Posted the birth of the first great quintet a month ago and this album is the birth of the second great quintet. While I love the first quintet this second quintet is on another level for me. It was a brilliant group consisting of Miles, Wayne Shorter, Tony Williams, Ron Carter and Herbie Hancock. All of them were masters. As a drummer myself I adore Tony Williams and his extremely tasteful and unique approach. His kit and touch always sounds amazing and in a top 5 list of favorite drummers he will be at the very top.
E.S.P. stands for Extra-Sensory Perception and the members truly are communicating on a different plane here as it was through telepathy. But E.S.P. could just as well stand for Ever So Perfect, as the music is as good as it gets in the modal/post bop style. This copy sounds as new with a lush and organic sound. All the tunes are beautiful originals, played with such feeling and sophistication. I have struggled to find these Columbia recordings of this group in their 1st issue form. Columbia is tricky when it comes to determining what a 1st issue is, but thanks to the one and only Dottorjazz and his research I have a clear view of what to look for. A 1st issue of E.S.P. for example should have the two eyes and “Guaranteed High Fidelity” printed in black at the bottom of the labels and not the MONO 360 sound with two arrows, which is the second issue. I hope to find some of the other titles by this great group as well, such as “Miles Smiles”, “Sorcerer” and “Nefertiti”. But it’s not easy let me tell you.
I have found that my new approach to collecting is a beautiful path where I’ve been exploring a lot of different labels, titles and artists that I hadn’t experienced much before. And the amount of great albums one can acquire instead of an original Blue Note is very satisfying. I’m very happy to have been able to collect some of the top Blue Notes in lovely condition through the years but this new approach is letting me get so much more music into the collection. The way the prices on eBay for the original Blue Notes have been going as of late is jaw dropping. Absolutely insane. I have packages coming in now with plenty of new titles and this package was the first to arrive. Stay tuned for the other stuff coming up.
Cheers!