Studios in Los Angeles on January 20-22, 1965. Producer Teo Macero has by now been exposed to the amazingly new and expanding possibilities of sound engineering (he's had lots of fun practicing with a couple of live albums released between this and 1963's Seven Steps to Heaven as well as the long process of finishing the classic Gil Evans big band collaboration, Quiet Nights, which had been recorded in 1962 and early 1963 but not released until December of 1963), thus the six months between recording sessions and the final Columbia Records release.

A1. "E.S.P." (5:29) there is a sense of comfort and ease from the very onset of this song: this band "clicks." Wayne Shorter leads on his tenor sax from the opening note with Ron Carter and Tony Williams running like mice beneath and Herbie accenting the mid-range on piano. When Miles takes over the lead in the second minute it feels like everybody kicks into hyper-focus: "Got to impress the boss" they're thinking. Herbie gets the next solo starting at 4:05. His melodies are impressive for how quickly things are moving along. At the advent of the sixth minute Ron slows down as Wayne and Miles recapitulate the main melody together, bringing the song to a close. Impressive jazz. (9.125/10)

A2. "Eighty-One" (6:14) Herbie leads on this one while Miles and Wayne inject a few interesting blasts before the reins are handed over to the bandleader. There is a definite fresh, innovative feeling to this song: I'm not sure if it's the odd structure or mix of changing motifs from partial elements of the group while the soloists play, but there is something very interesting here. It's like the band members are each allowed to change things up--to shift gears or styles-- whenever the mood or whim excites them. Tony, Herbie, and Ron all do it and a few times the whole band follows suit but sometimes they don't! I'm not sure what you call that which I'm listening to here but it's very different from the jazz I'm used to hearing. When Miles and Wayne join forces to play in tandem over Herbie's solo in the final minute, it is so cool! It's as if they're playing a game: trying to read each other's minds while not taking too much away from Herbie. A very cool jazz song that feels as if it's pushing boundaries. (10/10)

A3. "Little One" (7:21) soft, slow, and spacious piano-led (and Herbie-composed) jazz music over which Miles and Wayne each take turns soloing with pensive intent. Ron and Tony are there in the background, trying to feed off the leader's energy (Tony trying to hold back his penchant for more dynamic play) and Wayne's "thought trains" a little more active-preoccupied than Miles' reflective ones. Even Herbie in the background feels as if he's ready to exude more enthusiasm than his leaders have laid down, yet his turn in the spotlight is perhaps the most beautiful in its contemplative expression of all of them. (It's between he and Miles.) The support from the rhythm section backs way down in the seventh minute, giving the song a much more "finished" feeling to its end. Nice exercise in mental discipline. The boys did well! (14/15)

A4. "R.J." (3:56) back to a quicker pace with Tony keeping time while Ron runs through a two-measure sprint over and over with a brief piano-filled break in between each race. Wayne takes the first solo but I find myself so distracted by the intriguing little dance that Herbie and Ron are doing that I find it hard to pay attention to the soloists. Fascinating! (9.3333/10)

B1. "Agitation" (7:45) Tony, sticks on the skins, for the first two minutes of this before Miles' muted trumpet squeaks into the soundscape with Ron and Herbie tip-toeing beneath. Eventually, Ron, Tony, and Herbie fall into sync with one another creating what feels like a motif that is intended to mesmerize the listener; they're sneakily trying to brainwash us! Miles distracts us from "behind" with his muted trumpet while the other three go through their Marth Graham-like angular motions with the consistency of time pieces. Wayne steps in to give a gentle solo that continues to lull us while the scientists do their work underneath. Again: fascinating! Miles and his collaborators are definitely exploring the structural rules of jazz--testing the confining boundaries with these mathematical exercises. I find myself really enjoying this (and the process)! A Miles composition, I imagine he was quite exacting of his demands on the rhythmatists here. (14/15)

B2. "Iris" (8:31) opening like a late-night piece from Kind of Blue we are informed very early on by Herbie that this is in no way anything like anything from Bill Evans or Wynton Kelly. Ron and Tony stay pretty firm in their commitment to standard jazz support, but Miles and Wayne are definitely stretching the familiar routes of melody and dynamics on this Wayne Shorter composition. While I truly enjoy all of the solos, it is Herbie's humane piano solo in the seventh minute that I love the most. (It is actually quite a lot like something Bill Evans or Vince Guaraldi might do. Lovely!) Wayne, too has manifests some pretty awesome ideas here. One of the few songs on which it is the soloists/melody- makers that impress me the most! This might actually be my favorite song on the album! (19.25/20)

B3. "Mood" (8:49) once again we've got a set up in which Tony is keeping time while Ron and Herbie play off of one another to help create a kind of see-saw rhythm track. Then Miles, playing another muted trumpet, and Wayne, here playing a breathy (slightly muted?) sax, play off each other in a way that is similar to Ron and Herbie. In both duo's cases one of the members is being more steady (Ron and Wayne) while the other is spicing things up a bit (Herbie and Miles). But then, in the fourth minute, Wayne is given the spotlight while Miles sits back and watch/listens. Nice solo here, Wayne! For the sixth minute, Herbie gets the next solo. Again, I am so impressed by his discipline and presence: the way he takes time to let the next chord or phrase emerge out of him without ever seeming to press or rush. Amazing! Miles and Wayne return to their original binary star dance for the final minute. Interesting, lovely, though a bit soporific. (17.875/20)

Total Time: 48:23

I am rather surprised at the way the music on this album somehow manages to keep the band's usually-hyperactive drummer in a rather sedate state. The dynamic rock inputs of the previous album are totally absent. (Perhaps Tony is spent or distracted from the energy he is putting into his solo projects at the time. Or perhaps Miles put some heroin into Tony's chamomile tea.)

A/five stars; a masterpiece of jazz music that I hold up as one of the finest demonstrations of boundary-pushing jazz I've ever heard. Though there is little to no influence of rock music here, the mentality of mathematical experimentation with structure that is supremely present here is something that I find very essential to the "progressive" part of both high arts of Progressive Rock and Jazz-Rock Fusion. HIGHLY recommended--even essential to any music lover's album collection.