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Miles Davis Quintet Four Classic Albums |
AVID JAZZ amsc1376
CD1
Cookin’
1. My Funny Valentine**
2. Blues By Five**
3. Airegin**
4. Tune Up / When Lights Are Low**
Relaxin’
5. If I Were A Bell**
6. You’re My Everything**
7. I Could Write A Book**
8. Oleo**
9. It Could Happen To You*
10. Woody’n You*
CD2
Workin’
1. It Never Entered My Mind*
2. Four*
3. In Your Own Sweet Way*
4. The Theme Take #1*
5. Trane’s Blues*
6. Ahmed’s Blues*
7. Half Nelson**
8. The Theme Take #2*
Steamin’
9. Surrey With The Fringe On Top*
10. Salt Peanuts*
11. Something I Dreamed Last Night*
12. Diane*
13. Well, You Needn’t**
14. When I Fall In Love*Miles Davis (trumpet), John Coltrane (tenor sax), Red Garland (piano), Paul Chambers (bass), ‘Philly’ Joe Jones (drums)
Rec. Rudy Van Gelder Studios, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey; May 11 th , 1956* and October 26th, 1956**.
By any criteria, these closely-related four albums are jazz ‘classics’. They are so in terms of the quality of the music they contain as well as in terms of how extensively this ensemble influenced (and, one might argue, continues to influence) other musicians.
It would largely pointless (especially in the present context) and, in any case, more or less impossible to say which is the best of these four albums, since they are all very rewarding. They are all played by the same musicians and all the music was recorded during just two very lengthy sessions in May and October of 1956. I think it would be fair, however, to say that the music recorded at the October session is, for the most part, even better than that recorded in May. That can be explained in terms of the evolution of the group, of the players increasing comfort one with another and their growing musical empathy. Davis formed this ‘New Quintet’ around September of 1955 – their first recording session was in mid-November of 1955 and was issued in April 1956 as Miles: The New Miles Davis Quintet (Prestige, PRLP 7014). In the closing months of 1955 the Quintet twice played bookings of two weeks at New York’s Birdland and also had spells at the Sutherland House in Chicago and Cafe Bohemia in New York. So, by the time that the May 1956 recording session took place, the five musicians had a good deal of experience of working together. However, in the months between May and October of 1956 they worked even more regularly in major clubs, including a two-week stint at Cafe Bohemia, a further two weeks at the Crown Propellor Lounge (in Chicago), a week at Peacock Alley (St. Louis), another week at Cafe Bohemia, a week at Boston’s Storyville, and yet another two weeks at Cafe Bohemia. The conscious and unconscious coherence in the group was increasing all the time. Coltrane, perhaps the least ‘mature’ (in terms of the development of his own ‘voice’) was developing rapidly throughout these months.
Come October and the Quintet had now developed (and to a degree stabilized) its routines and structures, along with a mutual familiarity that allowed for, indeed embraced, creative departures from those routines. Davis clearly recognized Coltrane’s growing maturity as a soloist; it is striking that on the ballads recorded in May Coltrane doesn’t play, presumably asked to sit out by Davis, whereas at the October session he plays (well) on several ballads including the excellent ‘You’re My Everything’.
The contrast between Davis and Coltrane was an important element in the Quintet’s distinctiveness and success. Davis’s solos feel as coolly ‘edited’ down to structural basics as a painting by Piet Mondrian, while Coltrane’s impetuous solos are as messy and fertile as a work by Jackson Pollock. Where Davis’s solos often include striking intervals of silence, Coltrane seems to want to fill every second with as many notes as possible. Both Davis and Coltrane are, in their different ways, finding ways out of the conventions of bop – as was the Quintet as a whole.
But much is also owed to the rhythm section. Red Garland finds a degree of earthiness not often encountered on albums made under his own leadership, along with his familiar Ahmad-Jamal derived mannerisms, notably the ‘bounce’ in the left hand and the nimble runs (and occasional block chords) in the right. Davis was very fond of Jamal’s music at this time, which may be one reason why he chose Garland as the pianist for the ‘new Quintet’. This fondness was evident in some of his choices of repertoire, playing, as he did, tunes – such as ‘Surrey With The Fringe on Top’ (on Steamim’) which Jamal featured regularly with his trio, and also Jamal’s compositions, such as ‘Ahmed’s Blues’ (on Workin’). In his book Miles Davis: A Critical Biography (1984) the late Ian Carr describes very well one of the waya in which Jamal’s influence went beyond choices of repertoire, observing that Davis ‘borrowed’ from Jamal a device whereby “themes were played over a two-in-the-bar feel from the rhythm section. This means that while the bass plays two notes (minims) per bar, the drums play four beats to the bar, but emphasize the second and fourth. This creates a deep, swaying pulse and tends to make the performance feel unhurried and spacious. Drama occurs when the bass switches to four notes to the bar, making the pulse shallower and more urgent […] It is a ‘catchy’ rhythm.” Bassist Paul Chambers is attentive to both pianist and bassist and complements both, while also commenting on – and occasionally prompting – what trumpeter and saxophonist play. Another quotation from Carr seems apposite here: “Paul Chambers, not only laid down a solid beat, but often simultaneously created counter melodies to the lines played by the soloist.”
This, in short, was one of the great small groups in the history of jazz and these albums should be to hand on the shelves of every lover of jazz. The Quintet effectively came to an end when Coltrane left it in 1957.
All the tracks on this ultimate bargain of a reissue attract, hold and reward the listener’s attention. If obliged to name a few special moments my choice right now (it changes every time I listen to these recordings) would include ‘My Funny Valentine’ (on Cookin’), ‘If I Were A Bell’ and ‘You’re My Everything’ (Relaxin’), ‘I Could Write A Book’ (Workin’) and ‘Something I Dreamed Last Night’ ( Steamin’).
An essential for every jazz collection.
Glyn Pursglove