H. and I recently held a Miles Davis Marathon on a cold and rainy weekend night.
We listened to everything from the classic early quartets through the modal and electronic periods right into the faux funk of his latter days. Something clicked when I dropped the needle on Side one of 1974's Big Fun, a double album of material largely recorded during the Bitches Brew sessions. Recorded in 1969, The indian tinged pre-fusion jazz rock of the album-side-length opener Great Expectations made for the perfect rainy late night soundtrack. The track is a dense extended modal vamp with electric sitar and spooky electronic keyboards, and features Herbie Hancock, Ron Carter, John McLaughlin, Chick Corea and Bennie Maupin among others. Four years after this track was recorded, Herbie Hancock would popularize the fusion sound for the masses on Headhunters, one of the highest selling jazz albums of all time.

Great Expectations