Erik's Random 10

"Agitation" is the fifth track on Miles Davis' 1965 album, E.S.P. This album represents a core achievement of Miles' second great quintet, with Tony Williams on drums, Wayne Shorter on sax, Herbie Hancock on piano, and Ron Carter on bass. Together, these five men made some of the most amazing music in the history of jazz. This album still holds up today with all its urgency and excitement. "Agitation" is precisely that, with an excellent Williams drum bit early in the song and some exciting Miles trumpet fireworks toward the middle of the song. On this track, you can see Miles exploring the free jazz of the era. Miles never went in too far in the direction of John Coltrane and Albert Ayler; of course, he explored his own sonic universe with the electric instruments he began employing just a couple of years after this album. But particularly in the drums, one can see Miles and his cronies taking the radical new way of approaching jazz and making it all theirs.

There isn't much I can say about Miles Davis that much better music writers have not already said. Unlike John Coltrane, who was a great saxophonist but not discernibly better than lesser known (by young people at least) contemporaries such as Sonny Rollins, Miles truly continues to stand head and shoulders among all jazz musicians between the early 1950s and the early 1970s.

1. Miles Davis, Agitation
2. William Hooker, Christian Marclay, and Lee Ranaldo, Part 6
3. Kieran Kane & Kevin Welch, If I Could Be There
4. Bobby Previte, Rattango
5. Samuel Barber, Sonata for Violoncello and Piano, Opus 6 (1932), Allegro Ma Non; Rhonda Rider, cello; Lois Shapiro, piano
6. Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, Mera Sohna Sajan
7. Muddy Waters, I'm Ready
8. Compay Segundo, Tú Querías Jugar
9. Eddie Morton, You Ain't Talking To Me
10. Conway Twitty, Rest Your Love On Me