more risks." He recalled: "everybody did things according to certain kinds of expectations. I knew if I did this, Ron would do that, or Tony knew that if he did this, I would do that. It became so easy to do that it was almost boring." On the flight to Chicago, Tony Williams came up with a solution, proposing that the group make "anti-music": "whatever someone expects you to play, that's the last thing you play..." After some discussion, the musicians agreed, but decided not to tell Davis. Hancock added: "Some people have suggested that Tony was trying to sabotage the band by doing this, but really he was only trying to sabotage our comfort level, to break us open again. It was just another step in trying to push our boundaries as musicians and as a band." The Plugged Nickel set list consisted of mostly standards, with the exception of "Agitation" from E.S.P. Hancock wrote: "from the moment Miles counted off the first song, I started focusing on how I could play against expectation. Whenever a song would build up, getting to a natural peak, the natural inclination would be to push it over the top—but instead I would suddenly bring it down with one quiet note. Tony did the same, building up his playing in volume and intensity, and then, instead of hitting the bass drum, he'd gently tap the cymbal. We did the opposite, too, suddenly ratcheting up the intensity just as a tune was winding down." Shorter recalled: "When I heard those guys dropping the bottom out from under me, I knew it was 'Go for it' time!... I'd been in the band for a little over a year, and the next thing I knew we were way out there. It was like... this is what freedom means. The awareness was that the great responsibility that came with the territory was to push the envelope. You heard responsibility converted into expression that sounded like a great adventure." During these sets, tempos were shifted and tunes were stretched to the verge of unrecognizability. Although Davis was still recovering from his ordeals, he seemed to enjoy the unexpected challenge, and allowed the other players extra space. According to Hancock, Davis "never said a word about it. He knew better than anyone that something strange was going on, but he never asked us, and we never told him. He