Back in stock for nefertiti which was the fruition of all davis' experiments in free form, bebop, cool and modal jazz. davis's signature as an improviser and musical editor is writ large on each composition, particularly in the provocative use of space. on shorter's famous title tune, the trumpet and tenor saxophone shadow each other's line in a deliberately inexact manner, almost like a form of silkscreening, as hancock's piano tolls away suggestively and tony williams drops percussive grenades all over the canvas—as if the drums were the lead voice (and don't think they aren't). shorter's floating melody on "fall" and his boppish figures on "pinocchio" have also become essential elements of the modern jazz lexicon, and listen to how bassist carter and williams suspend, subdivide and generally subert the traditional 4/4 swing pulse on the later. williams' "hand jive" and hancock's "madness" offer cubist shards of melody as the take off point for more resounding swing interplay with carter and williams, while the pithy "riot" redefines afro-cuban in a decidedly modern manner. nefertiti is a mysterious, meliflouous, enduring classic.