The "second great quintet" in the vast Miles Davis chronology was largely finished by the release of this album. The two previous albums brought in additional personnel and switched up the instruments to more electric and less acoustic. Bassist Ron Carter, who went all out electric on the previous year's Filles de Kilimanjaro, is not featured here. Herbie Hancock is now part of a three-keyboard approach, and guitarist John McLaughlin in firmly on board. This would be drummer Tony Williams last album with Miles, and only sax-man Wayne Shorter would stick around all the way into the Bitches Brew era.
Those in need of a transition album from latter-era acoustic albums like Nefertiti and groundbreaking electric era stuff like Bitches Brew will find this album serves that purpose nicely. Although the keyboard unit has expanded, it's still relatively-small band material, unlike the next album which routinely featured about 10-13 guys all playing at once. Structurally though it is clear that Miles was moving way past "songs" and filling up entire record sides with single tracks, something he would do for the rest of the decade.
Of course I came into this album late, so I didn't have the benefit of a nice transitional experience from one Miles to the other. Nevertheless, no regrets about how I discovered each album, even though a chronological approach may have aided my overall appreciation a bit more.
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