Kevin Whitehead

Before they played Chicago's Plugged Nickel with Miles Davis in 1965, drummer Tony Williams famously challenged his fellow sidemen to play anti-music on the gig, the opposite of what a listener or even the other players might expect.

They hadn't known they'd be recording live, and they didn't clue in Miles, but they went for it anyway, sometimes.

Two versions of the same tune might sound radically different.

Tony Williams, who'd just turned 20, was the main instigator.

Jazz drummers typically favor steady tempos, but Williams had other ideas.

On No Blues, pianist Herbie Hancock and bassist Ron Carter follow him all the way down.

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The players' anti-music stance pushed back against Miles Davis' stale and limited live repertoire.

The quintet had broken new ground on their current album, ESP, recorded earlier in 65, but on gigs they played only one tune from it in simplified form.

Mostly they did songs he'd been doing for years, some since the 1950s.

Miles usually took the first solo, with the rhythm section generally well-behaved.

After that, things might advance into more open territory with more floating rhythm.

Tony Williams is the band's spark plug, but on the seven and a half hours of Miles Davis' complete live at the Plug Nickel in 1965, the star soloist is Wayne Shorter on tenor saxophone.

Miles could play sparsely, leaving lots of space.

Shorter, by contrast, might overflow that space, as John Coltrane had with Miles.

Then on the very next number, Wayne Shorter is relaxed, lyrical, and full-bodied.

A total turnaround.

In truth, the quintet's weak link is Miles Davis.

The trumpeter had been sidelined for most of the year with hip problems and sounds out of practice.

Miles' greatness isn't about sterling technique, but the ingenious ways he works around his limitations.