Wooden Elephant plays In a Silent Way by Miles Davis

The Wooden Elephant string quintet doesn’t play individual tracks, but entire albums. To be more precise: they perform electronic albums on ‘classical’ or analogue instruments made of wood, steel and horsehair. Think of it as an alternative journey through the history of electronic music. Previously, they have reworked iconic albums such as Björk’s Homogenic, Radiohead’s Kid A, Beyoncé’s Lemonade and Aphex Twin’s Drukqs. To mark the centenary of jazz legend Miles Davis, they have now reimagined In a Silent Way (1969), an album that changed the musical landscape forever. Despite its relatively short playing time, the album has had a monumental influence. After all, Miles Davis bridged the gap between traditional jazz and the emerging rock music, alongside Wayne Shorter, Herbie Hancock, Chick Corea, Joe Zawinul and Dave Holland. The album is not a loud proclamation, but rather a subtle, hypnotic invitation to a new sonic world. At the request of the prestigious Verbier Festival (Switzerland), Wooden Elephant has transformed In a Silent Way into an acoustic reinterpretation for string quintet, drones and additional instruments. Founder Ian Anderson had previously collaborated with Jonny Greenwood (Radiohead) as part of the London Contemporary Orchestra and contributed to the band’s album A Moon Shaped Pool.