‘Footprints’-Miles Davis

If you want to hear Miles Davis at the top of his game, look no further than “Footprints” from classic 1966 album, “Miles Smiles.”

The tune, written by Davis’ saxophonist Wayne Shorter, is played with the typical freewheeling abandon of Miles’ “Second Great Quintet,” as the group on this record is called.

Miles and Shorter lazily drape the simple melody over the hard-driving rhythm machine of pianist Herbie Hancock, bassist Ron Carter and drummer Tony Williams.

Miles’ solo is surprisingly aggressive and long – he comes out of the gates screaming and even drives Williams to change from the plodding 3/4 jazz groove to a driving 4/4 Latin/bop hybrid.

After a closing reiteration of the melody, Williams can’t stop playing. He takes a free-form solo before ushering in the rest of the band for a final statement of the melody.

One gets the feeling that Miles never told any of his bandmates exactly how the song was supposed to be played. Listening to the band’s electrifyingly spontaneous communication, it’s obvious that he needn’t have wasted his breath.