Miles Davis – Live at Tanglewood, 1970

On 18 August 1970, Miles Davis closed Bill Graham’s “Fillmore at Tanglewood” series at the Berkshire Music Center in Lenox, Massachusetts, sharing the bill with Santana and the Voices of East Harlem. The trumpeter was deep into his electric transformation: Bitches Brew had been released only months earlier, and his music now flowed as a continuous stream with no clean breaks between tunes. On stage stood a formidable septet: Gary Bartz on saxophones, who had joined only days before the show as Steve Grossman’s replacement, the twin keyboards of Chick Corea and Keith Jarrett, Dave Holland on bass, Jack DeJohnette on drums and Airto Moreira on percussion. The band moved through “Directions,” “Bitches Brew,” “It’s About That Time” and “Spanish Key” over an electric pulse steeped in rock and funk. One of the few filmed documents of this short-lived line-up, this footage captures a pivotal moment in jazz-fusion history. Watch the full Miles Davis concert, live at Tanglewood in 1970.