1 Shhh/Peaceful (original version)
12" LP: Mosaic MQ5-209
CD: Columbia Legacy C3K 65362, Columbia Legacy C3K 90921, Sony SICP 35/7, Sony SICP 924/6

3 In a Silent Way (take 1 (rehearsal))
12" LP: Mosaic MQ5-209
CD: Columbia Legacy C3K 65362, Columbia Legacy C3K 90921, Sony SICP 35/7, Sony SICP 924/6

4 In a Silent Way (take 2)
45 rpm: Columbia 88725 473257 SV
12" LP: Mosaic MQ5-209
CD: Columbia Legacy C3K 65362, Columbia Legacy C3K 90921, Sony SICP 35/7, Sony SICP 924/6

5 It's About That Time (original version)
12" LP: Mosaic MQ5-209, Vinyl Me, Please A017
CD: Columbia Legacy C3K 65362, Columbia Legacy C3K 90921, Columbia 69699 89152, Sony SICP 35/7, Sony SICP 924/6

6 Shhh/Peaceful (LP version)
12" LP: Columbia CS 9875 (= PC 9875), Music on Vinyl MOV LP028, Mobile Fidelity Sound Laboratory MFSL 1-377, CBS/Sony SONP 50131, CBS/Sony SOPL 170, CBS/Sony 18AP 2075, CBS/Sony 23AP 2575, CBS/Sony 25AP 770, Mosaic MQ5-209, Vinyl Me, Please A017
CD: Columbia CK 40580, Columbia Legacy C3K 65362, Columbia Legacy C3K 90921, Columbia CK 86556, Mobile Fidelity Sound Laboratory UDSACD 2088, CBS/Sony 35DP 70, CBS/Sony 32DP 730, Sony SRCS 5712, Sony SRCS 9117, Sony SRCS 9713, Sony SRGS 4511, Sony SIGP 29, Sony SICP 35/7, Sony SICP 924/6, Sony SICP 833, Sony SICP 1219, Sony SICP 20059, Sony SICP 30266, Sony SICJ 30076, Columbia Legacy 86975 24922 [= Columbia (F) 86975 52492] (CD 32)

7 In a Silent Way - It's About That Time (LP version)
12" LP: Columbia CS 9875 (= PC 9875), Music on Vinyl MOV LP028, Mobile Fidelity Sound Laboratory MFSL 1-377, Columbia C5X 45000, CBS/Sony SONP 50131, CBS/Sony SOPL 170, CBS/Sony 18AP 2075, CBS/Sony 23AP 2575, CBS/Sony 25AP 770, CBS/Sony 00AP 2076/81, Mosaic MQ5-209
CD: Columbia CK 40580, Columbia Legacy C4K 45000, Columbia Legacy C4K 86569, Columbia Legacy C3K 65362, Columbia Legacy C3K 90921, Columbia CK 86556, Mobile Fidelity Sound Laboratory UDSACD 2088, CBS/Sony 35DP 70, CBS/Sony 32DP 730, Sony SRCS 5712, CBS/Sony 80DP 872/5, Sony SRCS 5691/4, CBS/Sony 80DP 5430/3, Sony SICP 5037/40, Sony SRCS 9117, Sony SRCS 9713, Sony SRGS 4511, Sony SIGP 29, Sony SICP 35/7, Sony SICP 924/6, Sony SICP 833, Sony SICP 1219, Sony SICP 20059, Sony SICP 30266, Sony SICJ 30076, Columbia Legacy 86975 24922 [= Columbia (F) 86975 52492] (CD 32)

About forty minutes of music was recorded during this session, which ran from 10:00 am until 1:30 pm. The listings above include a number of edited versions which combine bits in different ways.

The original title on the track sheet of what we know as "Shhh/Peaceful" was "Mornin' Fast Train from Memphis to Harlem." A small number of LPs were pressed with labels listing this title.

The original version of "Shhh/Peaceful" (item #1 above) -- what Bob Belden in the notes to the Complete In a Silent Way Sessions sets issued by Mosaic and Columbia in 2001 refers to as "Original version 1.0" -- contains a few edits that introduce a short thematic passage that is repeated, like a refrain, several times in the course of the piece. Belden suggests that this version "is as close as we will get to how the band actually played it (in pieces of course) that day." He also claims that "it contains all the usable music recorded," and that "the 40 minutes of music presented here is all that was committed to tape on that day." The first table below deconstructs "Original version 1.0" of "Shhh/Peaceful." That version is presumably the basis for what appears on side A of of the original LP; the second table lays out its structure.

[1] Throughout his analysis, Belden refers to "parts" -- in order of appearance, parts 1, 1a, 2, 1a-2, 2b, 1c, 3, 4, 2c, 2d, 1d, 3b, 4b, 2e, 1e, 3c, 4c, 2f, 5, 1f, 3d, 4d, 2g, 2h, and 2v -- but he never states what these parts are parts of, or what their status is. Do they represent discrete takes or sections? Without access to the complete session reels we may never know. Although "Original version 1.0" is not a continuous performance, there are surprisingly few audible splices, and they appear only where the snaky theme is introduced to punctuate the music. This theme was wisely ignored entirely when the LP version of "Shhh/Peaceful" was assembled.

[2] My breakdown generally agrees with the one Belden provides in his notes. He lists the edits as:

00:00 Part 5 (organ and guitar chord)
00:07 Part 2c (guitar solo)
01:35 Part 2b (trumpet solo)
05:15 Part 2v (keyboard cascade)
05:55 Part 2
06:14 Part 2c (guitar and keyboards)
09:09 Part 2e (soprano solo)
10:42 Part 4c
10:46 Part 2f (keyboard-guitar)
11:57 Part 5 (organ and guitar chord)
12:03 Part 2g
13:31 Part 2h (trumpet solo)
17:13 Part 2v
17:53 Part 2v (excerpt)

As with "Shhh/Peaceful," the ultimate pieces from which "It's About That Time" was assembled are unknown. Belden again suggests that "it was recorded in segments":

Take 1 of part 1...begins with trademark descending chords from Hancock... Take 2 of part 1 begins at 0:56 and McLaughlin begins a tentative solo. Take 3 of part 1 begins at 2:48 and McLaughlin solos again... Take 4 of part 1 begins at 3:09... At 4:09 Holland subtly plays the bass line (Take 4 part 2 -- the tonality is definitely F mixolydian) and McLaughlin finishes his solo with a trail off. Take 5 part 1 is for the soprano saxophone... Shorter continues into part 2 before ending his solo... Miles waits until the groove gets just right and then he enters with part 1, shadowing the descending chords. [He] cues part 2 about 50 secconds into his solo and then about 40 seconds later Tony kicks into high gear... But just as the fires are lit, Tony winds it down and the band goes back to part 1 and Miles begins another solo cycle. Teo used this second solo (1a) as the melodic suggestion in assembling the final master. The force and intensity of the start of this second solo were perfect for Teo's needs. Miles cues part 2a and winds his solo down.

Again, it is difficult to evaluate this analysis without access to the session reels, and again it is unclear what "parts" Belden is referring to. What is clear is that the tune includes two distinct bass vamps: one is a quick three-note repeated suspended pattern which Belden describes as "hover[ing] between E-flat and F" (call this vamp #1) and a longer sinewy pattern whose tonality is "definitely F mixolydian" (vamp #2). Belden's "parts" are evidently defined by the vamps that underlie them. The structure of the original "It's About That Time" is laid out in the first table below. Side B of the original LP begins and ends with Joe Zawinul's "In a Silent Way" (take 2, item #4 above), between which Macero includes a lightly-edited version of the original working version (second table).

The issued original version of "It's About That Time" (item #5 above) begins with a fade-in of the closing vamp from "Shhh/Peaceful" (item #1). In fact, there is more than 20 seconds of overlap from the end of "Shhh/Peaceful" and the beginning of "It's About That Time." Perhaps these tracks were extracted from an extended performance, the pieces together making up a single composite with running time of 30:19. Or it may be that the appearance of continuity is an illusion created by Macero's editing. There are two bell-like el-p notes just before the audible splice at 0:18 of item #5, indicating where the pieces might have been joined (if they ever were joined); these notes are audible in the fade-out at the end of the LP version of "Shhh/Peaceful," but the "original" version (#1 above) is faded out before the two notes can be heard.

The Mosaic/Columbia Complete In a Silent Way Sessions (Mosaic MQ5-209, Columbia Legacy C3K 65362) includes all but item #2 listed above. That item, a very tentative rehearsal, consists of Davis getting familiar with the "In a Silent Way" melody accompanied by the rhythm section. Shorter does not play on this take.

Bill Laswell's Panthalassa (Columbia CK 67909, Sony SRCS 8457) includes a 5:10 excerpt/remix of "Shhh/Peaceful," a 5:22 remix of "In a Silent Way," a 3:33 excerpt/remix of "It's About That Time," and a 1:08 remix of "In a Silent Way."

The collaboration Panthalassa: The Remixes (Columbia CK 69897, Sony SRJS 6010, Sony SRCS 8906) includes a 10:24 remix of "Shhh/Peaceful" listed as "SEA4 Miles Remix," and a 5:02 remix of "In a Silent Way."

There is a 4:53 remix of "It's About That Time" on Evolution of the Groove (Columbia Legacy 89152). Additional musicians include: Carlos Santana (g), Pat Thrall (g, programming), Geri Allen (el-p), Charlie Drayton (el-b, programming), Vincent Wilburn, Jr. (d), Aziza Faye and Ndongo Mbaye (perc).

A tour of Japan was scheduled for the first week(s) of January, but it was canceled. Later in the month the Quintet -- Davis, Shorter, Corea, Holland, and De Johnette -- was booked for three weeks at Club Baron in New York (January 25-February 16).

I am deeply grateful to Maurizio Comandini for discussing this session with me. His series of articles, "Seven Steps to Miles," published in Musica Jazz beginning in March 2026, is a goldmine of information about the 1968-1969 period.