E.S.P.

E.S.P. is the first studio album by Miles Davis‘ second quintet. Several members of Davis’ first quintet, such as John Coltrane and Bill Evans, left to pursue their own solo careers. Davis would turn to young up-and-coming musicians to form one of the most celebrated and well-regarded jazz quintets of all time.

This quintet included bassist Ron Carter, pianist Herbie Hancock, saxophonist Wayne Shorter and a then seventeen-year-old Tony Williams on drums. Together they would continue to produce classic jazz albums such as Miles Smiles and Nefertiti.

All the songs on E.S.P. were written by Davis, Carter, Shorter and Hancock. The song “Little One” was written by Hancock himself, and would later be reworked on Hancock’s classic album Maiden Voyage. The title track is a fast-paced and free-flowing tune that features dynamic solos from Shorter for two choruses, Davis for six, and Hancock for two. The structure of this song is vastly different from Davis’ previous work, and would hint at him going in a more avant-garde direction with future releases. While E.S.P. was not commercially successful, it received critical acclaim and was highly influential on post-bop as a subgenre at the time of its release.