As his health continued to deteriorate and drug dependency led to canceled tours, missed dates, and uneven gigs, Miles Davis began his retreat from the stage in the summer of 1975. Following remarkable multi-night stands in Philadelphia and Boston in May, Miles performed just a handful of dates from June through September, all of which took place in New York City. This cache of tapes from an early June, five-night stand at the Bottom Line marks the beginning of that abrupt end.

As evidenced in those tapes from Philadelphia and Boston, the Miles Davis septet remained in peak form – expanding on the heady abstract elements and telepathic interplay that came to fruition on its tour of Japan months earlier. Against all odds, Miles himself was performing with a level of vigor and engagement he hadn’t displayed in years and was writing material with a renewed focus on melody and pure beauty.

Despite a clear eye toward its next evolution, these tapes from the Bottom Line reveal the sort of schizophrenic nature of a Miles Davis gig in mid-1975. Beset by technical issues and a distracted bandleader, the first night’s sets are often messy and uneven, and though full of high points they never quite achieve liftoff. The second night’s tape captures a two-set show that’s among the most cohesive, incredible 90 minutes of electric Miles you’ll hear. A journey that remains richly dramatic through to its final notes.

Though Miles Davis performed in Philadelphia several times throughout his 1969-75 electric period, just three of those sets are known to have been documented. The first is a phenomenal late-1970 performance at the Electric Factory, featuring the only known video footage of the Keith Jarrett, Gary Bartz, Jack DeJohnette and Airto lineup. The second and third circulating tapes originate from this five-night run the septet performed at the short-lived Just Jazz in May of 1975, where the band performed nightly sets at 9 and 11pm.

The first of the Just Jazz tapes documents an unknown date from the band’s May 12-17 run, the second captures a set from the final night, both of which feature the band in full flight just days after saxophonist Sam Morrison first joined the band on-stage in Boston. For those unfamiliar with the shadowy period between the recording of Agharta and Pangaea in February and the band’s haitus in September of ’75, tapes like these from Philadelphia are a revelation. Not only is Miles’ horn playing remarkably powerful and inventive, but the septet continues to explore entirely new turf – restructuring familiar tunes, piling on new tones and electronic textures, and incorporating some of the most gorgeous melodic themes of the entire electric era.

This is a brief period that produced some truly exceptional music. Overlook it at your own peril.