Miles Davis Funk & Fusion

To say that traditionalists were shocked at Miles' new direction would be putting it mildly, but two decades had passed between the first Birth of the Cool sessions and the first Bitches Brew recordings. In jazz years, that's a lifetime. "Rated X," from 1972's Get Up With It, drops you unapologetically into fusion's deep end, and it takes a little furious paddling to get your bearings, but it's worth it.

"Honky Tonk," from Get Up With It, brings in the noise, brings in the funk in a way Broadway would never have anticipated (or embraced). If you like your fusion with a little more rock flavor in the mix, try "John McLaughlin," named for the guitarist featured prominently on the track. And "The Doo Bop Song," from Miles' last album, shows the master stretching right to the end, into a hip-hop inflected groove.

When Dylan went electric at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival, you'd have thought an A-bomb had been dropped in the folk world, and in some ways it was. Similarly, when Miles released Bitches Brew in 1970, many jazzbos just didn't get it. And they were (and many still are) quite vocal about it. But Davis had heard Hendrix and was intrigued by the possibilities of an electrified sound, so he followed his instinct. He clearly hit a nerve with the public, as Bitches Brew became his first Gold album. As true artists are wont to do, he never stopped testing his boundaries.