E.S.P.

E.S.P. (Extra Sensory Perception) is an album by Miles Davis, recorded on January 20–22, 1965 and released on August 16 of that year by Columbia Records. It is the first release from what is known as Davis's second great quintet: Davis on trumpet, Wayne Shorter on tenor saxophone, Herbie Hancock on piano, Ron Carter on bass, and Tony Williams on drums. The album was named after a tune by Shorter, and was inspired by the fact that, "since Wayne Shorter's arrival, the five members of the quintet seemed to communicate by mental telepathy." Background The album represented a departure from Davis's previous recordings in that it does not include any ballads or standards. Davis contributed one composition ("Agitation", which the quintet would often play live, as they did at the Plugged Nickel dates later that year), and co-wrote two pieces with Carter ("Eighty-One" and "Mood"). Carter also contributed "R.J.", while Hancock was represented by "Little One", which would appear on his album Maiden Voyage, recorded roughly two months later. Shorter, having been told to "bring the book" (referring to his growing book of original compositions), is credited for the title track and "Iris". Originally, the rights to the title track were shared between Davis and Shorter, but Davis returned all the rights in later years. A number of the pieces on the album challenge standard 32-measure forms: "Mood", for example, has a 13-bar form, while "R.J." is 19 bars in length. All of the pieces were either modified by Davis or collectively reworked by the group at the session. Hancock recalled how Davis approached "Eighty-One": "Miles took the first two bars of melody notes and squished them together, and he took out other areas to leave a big space that only the rhythm section would play. To me, it sounded like getting to the essence of the composition. He'd take the inherent structure and leave us room to breathe and create something fresh every night. There were the basic elements of the song, but not used exactly as they were in the composition." E.S.P. was recorded at Columbia's Hollywood Studios following a falling-out between Davis and Teo Macero after the release of Quiet Nights. It was the last album bearing a photo of Davis's then-wife Frances on the cover, as the couple would separate by the end of 1965 as a result of Davis's erratic and violent behaviour.