Wow! I remember the first time that I heard Miles in the Sky. I was in high school and I had just started listening to jazz, but there was one problem, the interminable amount of jazz recordings that are available to a nascent jazz musician made finding something appropriate to listen to a formidable task. Some of my friends were already forming quartets and exploring the music. When I asked, "What is jazz?" and "What should I listen to?" I was directed towards Miles Davis. This was great advice, however, I had no idea who Miles Davis was and that his footprint on the world of music was so vast and diverse that I would be inundated with a myriad of options. So, off to the music store for some Miles. When I arrived I found an album with a very hip and colorful cover called Miles in the Sky. Immediately I thought, "Well, this is Miles and this is what I should be listening to." I learned later that I should have bought Kind of Blue or one of his Prestige recordings because I was only learning how to play over standard changes. When I arrived home and put the record on, I just didn't get it. I couldn't follow along with The Real Book charts and I really didn't understand what was going on in the recording. So, I put the recording on the shelf for awhile.
I returned to the album a few years later when my ears had matured and the recording was more easily digestible. Miles in the Sky was recorded over three days in May 1968 and is the fifth and last studio album Miles' second quintet recorded together. The album also precipitates Miles' ensuing shift towards fusion. Davis' next album, Filles de Kilimanjaro, would begin to shift personnel. On the first track ("Stuff") Herbie Hancock uses the Rhodes, which is the first time that Miles had a pianist use it and would become a featured instrument on the upcoming fusion albums (Filles de Kilimanjaro, In a Silent Way, Bitches Brew). The album does have a slight variation in personnel with George Benson playing guitar on "Paraphernalia". The recording is basically four long jams (six if you include the alternate takes) that have direction, groove and evolve, although some listeners may want more from the recording as Miles in the Sky is a direct push away from conventional jazz. Miles in the Sky helps prepare listeners for Filles de Kilimanjaro, In a Silent Way, and Bitches Brew.
