Miles Smiles

Miles Smiles, recorded in 1966 with Miles Davis's second quintet featuring Wayne Shorter, Herbie Hancock, Ron Carter, and Tony Williams, moves beyond hard bop into post-bop territory with an emphasis on open, elastic rhythms and collective interplay. The album balances composed themes and loose, conversational improvisation, presenting pieces such as Wayne Shorter’s "Footprints" and an exploratory reading of Eddie Harris’s "Freedom Jazz Dance," and is notable for its focus on texture, rhythmic flexibility, and advanced harmonic framing rather than strict head-solo-head structures.