In A Silent Way
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''In a Silent Way'' is a studio album by the American
jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...
trumpeter, composer, and bandleader
Miles Davis Miles Dewey Davis III (May 26, 1926September 28, 1991) was an American jazz trumpeter, bandleader, and composer. He is among the most influential and acclaimed figures in the history of jazz and 20th century music, 20th-century music. Davis ado ...
, released on July 30, 1969, on
Columbia Records Columbia Records is an American reco ...
. Produced by Teo Macero, the album was recorded in one session date on February 18, 1969, at CBS 30th Street Studio in
New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...
. Macero edited and arranged Davis's recordings from the session to produce the album. Marking the beginning of his "electric" period, ''In a Silent Way'' has been regarded by music writers as Davis's first fusion recording, following a stylistic shift toward the genre in his previous records and live performances. Upon its release, the album was met by controversy among music critics, particularly those of jazz and
rock music Rock is a Music genre, genre of popular music that originated in the United States as "rock and roll" in the late 1940s and early 1950s, developing into a range of styles from the mid-1960s, primarily in the United States and the United Kingdo ...
, who were divided in their reaction to its experimental musical structure and Davis's electric approach. Since its initial reception, it has been regarded by fans and critics as one of Davis's greatest and most influential works. In 2001, Columbia Legacy and
Sony Music Sony Music Entertainment (SME), commonly known as Sony Music, is an American multinational music company owned by Japanese conglomerate Sony Group Corporation. It is the recording division of Sony Music Group, with the other half being the ...
released the three-disc box set '' The Complete In a Silent Way Sessions'', which includes additional tracks.Kenyon, John
Review: ''The Complete in a Silent Way Sessions''
PopMatters ''PopMatters'' is an international online magazine of cultural criticism that covers aspects of popular culture. ''PopMatters'' publishes reviews, interviews, and essays on cultural products and expressions in areas such as music, television, ...
. Retrieved on 2010-04-01.


Background and recording

By January 1969, Davis' core working band had stabilised around
Wayne Shorter Wayne Shorter (August 25, 1933 – March 2, 2023) was an American jazz saxophonist, composer and bandleader. Shorter came to mainstream prominence in 1959 upon joining Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers, for whom he eventually became the primary comp ...
on soprano saxophone, Dave Holland on bass,
Chick Corea Armando Anthony "Chick" Corea (June 12, 1941 – February 9, 2021) was an American jazz pianist, composer, bandleader and occasional percussionist. His compositions "Spain (instrumental), Spain", "500 Miles High", "La Fiesta", "Armando's Rhumba" ...
on electric piano, and Jack DeJohnette on drums. For his next studio album, Davis also brought in drummer Tony Williams and keyboardist
Herbie Hancock Herbert Jeffrey Hancock (born April 12, 1940) is an American jazz musician, bandleader, and composer. He started his career with trumpeter Donald Byrd's group. Hancock soon joined the Miles Davis Quintet, where he helped to redefine the role of ...
, previously members of his Second Great Quintet. In the following month, the six were joined by Austrian keyboardist Josef Zawinul and English guitarist John McLaughlin, who had been in the United States for less than two weeks to join The Tony Williams Lifetime before Davis asked him to attend the recording session. McLaughlin had been a longtime fan of Davis, and spoke with Davis of his nervousness at the prospect of recording with his idol. Among the compositions by Zawinul that Davis took a liking to was "In a Silent Way", an atmospheric piece that was titled at the suggestion of
Cannonball Adderley Julian Edwin "Cannonball" Adderley (September 15, 1928August 8, 1975) was an American jazz Alto saxophone, alto saxophonist of the hard bop era of the 1950s and 1960s. Adderley is perhaps best remembered by the general public for the 1966 soul ...
while Zawinul was in his band. Adderley wished to use the piece for himself, but Zawinul turned him down after he learned that Davis also wanted to record it. Although Davis' live performances and recent albums '' Miles in the Sky'' and ''
Filles de Kilimanjaro ' ( French: ''Girls of Kilimanjaro'') is a studio album by the American jazz trumpeter Miles Davis. It was recorded in June and September 1968 at Columbia 30th Street Studio in Manhattan, New York City, and released on Columbia Records in Decem ...
'' (both 1968) had indicated his stylistic shift towards
jazz fusion Jazz fusion (also known as jazz rock, jazz-rock fusion, or simply fusion) is a popular music genre that developed in the late 1960s when musicians combined jazz harmony and improvisation with rock music, funk, and rhythm and blues. Electric gui ...
and increasing incorporation of electric instrumentation, ''In a Silent Way'' marked a complete transition into the style, marking the beginning of his "electric" period.Southall, Nick
Review: ''In a Silent Way''
. ''
Stylus Magazine ''Stylus Magazine'' was an American online music and film magazine, launched in 2002 and co-founded by Todd L. Burns. It featured long-form music journalism, four daily music reviews, movie reviews, podcasts, an MP3 blog, and a text blog. Addi ...
''. Retrieved on 2010-04-01.
O'Brien, Chip
Review: ''In a Silent Way''
PopMatters ''PopMatters'' is an international online magazine of cultural criticism that covers aspects of popular culture. ''PopMatters'' publishes reviews, interviews, and essays on cultural products and expressions in areas such as music, television, ...
. Retrieved on 2010-04-01.
It was also his first recording to be constructed largely by the editing and arrangement of Davis and producer Teo Macero, whose editing techniques on ''In a Silent Way'' were informed by classical
sonata form The sonata form (also sonata-allegro form or first movement form) is a musical form, musical structure generally consisting of three main sections: an exposition, a development, and a recapitulation. It has been used widely since the middle of t ...
. Both tracks on the album consist of three distinct parts that could be thought of as an
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,
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, and recapitulation, with the first and third section of each track being the same piece. ''In a Silent Way'' was assembled from various takes from a three-hour session on February 18, 1969, at CBS 30th Street Studio's Studio B in
Manhattan Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...
. "Shhh/Peaceful" was composed solely by Davis, while the opening and closing section to "In a Silent Way/It's About That Time" is based on Zawinul's "In a Silent Way" which he would record in its original form in 1970 for his third solo album '' Zawinul'' (1971). After Zawinul presented the tune to the group, it was rehearsed as it was originally written, but Davis wished for it to sound more rock-oriented and stripped the various chord changes to leave a more basic melody built around a pedal point. McLaughlin had some difficulty playing in the manner Davis wished of him, but found his way after the trumpeter suggested he play the guitar as if he were a novice. Davis believed that Zawinul was never happy with his adaptation of "In a Silent Way", but felt that the album would have been less successful had its original arrangement been kept. Zawinul had expressed some dislike of Davis' arrangement, in particular of two chords that he believed that Davis was wrong to remove. Zawinul claimed that he was responsible for the melodic bass line and descending melody of "It's About That Time" but was not credited; he blamed Macero for this, as he "always put things together so that it came out as if Miles had written it." Two days after the February 18 session, Davis returned to the studio and recorded "Ghetto Walk" with drummer
Joe Chambers Joe Chambers (born June 25, 1942) is an American jazz drummer, pianist, vibraphonist and composer. In the 1960s and 1970s, Chambers gigged with many high-profile artists such as Eric Dolphy, Charles Mingus, Wayne Shorter, and Chick Corea an ...
. "Ghetto Walk" was intended to be included on ''In a Silent Way'' with "Shhh/Peaceful", but it was later swapped for "In a Silent Way/It's About That Time". The group also played through "Early Minor", another Zawinul piece, on February 20, but it too was scrapped.


Release

''In a Silent Way'' was originally released on July 30, 1969. In 2001, Columbia/
Legacy Legacy or Legacies may refer to: Arts and entertainment Comics * " Batman: Legacy", a 1996 Batman storyline * '' DC Universe: Legacies'', a comic book series from DC Comics * ''Legacy'', a 1999 quarterly series from Antarctic Press * ''Legacy ...
released the three-disc box set '' The Complete In a Silent Way Sessions'', which includes the original album, two tracks from ''
Filles de Kilimanjaro ' ( French: ''Girls of Kilimanjaro'') is a studio album by the American jazz trumpeter Miles Davis. It was recorded in June and September 1968 at Columbia 30th Street Studio in Manhattan, New York City, and released on Columbia Records in Decem ...
'', additional unreleased tracks, and the unedited takes utilized for production purposes. In 2002,
Sony Music Sony Music Entertainment (SME), commonly known as Sony Music, is an American multinational music company owned by Japanese conglomerate Sony Group Corporation. It is the recording division of Sony Music Group, with the other half being the ...
released a 5.1 surround sound mix of the album, produced by Bob Belden and engineered by Mark Wilder.


Reception

Peaking at number 134 on the U.S. ''Billboard'' Top LPs chart, ''In a Silent Way'' became Davis's first album since '' My Funny Valentine'' in 1965 to reach the chart. While it performed better commercially than most of his previous work, critics were divided in their reaction to the album upon its release. The album's incorporation of electric instrumentation and tape editing became sources of controversy among jazz critics.Taruskin, Richard.
Music in the Late Twentieth Century: Fusion
.
Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the publishing house of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world. Its first book was printed in Oxford in 1478, with the Press officially granted the legal right to print books ...
: 335. vol. 5. 2009.
According to ''
The Rolling Stone Album Guide ''The Rolling Stone Album Guide'', previously known as ''The Rolling Stone Record Guide'', is a book that contains professional music reviews written and edited by staff members from ''Rolling Stone'' magazine. Its first edition was published in 1 ...
'' (1992), Davis' recording process and producer Teo Macero's studio editing of individual recordings into separate tracks for the album "seemed near heretical by jazz standards". In his book ''Running the Voodoo Down: The Electric Music of Miles Davis'', Phil Freeman writes of critical response to the album: "Rock critics thought ''In a Silent Way'' sounded like rock, or at least thought Miles was nodding in their direction, and practically wet themselves with joy. Jazz critics, especially ones who didn't listen to much rock, thought it sounded like rock too, and they reacted less favorably".Freeman, Phil.
Running the voodoo down: the electric music of Miles Davis
.
Hal Leonard Corporation Hal Leonard LLC (formerly Hal Leonard Corporation) is an American music publishing and distribution company founded in Winona, Minnesota, by Harold "Hal" Edstrom, his brother, Everett "Leonard" Edstrom, and fellow musician Roger Busdicker. Cur ...
: 26–27. 2005.
Freeman continues by expressing that both reactions were "rooted, at least partly, in the critic's paranoia about his place in the world", writing that rock criticism was in its early stage of existence and such critics found "reassurance" in viewing the album as having
psychedelic rock Psychedelic rock is a rock music Music genre, genre that is inspired, influenced, or representative of psychedelia, psychedelic culture, which is centered on perception-altering hallucinogenic drugs. The music incorporated new electronic sound ...
elements, while jazz critics felt "betrayed" amid the genre's decreasing popularity at the time. In a rave review, ''
Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. The magazine was first known fo ...
'' rock critic Lester Bangs described ''In a Silent Way'' as "the kind of album that gives you faith in the future of music. It is not rock and roll, but it's nothing stereotyped as jazz either. All at once, it owes almost as much to the techniques developed by rock improvisors in the last four years as to Davis' jazz background. It is part of a transcendental new music which flushes categories away and, while using musical devices from all styles and cultures, is defined mainly by its deep emotion and unaffected originality". Bangs, Lester. . ''
Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. The magazine was first known fo ...
''. November 15, 1969. Archived from th
original
on 2007-10-25. Retrieved on 2007-09-10.
Davis' next fusion album, ''
Bitches Brew ''Bitches Brew'' is a studio album by the American jazz trumpeter, composer, and bandleader Miles Davis. It was recorded from August 19 to 21, 1969, at Columbia's Studio B in New York City and released on March 30, 1970, by Columbia Records. I ...
'', showed him moving even further into the area that lay between the genres of rock and jazz. The dark, fractured dissonance of ''Bitches Brew'' ultimately proved to be instrumental in its success; it far outsold ''In a Silent Way''. ''In a Silent Way'' has been retrospectively regarded by fans and critics as one of Davis' best albums. In a retrospective review, '' Blender'' writer K. Leander Williams called it "a proto- ambient masterpiece". Citing it as "one of Davis's greatest achievements", Chip O'Brien of ''
PopMatters ''PopMatters'' is an international online magazine of cultural criticism that covers aspects of popular culture. ''PopMatters'' publishes reviews, interviews, and essays on cultural products and expressions in areas such as music, television, ...
'' viewed that producer Teo Macero's studio editing on the album helped Davis "embrace the marriage of music and technology". In regards to its musical significance, O'Brien wrote that ''In a Silent Way'' "transcends labels", writing "It is neither jazz nor rock. It isn't what will eventually become known as fusion, either. It is something altogether different, something universal. There is a beautiful resignation in the sounds of this album, as if Davis is willingly letting go of what has come before, of his early years with
Charlie Parker Charles Parker Jr. (August 29, 1920 – March 12, 1955), nicknamed "Bird" or "Yardbird", was an American jazz Saxophone, saxophonist, bandleader, and composer. Parker was a highly influential soloist and leading figure in the development of beb ...
, with
John Coltrane John William Coltrane (September 23, 1926 – July 17, 1967) was an American jazz saxophonist, bandleader and composer. He is among the most influential and acclaimed figures in the Jazz#Post-war jazz, history of jazz and 20th-century musi ...
and Cannonball Adderley, of his early '60s work, and is embracing the future, not only of jazz, but of music itself". ''
Stylus Magazine ''Stylus Magazine'' was an American online music and film magazine, launched in 2002 and co-founded by Todd L. Burns. It featured long-form music journalism, four daily music reviews, movie reviews, podcasts, an MP3 blog, and a text blog. Addi ...
'' writer Nick Southall called the album "timeless" and wrote of its influence on music, stating "The fresh modes of constructing music that it presented revolutionised the jazz community, and the shifting, ethereal beauty of the actual music contained within has remained beautiful and wonderful, its echoes heard through the last 30 years, touching
dance music Dance music is music composed specifically to facilitate or accompany dancing. It can be either a whole piece or part of a larger musical arrangement. In terms of performance, the major categories are live dance music and recorded dance musi ...
,
electronica Electronica is both a broad group of electronic-based music styles intended for listening rather than strictly for dancing and a music scene that came to prominence in the early 1990s in the United Kingdom. In the United States, the term is mos ...
, rock, pop, all music". ''
The Penguin Guide to Jazz ''The Penguin Guide to Jazz'' is a reference work containing an encyclopedic directory of jazz recordings on CD which were (at the time of publication) currently available in Europe or the United States. The first nine editions were compiled b ...
'' has included ''In a Silent Way'' in its suggested "Core Collection". The album was also included in the 2005 book '' 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die''.


Track listing

::* "Shhh"  – 6:14 ::* "Peaceful"  – 5:42 ::* "Shhh"  – 6:20 ::* "In a Silent Way" – 4:11 ::* "It's About That Time" – 11:27 ::* "In a Silent Way" – 4:14


Charts


Personnel

Credits are adapted from the album's 1969 liner notes.


Musicians

*
Miles Davis Miles Dewey Davis III (May 26, 1926September 28, 1991) was an American jazz trumpeter, bandleader, and composer. He is among the most influential and acclaimed figures in the history of jazz and 20th century music, 20th-century music. Davis ado ...
 – trumpet *
Wayne Shorter Wayne Shorter (August 25, 1933 – March 2, 2023) was an American jazz saxophonist, composer and bandleader. Shorter came to mainstream prominence in 1959 upon joining Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers, for whom he eventually became the primary comp ...
 – soprano saxophone * John McLaughlin – electric guitar *
Chick Corea Armando Anthony "Chick" Corea (June 12, 1941 – February 9, 2021) was an American jazz pianist, composer, bandleader and occasional percussionist. His compositions "Spain (instrumental), Spain", "500 Miles High", "La Fiesta", "Armando's Rhumba" ...
 – electric piano *
Herbie Hancock Herbert Jeffrey Hancock (born April 12, 1940) is an American jazz musician, bandleader, and composer. He started his career with trumpeter Donald Byrd's group. Hancock soon joined the Miles Davis Quintet, where he helped to redefine the role of ...
 – electric piano * Joe Zawinul – electric piano, organ * Dave Holland – double bass * Tony Williams – drums


Production

* Teo Macero – producer *Stan Tonkel – engineer *Russ Payne – engineer * Lee Friedlander – cover photo *John G. Walter – back cover photography *Frank Glenn – back cover notes


References

Citations Books * Carr, Ian. ''Miles Davis: The Definitive Biography''. Thunder's Mouth Press, New York, 1998. * Tingen, Paul. ''Miles Beyond: The Electric Explorations of Miles Davis, 1967–1991''. Billboard Books, New York, 2001
Miles Beyond
* *


External links

*
"Jazz Annual: Miles Davis/Tony Williams"
by
Robert Christgau Robert Thomas Christgau ( ; born April 18, 1942) is an American music journalist and essayist. Among the most influential music critics, he began his career in the late 1960s as one of the earliest professional rock critics and later became a ...

"Electric Miles: A Look at the ''In a Silent Way'' and ''On the Corner'' Sessions"
by Victor Svorinich {{DEFAULTSORT:In a Silent Way 1969 albums Albums produced by Teo Macero Albums recorded at CBS 30th Street Studio Avant-garde jazz albums Columbia Records albums Grammy Hall of Fame Award recipients Jazz fusion albums by American artists Miles Davis albums 1960s instrumental albums Jazz-rock albums