Miles Goes Electric

Miles goes electric. Oh, Bitches Brew ? Er, no actually. Yeh, I forgot, In A Silent Way ? Well, in fact before that in 1968 came Filles De Kilimanjaro, the disk up for consideration here. Mainly still the quintet of Miles, Wayne Shorter, Herbie Hancock, Ron Carter and Tony Williams, the album saw the introduction of electric bass and the addition of Chick Corea and Dave Holland to replace Hancock and Carter respectively on some tracks. Both Hancock and Corea also began using electric piano. In some ways the music flowed naturally on from Nefertiti, in that there wasn't much in the way of showboating solo fireworks, the improvisations were more on a group level and evolved slowly and atmospherically. The sound was bluesy and edging towards funk and the title implied a growing interest in African music. Geographically it was a little off kilter though, the influence contained being more South African than Kenyan, especially in the closing Mademoiselle Mabry. I think Miles had been listening to Hugh Masakela, though he name checked influences closer to home like Hendrix and the blues of Muddy Waters. Incidentally, unlike Miles, the packaging shows a certain insular American feel, thinking it necessary to translate the title ( Girls Of Kilimanjaro ) and to tell us that the track Mademoiselle Mabry in fact means Miss Mabry !