This recording of Miles Davis at the Monterey Jazz festival captures a moment of transition in his long career. His successful Sketches of Spain quintet had disbandened with the departure of John Coltrane for a solo career in March. By the autumn he had established what was to become his "second great quintet" with George coleman on the tenor sax, Herbie Hancock on piano, Ron Carter on bass, and seventeen year old Tony Williams on drums.
The greatest virtue of listening to Davis' performance in Monterey is to hear him, who was dominat in the cool jazz idiom in the 40's, making the transition to the modal modern freebop jazz. Of particular note is Hancock's performance in "Stella By Starlight". This is an excellent, professional recording that captures the show perfectly.
