Miles Davis Quintet with Wayne Shorter (tenor saxophone), Herbie Hancock (piano), Ron Carter (acoustic bass), & Tony Williams (drums) - 1964
These five are truly listening, reacting, feeding ideas to one another for a mutual goal. Wynton Marsalis often talks about ‘jazz democracy’ an explination of how jazz is made up of a rhythm section accompanying and shifting their playing in response to a soloist, Davis’s quintet play like one unit, each shifting and creating a mutual expression yet each individual is free, almost improvising in an awakened state.
I learn something everytime I watch Miles play. He was a great leader and really let everyone stretch and search musically for new ground. The interaction among this group of musicians could be the most cohesive unit in jazz from this period.
On a side note: Check out the AKG D12s (or Echolette) dynamic microphones that they’re using. These mics are legendary for being great on recording bass drum but it’s wonderful to see them live on stage. There are some interesting mic placements, it looks as if Carter’s bass is not going through an amp; this is nearly unheard of today except by neo-traditionalist. I’ve seen a few groups play without an amp but it’s really difficult to hear any bass unless you’re right up close when playing with drums. One thing to notice is how close they’re positioned to one another on stage, I don’t think they had monitors either. Great live acoustic music with dynamics, rhythmic syncopation, and expression.
