Music Monday: More Miles and Some Woody Shaw

This past week involved the luxury of a couple of longer listening sessions. One night, I had the house to myself and listened to TWO Miles Davis albums in my effort to navigate his studio outputs. This is what happens with the NBA takes breather before the playoffs and the Phillies have off. Listening to all of Miles Davis’s work with his second quintet has been a revelation. The Difference between Miles Smiles (1966) and Filles de Kilimanjaro (1968) is pretty staggering even if we only listen to the Ron Carter and Herbie Hancock tracks. Dave Holland and Chick Corea introduced their own sound. Miles in the Sky (1968) seems more of a watershed than I had expected. It’s big and tonal and dark. I feel like I could hear In a Silent Way brewing in it as much as the kind impressionistic moments of Nefertiti (1967). Maybe it’s the changing attitude of Miles and Shorter to the rhythm section of Carter and Williams. Carter and Williams feel like they’re driving these albums forward. Miles,…