In a Silent Way

Davis recorded it in a single three-hour session and Macero assembled it from the takes, shaping the edit along the lines of sonata form. Joe Zawinul's title tune was suggested by Nat Adderley. Davis removed most of its chord changes and built it on a pedal point, and Zawinul disliked the adaptation. He told McLaughlin to play as if he were a novice. Two pieces recorded around the session, Ghetto Walk and Early Minor, were dropped.

It reached 134 on the Billboard 200, his first chart entry since My Funny Valentine in 1965, and three on the jazz albums chart. Jazz critics received it less warmly than rock critics did. Lester Bangs praised it in Rolling Stone as the kind of album that gives you faith in the future of music, and Blender called it a proto-ambient masterpiece.