Decoy (album)
1984 studio album by Miles Davis
Decoy is a 1984 album by jazz musician Miles Davis, recorded in 1983.
Keyboardist Robert Irving III and guitarist John Scofield wrote or co-wrote most of the new compositions. Saxophonist Branford Marsalis appears with the group on “Decoy”, “Code M.D.” and “That’s Right” playing soprano.
Background
Decoy is the first album Davis recorded without the help of longtime producer Teo Macero. Macero still had plans, including recording Davis with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, but Davis insisted on producing the album himself. Herbie Hancock's "Rockit" was a hit, and Davis figured he could get airplay with his own new album as well, if he added more synthesizers, as well as beefed-up bass lines and overdubs, and so "we put clothes on the melodies", he said later. Gil Evans advised him as well, and suggested, on "That's Right", that Davis put chords behind the trumpet lines as a contrast. The idea of layering sounds was put to practice on "Code M.D.", where Davis plays a muted solo behind his own solo.
The main theme of "That's What Happened" was lifted directly from Scofield's improvised solo on "Speak", a live performance included on the previous album Star People. Full (live) versions of "That's What Happened" and "What It Is" were released in 2022 on That’s What Happened 1982-1985: The Bootleg Series, Vol.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Decoy (album)” as 1984 studio album by Miles Davis. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
Why this record matters
The subject matters to the arts & letters register because the source frames it as 1984 studio album by Miles Davis. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
Reception evidence should be dated and situated: later canonical status may differ sharply from the work’s initial circulation. The source revision retrieved here is dated Dec 6, 2025. The linked authority identifier is Q2265688. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1984, 1983, 2022 and 1982.
Rights, attribution and provenance may remain disputed even when a general reference summary presents a stable account. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Separate the work, its editions or performances, and its later reception. Catalogue records, publication histories and object files often preserve different parts of that story.
- Identifying works and editions
- Tracing reception history
- Finding collection records
The original object or edition, catalogue raisonné, performance record, rights file and holding institution.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Decoy (album)”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Decoy (album) primary sources, Decoy (album) archive and Decoy research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Decoy (album)”?
- Which edition, object, performance or recording is being described?
- Where is authorship, date or provenance documented?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Decoy (album)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.