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Marcus Meeks's avatar

In his autobiography Miles is dismissive of Charles Lloyd’s playing skills - he gives credit for the quartet’s success to DeJohnette and Jarrett. They were a fantastic rhythm section, to be sure, but you have to credit Lloyd for writing the songs that went on to be well received at The Fillmore and other rock venues. (I’ve always really liked Sombrero Sam on Lloyd’s Dreamweaver album.)

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Chuck Mitchell's avatar

Great essay! As a teenager, I was buying Miles albums as they were released, along with all of the contemporary rock renaissance albums, and it was a life-defining thrill to hear all of these musics come together on my turntable. I always heard the Miles albums from ESP to Filles De Kilimanjaro as links in a chain, but nothing prepared us for Bitches Brew when it finally hit. As another early “fusion” avatar I add Joe Zawinul’s Rise And Fall Of The Third Stream to your very comprehensive list. And Miles loved to bait and aggravate Leonard Feather, so while his comments in that notorious Blindfold Test are acute and revelatory of what was to come, there’s an additional edge to them that was meant to aggravate poor Leonard.

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