Editing Miles Davis (section)

===1968–1975: The electric period===
''[[In a Silent Way]]'' was recorded in a single studio session in February 1969, with Shorter, Hancock, Holland, and Williams alongside keyboardists [[Chick Corea]] and [[Joe Zawinul]] and guitarist [[John McLaughlin (musician)|John McLaughlin]]. The album contains two side-long tracks that Macero pieced together from different takes recorded at the session. When the album was released later that year, some critics accused him of "selling out" to the rock and roll audience. Nevertheless, it reached number 134 on the US [[Billboard 200|''Billboard'' Top LPs]] chart, his first album since ''My Funny Valentine'' to reach the chart. ''In a Silent Way'' was his entry into jazz fusion. The touring band of 1969–1970—with Shorter, Corea, Holland, and DeJohnette—never completed a studio recording together, and became known as Davis's "lost quintet", though radio broadcasts from the band's European tour have been extensively bootlegged.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.npr.org/2013/01/30/170662462/a-1969-bootleg-unearths-miles-davis-lost-quintet|title=A 1969 Bootleg Unearths Miles Davis' 'Lost' Quintet| first= Tom |last= Moon|publisher=NPR|date=January 30, 2013|access-date=April 5, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180427120809/https://www.npr.org/2013/01/30/170662462/a-1969-bootleg-unearths-miles-davis-lost-quintet|archive-date=April 27, 2018|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |url=https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/17676-the-bootleg-series-volume-2-live-in-europe-1969/ |title=Miles Davis | first= Hank |last= Shteamer |website=Pitchfork |date=January 31, 2013 |access-date=April 20, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190411222550/https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/17676-the-bootleg-series-volume-2-live-in-europe-1969/ |archive-date=April 11, 2019 |url-status=live }}</ref>

[[File:Miles Davis-140916-0016-103WPA.jpg|right|thumb|upright|Davis performing in 1971]]

For the double album ''[[Bitches Brew]]'' (1970), he hired [[Jack DeJohnette]], [[Harvey Brooks (bassist)|Harvey Brooks]], and [[Bennie Maupin]]. The album contained long compositions, some over twenty minutes, that more often than not, were constructed from several takes by Macero and Davis via splicing and tape loops amid epochal advances in multitrack recording technologies.{{sfn|Freeman|2005|pp=83–84}} ''Bitches Brew'' peaked at No. 35 on the ''Billboard'' Album chart.<ref name="Bitches">{{cite magazine |title=Miles Davis |url=https://www.billboard.com/music/miles-davis |magazine=Billboard |access-date=May 10, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180316122024/https://www.billboard.com/music/miles-davis |archive-date=March 16, 2018 |url-status=live }}</ref> In 1976, it was certified gold for selling over 500,000 records. By 2003, it had sold one million copies.<ref name=riaa/>

In March 1970, Davis began to perform as the opening act for rock bands, allowing Columbia to market ''Bitches Brew'' to a larger audience. He shared a [[Fillmore East]] bill with the [[Steve Miller Band]] and [[Neil Young]] with [[Crazy Horse (band)|Crazy Horse]] on March 6 and 7.{{sfn|''The Complete Illustrated History''|2007|p=150}} Biographer [[Paul Tingen]] wrote, "Miles' newcomer status in this environment" led to "mixed audience reactions, often having to play for dramatically reduced fees, and enduring the 'sell-out' accusations from the jazz world", as well as being "attacked by sections of the black press for supposedly genuflecting to white culture".{{sfn|Tingen|2001|p=114}} The 1970 tours included the [[Isle of Wight Festival 1970|1970 Isle of Wight Festival]] on August 29 when he performed to an estimated 600,000 people, the largest of his career.{{sfn|''The Complete Illustrated History''|2007|p=153}} Plans to record with Hendrix ended after the guitarist's death; his funeral was the last one that Davis attended.{{sfn|Davis|Troupe|1989|pp=318–319}} Several live albums with a transitional sextet/septet including Corea, DeJohnette, Holland, [[Airto Moreira]], saxophonist [[Steve Grossman (saxophonist)|Steve Grossman]], and keyboardist [[Keith Jarrett]] were recorded during this period, including ''[[Miles Davis at Fillmore]]'' (1970) and ''[[Black Beauty: Miles Davis at Fillmore West]]'' (1973).<ref name="Miles Davis">{{cite web |url=http://www.rockhall.com/inductees/miles-davis/bio/ |title=Miles Davis |access-date=May 1, 2016 |website=Rock and Roll Hall of Fame |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160503025255/http://www.rockhall.com/inductees/miles-davis/bio/ |archive-date=May 3, 2016 |url-status=live }}</ref>

By 1971, Davis had signed a contract with Columbia that paid him $100,000 a year ({{Inflation|US|100000|1971|r=-1|fmt=eq}}{{inflation-fn|US}}) for three years in addition to royalties.{{sfn|Carr|1998|p=302}} He recorded a soundtrack album (''[[Jack Johnson (album)|Jack Johnson]]'') for the [[Jack Johnson (film)|1970 documentary film]] about heavyweight boxer [[Jack Johnson (boxer)|Jack Johnson]], containing two long pieces of 25 and 26 minutes in length with Hancock, McLaughlin, [[Sonny Sharrock]], and [[Billy Cobham]]. He was committed to making music for African-Americans who liked more commercial, pop, groove-oriented music. By November 1971, DeJohnette and Moreira had been replaced in the touring ensemble by drummer [[Leon "Ndugu" Chancler]] and percussionists [[James Mtume]] and [[Don Alias]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://bigozine2.com/roio/?p=191 |title=roio » Blog Archive » MILES – BELGRADE 1971 |publisher=Bigozine2.com |access-date=July 17, 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150721032949/https://bigozine2.com/roio/?p=191 |archive-date=July 21, 2015 }}</ref> ''[[Live-Evil (Miles Davis album)|Live-Evil]]'' was released in the same month. Showcasing bassist [[Michael Henderson]], who had replaced Holland in 1970, the album demonstrated that Davis's ensemble had transformed into a funk-oriented group while retaining the exploratory imperative of ''Bitches Brew''.

[[File:Miles Davis-140916-0018-105WPa.jpg|thumb|Davis's septet in November 1971; left to right: [[Gary Bartz]], Davis, [[Keith Jarrett]], [[Michael Henderson]], [[Leon "Ndugu" Chancler]], [[James Mtume]], and [[Don Alias]]]]
In 1972, composer-arranger [[Paul Buckmaster]] introduced Davis to the music of avant-garde composer [[Karlheinz Stockhausen]], leading to a period of creative exploration. Biographer J. K. Chambers wrote, "The effect of Davis' study of Stockhausen could not be repressed for long ... Davis' own 'space music' shows Stockhausen's influence compositionally."{{sfn|Chambers|1998|p=246}} His recordings and performances during this period were described as "space music" by fans, Feather, and Buckmaster, who described it as "a lot of mood changes—heavy, dark, intense—definitely space music".{{sfn|Carr|1998}}<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.miles-beyond.com/bitchesbrew.htm |title=The Making of The Complete Bitches Brew Sessions |last=Tingen |first=Paul |year=1999 |access-date=April 15, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170305160246/http://www.miles-beyond.com/bitchesbrew.htm |archive-date=March 5, 2017 |url-status=live }}</ref> The studio album ''[[On the Corner]]'' (1972) blended the influence of Stockhausen and Buckmaster with funk elements. Davis invited Buckmaster to New York City to oversee the writing and recording of the album with Macero.{{sfn|Morton|2005|pp=72–73}} The album reached No. 1 on the ''Billboard'' jazz chart but peaked at No. 156 on the more heterogeneous Top 200 Albums chart. Davis felt that Columbia marketed it to the wrong audience. "The music was meant to be heard by young black people, but they just treated it like any other jazz album and advertised it that way, pushed it on the jazz radio stations. Young black kids don't listen to those stations; they listen to R&B stations and some rock stations."{{sfn|Davis|Troupe|1989|p=328}} In October 1972, he broke his ankles in a car crash. He took painkillers and cocaine to cope with the pain.{{sfn|Cole|2005|p=28}} Looking back at his career after the incident, he wrote, "Everything started to blur."{{sfn||''The Complete Illustrated History''|2007|p=154}}

After recording ''On the Corner'', he assembled a group with Henderson, Mtume, [[Carlos Garnett]], guitarist [[Reggie Lucas]], organist [[Lonnie Liston Smith]], tabla player [[Badal Roy]], sitarist [[Khalil Balakrishna]], and drummer [[Al Foster]]. In striking contrast to that of his previous lineups, the music emphasized rhythmic density and shifting textures instead of solos. This group was recorded live in 1972 for ''[[In Concert (Miles Davis album)|In Concert]]'', but Davis found it unsatisfactory, leading him to drop the tabla and sitar and play organ himself. He also added guitarist [[Pete Cosey]]. The compilation studio album ''[[Big Fun (Miles Davis album)|Big Fun]]'' contains four long improvisations recorded between 1969 and 1972.
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| quote = This was music that polarized audiences, provoking boos and walk-outs amid the ecstasy of others. The length, density, and unforgiving nature of it mocked those who said that Miles was interested only in being trendy and popular. Some have heard in this music the feel and shape of a musician's late work, an egoless music that precedes its creator's death. As [[Theodor Adorno]] said of the late [[Beethoven]], the disappearance of the musician into the work is a bow to mortality. It was as if Miles were testifying to all that he had been witness to for the past thirty years, both terrifying and joyful.
| source = — [[John Szwed]] on ''[[Agharta (album)|Agharta]]'' (1975) and ''[[Pangaea (album)|Pangaea]]'' (1976){{sfn|Szwed|2004|p=343}}
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Studio sessions throughout 1973 and 1974 led to ''[[Get Up with It]]'', an album which included four long pieces alongside four shorter recordings from 1970 and 1972. The track "He Loved Him Madly", a thirty-minute tribute to the recently deceased Duke Ellington, influenced [[Brian Eno]]'s [[ambient music]].<ref>{{cite web| url= https://www.theguardian.com/music/2007/oct/26/jazz.shopping|title=The most hated album in jazz|first=Paul|last=Tingen|date=October 26, 2007| access-date=June 13, 2019|work= The Guardian |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20190802180624/https://www.theguardian.com/music/2007/oct/26/jazz.shopping|archive-date=August 2, 2019|url-status=live}}</ref> In the United States, it performed comparably to ''On the Corner'', reaching number 8 on the jazz chart and number 141 on the pop chart. He then concentrated on live performance with a series of concerts that Columbia released on the double live albums ''[[Agharta (album)|Agharta]]'' (1975), ''[[Pangaea (album)|Pangaea]]'' (1976), and ''[[Dark Magus]]'' (1977). The first two are recordings of two sets from February 1, 1975, in Osaka, by which time Davis was troubled by several physical ailments; he relied on alcohol, codeine, and morphine to get through the engagements. His shows were routinely panned by critics who mentioned his habit of performing with his back to the audience.{{sfn|''The Complete Illustrated History''|2007|p=177}} Cosey later asserted that "the band really advanced after the Japanese tour",{{sfn|Tingen|2001|p=167}} but Davis was again hospitalized, for his ulcers and a hernia, during a tour of the US while opening for Herbie Hancock.

After appearances at the 1975 Newport Jazz Festival in July and the [[Schaefer Music Festival]] in New York in September, Davis dropped out of music.{{sfn|The Complete Illustrated History |2007 |p=177 }}<ref>{{cite web| first= Laurent |last= Cugny|title=1975: the end of an intrigue? For a new periodization of the history of jazz|url=http://omf.paris-sorbonne.fr/IMG/pdf/cugny_1975_the_end_of_an_intrigue.pdf |website= paris-sorbonne.fr |publisher= Université Paris-Sorbonne|access-date=February 3, 2016 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20141129032928/http://omf.paris-sorbonne.fr/IMG/pdf/cugny_1975_the_end_of_an_intrigue.pdf |archive-date= November 29, 2014}}</ref>