In February Classic Album Sundays celebrates the 50th Anniversary of Miles Davis’ brilliant, divisive and game-changing masterpiece.
In A Silent Way, released in 1969, marked a transitional moment, not only in Davis’s career but in the future development of jazz as a whole. Considered by many to be the first fusion recording, it also commenced the composer’s most divisive phase – commonly referred to as his “Electric Period”. This groundbreaking album would test latent tensions surrounding the future identity of jazz, its relationship with new technology, and the questions of authenticity which these contentious issues would draw into focus.
Whilst Davis was no longer the young, hip savant that he once was, his new relationship with the youthful singer Betty Maybry had renewed the composer’s interest in the contemporary pop landscape. Introducing Davis to the likes of The Jimi Hendrix Experience and Sly Stone, Maybry (alongside recommendations from drummer Tony Williams) would unknowingly guide the musician into one of the most distinctive and contentious eras of his work. Nonetheless, Davis’s transition towards this new palette was methodically considered, a culmination of ideas absorbed from collaborators and developed particularly through a new style of performance, which saw his band blend each separate compositions into one meandering flow of continuous music – a style stuck to rigorously until at least 1975.
Join us to experience the album as never before.
New York City
Date and Time: Sunday February 10th 12:00pm – 02:45pm
Venue
Nowadays, 56-06 Cooper Ave. Ridgewood, NY 11385
Tickets
Presenter
Barbie Bertisch, Paul Raffaele, and Jeff “Chairman” Mao
Audio Menu: Rega Exact MM Cartridge, Rega P9 Turntable, Audio Note UK pre-amplification and power amplification, AudioQuest Interconnects and cabling, Klipschorn Loudspeakers, Klipsch SW-115 Subwoofers
Watch: Laura Mvula on Miles Davis’ ‘Kind of Blue’ at Classic Album Sundays at Camp Bestival