If there is one studio recording that truly captures the Second Great Quintet establishing its identity, Miles Smiles—recorded over two days in October 1966—is it. The cliché avoidance and unpredictability the Quintet had forced into their playing the previous December at the Plugged Nickel was by then an inherent part of their approach, now applied to studio efforts as well as onstage performances: minimal takes, hit-it-and-quit-it energy, leaning on laxity and surprise. Recordings were as open