Miles Davis Quintet-Miles Smiles (1966)

A few years before Miles Davis began exploring the more avant-garde sounds of jazz, fusing it with rock, electronica, and funk, he released another of his legendary albums focused on melodic and somewhat futuristic bebop, anticipating by almost a decade what would later be called jazz fusion. Surrounded by one of his legendary quintets—comprising Wayne Shorter (saxophone), Anthony Williams (drums), Ron Carter (bass), and Herbie Hancock (piano)—Miles Davis favored a jazz style with a clear emphasis on the extended solos of some of his bandmates. The musicians' remarkable flexibility led to fabulous rhythms driven by the flawless rhythm section of Carter and Wayne and the tight exchange of solos between Davis's trumpet and Shorter's saxophone. Hancock's vibrant piano notes, the brilliant percussion, the driving rhythm of the wind instruments, and the inspired notes present in every groove of the record reflect a jazz album at its finest and a true masterpiece of the genre.