By January 1969, Davis' core working band had stabilised around
Wayne Shorter on soprano saxophone,
Dave Holland on bass,
Chick Corea on electric piano, and
Jack DeJohnette on drums. For his next studio album, Davis also brought in drummer
Tony Williams and keyboardist
Herbie Hancock, previously members of his
Second Great Quintet. In the following month, the six were joined by Austrian keyboardist
Josef Zawinul and English guitarist
John McLaughlin, who had been in the United States for less than two weeks to join
The Tony Williams Lifetime before Davis asked him to attend the recording session. McLaughlin had been a longtime fan of Davis, and spoke with Davis of his nervousness at the prospect of recording with his idol. Among the compositions by Zawinul that Davis took a liking to was "In a Silent Way", an atmospheric piece that was titled at the suggestion of
Nat Adderley while Zawinul was in the
Cannonball Adderley band. Adderley wished to use the piece for his band, but Zawinul turned him down, informing him that he had already promised it to Davis. Although Davis' live performances and recent albums
Miles in the Sky and
Filles de Kilimanjaro (both 1968) had indicated his stylistic shift towards
jazz fusion and increasing incorporation of electric instrumentation,
In a Silent Way marked a complete transition into the style, marking the beginning of his
"electric" period. It was also his first recording to be constructed largely by the editing and arrangement of Davis and producer
Teo Macero, whose editing techniques on
In a Silent Way were informed by classical
sonata form. Both tracks on the album consist of three distinct parts that could be thought of as an
exposition,
development, and
recapitulation, with the first and third section of each track being the same piece.
In a Silent Way was assembled from various takes from a three-hour session on February 18, 1969, at
CBS 30th Street Studio's Studio B in
Manhattan. "Shhh/Peaceful" was composed solely by Davis, while the opening and closing section to "In a Silent Way/It's About That Time" is based on Zawinul's "In a Silent Way", which he would record in its original form in 1970 for his third solo album,
Zawinul (1971). After Zawinul presented the tune to the group, it was rehearsed as it was originally written, but Davis wished for it to sound more rock-oriented and stripped the various chord changes to leave a more basic melody built around a
pedal point. McLaughlin had some difficulty playing in the manner Davis wished of him, but found his way after the trumpeter suggested he play the guitar as if he were a novice. Davis believed that Zawinul was never happy with his adaptation of "In a Silent Way", but felt that the album would have been less successful had its original arrangement been kept. Zawinul had expressed some dislike of Davis' arrangement, in particular of two chords that he believed that Davis was wrong to remove. Zawinul claimed that he was responsible for the melodic bass line and descending melody of "It's About That Time" but was not credited; he blamed Macero for this, as he "always put things together so that it came out as if Miles had written it." Two days after the February 18 session, Davis returned to the studio and recorded "Ghetto Walk" with drummer
Joe Chambers. "Ghetto Walk" was intended to be included on
In a Silent Way with "Shhh/Peaceful", but it was later swapped for "In a Silent Way/It's About That Time". The group also played through "Early Minor", another Zawinul piece, on February 20, but it too was scrapped. ==Release==