The group Miles Davis called his favourite band of all time
Miles Davis never let himself be confined to one genre. Though he might have started life in the world of jazz, Davis made it a point to stretch the limits of what his instrument could do, taking the genre into places like rock, soul, and everything in between. When talking about one of his personal favourites, Davis was never confined to the world of jazz, either.
Coming up in the early jazz clubs in New York, Davis was always looking for something more inventive than an average ensemble. Though albums like Kind of Blue introduced modal jazz, Davis was scratching that itch for the rest of the decade. On albums like Bitches Brew, Davis explored every facet of music that made him tick, taking his background in horns and translating that into the world of psychedelia, almost making a jazz-rock record if Jimi Hendrix had interpreted it.
Davis was even close to working with Hendrix before he died in the early 1970s. By the time he reached the next decade, the music world that Davis had known had drastically changed, with acts popping up left and right that took music in new directions. When looking at the new school of players, Davis had a soft spot for Earth, Wind, and Fire. While the soul collective had a similar upbringing in jazz, Davis thought they were the complete package of musical complexity and melody, saying (via Interpretations), “They have everything in one band”.
While EWF has everything that makes a classic soulful act, they were seeing out what Davis had done back in the ’60s. Since the psychedelic movement ended, the music world was still wide open for bold new reinventions, and Earth, Wind, and Fire would put every genre that suited them under one roof.
Across their discography, the band toy with every musical colour palette they can think of, incorporating everything from soulful grooves to aggressive guitar performances to even sprinkling in elements of Latin grooves into their sound. Considering Davis had tried his hand at more exotic sounds on albums like Sketches of Spain, EWF were using their songs the exact same way, almost writing the tunes to understand different forms of music.
As for bassist Verdine White, the reason why Earth, Wind, and Fire has lasted as long as they have was because of how much variety was in their material, saying, “We’ve always been able to do different things. That’s how we grew up as musicians. Doing different things makes it more interesting.” Although moving into different areas might divide a group’s fanbase, it takes some greats to break through those fears and come out on the other side.
Just like Davis had done with Kind of Blue of Bitches Brew, Earth, Wind, and Fire used their songwriting as a sort of playground, throwing different elements into the mix and spinning them into some of the best grooves of the late ’70s. The legacy continues as well, with other acts looking to take the basis of what both Davis and EWF have done and incorporate that freedom into their music, whether through sampling or finding an exotic groove that no one had ever heard.
While Davis might have carved out his unique niche in the world of music, the versatility of Earth, Wind, and Fire kept music progressing instead of settling for what was trendy. Both Davis and EWF were never going to be tied down to one specific genre, and where most genres put up musical walls, they see doors to musical exploration.
