Search - Miles Davis :: This is Jazz, Vol. 38: Electric

Miles's "electric period" was actually a few distinct periods, though this anthology treats them as a single stylistic continuum. The disc substitutes representative variety for the flow of his best records, and samples idiosyncratically from the period stretching from 1967 to 1984, post-postbop to blah disco: we really didn't need to hear his cover of Michael Jackson's "Human Nature" again. What it illustrates, though, is how Miles reined in his own virtuosity in his later years in favor of building close-knit ensembles--learning to follow along with his band moment-to-moment and lead textures more than compositions. The chemistry is especially exceptional on the three tracks from 1970, when the group was blazingly aligned and groove-minded. --Douglas Wolk