I’ve just been watching a DVD containing footage from Miles Davis’ performance at the Isle of Wight Festival in 1970. It’s pretty amazing stuff if you’re into the later electric music of Davis. It’s really weird music, and very difficult for a lot of people to wrap their heads around. There’s Jack Johnson, and the Bitches Brew, and some live recordings from the Fillmore that document this music. The electric music of Miles is quite radical because it’s usually an extended jam rather than a tightly structured thing. It can take a while for the thematic material to emerge from the intense groove.

The records are wonderful, but getting the visual side of it as well makes it something else. On this visual record, there’s a who’s who of modern jazz players. I’d like to see if you can keep your jaw from hitting the floor before you finish this list: Keith Jarrett, Chick Corea, David Holland, Jack Dejohnette, Airto Moreira, Dave Leibman, Herbie Hancock, and more. It’s remarkable that Davis had the foresight to hire these guys and more remarkable still that they are all playing and performing successfully almost 40 years later leading their own groups. Especially so in jazz.

It’s an amazing thing to see Davis performing. My pal, the burger flipper and I went to hear Miles at the OKeefe Centre back in 1980. There’s an intensity that the man brought to playing live that is simply astounding. I’ve heard lots of musicians perform in my day, and I think only a handful approach that same level. It’s not about volume or speed. It’s hard to define, but I think most people hear that ethereal quality in an extra gifted musicians’ playing.

Joni Mitchell said it accurately when she compared Davis’ electrification of jazz to Bob Dylan plugging in and using an electric guitar to play folk music. There was a similar shift, and a lot of people were shocked. The old methods had to change, and a lot of purists feelings were hurt. It didn’t matter whether it was jazz music, or folk music. What was shocking was the change from an acoustic setting to an electrified sound.

It’s interesting to see this footage now, because it’s not shocking at all to hear electric instruments in almost any setting. Maybe the classical snobs of the world are pissed off at Nigel Kennedy putting down his Stradivarius and pickup up an electric violin, but that’s the only example I can think of. Miles brought electric music to the world, and the world stood up and took notice. People hear electric instruments and don’t really think anything untoward is being done in the music. What a difference 40 years makes. What a difference Miles Davis made.