ELECTRIC

The Electric Period - Rock, Fusion, Funk (1968-1972)
Miles Goes Electric - A Journey That Changed the Jazz World Forever

Once Miles had made a commitment to move his music forward he began a journey that changed the jazz world forever. Starting in 1968, he began using electric keyboards exclusively and soon electric bass and electric guitar, percussion and bass clarinet began to come into the Miles' uncanny sense of musical color.

Water Babies was a collection of sessions that was released in 1976 - eight years after its recording - and it sounded just as fresh. Filles De Kilimanjaro was a ground breaking album that defined Miles' move into the world of Rock and Roll. In A Silent Way was an influential recording in that it showed that the Rock influence in Miles' music still had a pretty side.

However, Bitches Brew was Miles' breakthrough album, selling over 400,000 copies in the first year of it's release. Every major fusion star from the Seventies appeared on this recording and Miles became successful as well as controversial. This album is considered by critics as the great divide between jazz tradition and jazz mutation.

A Tribute To Jack Johnson was Miles' only totally rock influenced album and was used as a soundtrack to a documentary of the famous boxer. Live-Evil was a mix of studio experimentation and a live concert from Washington, DC. Black Beauty and Live At Fillmore captured Miles' band at it's creative peak and intensity as Miles pushed the limits of jazz and rock. On The Corner was Miles' attempt to reach the young black audience that had eluded him. This also became a very controversial record at the time, but has been defined today as avant-garde with the use of overdubbing, looping and intense dance rhythms. In Concert, Dark Magus, Pangaea, and Agharta were recorded live and represented Miles' band at it's most abstract and atmospheric, with the use of three guitars and long vamps. Get Up With It was Miles' last studio album to be released before he retired from active playing in 1976, and contains a beautiful, haunting tribute to Duke Ellington.