Yeah...just played this too. It's the SRCS 97xx disc. DSD mastering... Nope...still not diggin' this...
Just listened to "with horns" on Spotify. Thought it sounded a bit vintage even for the time. To me a far more enjoyable listen than the Paris album and I might consider getting the LP one day.
Ok. I'm now getting close to the end of listening to Conception. I understand that this is only partly a Miles Davis album but I have tried to focus on the album rather than the background data. The 3 opening tracks was a surprise to me as I expected this to be a very mediocre album based on its reputation and I really liked it. Laidback and slightly arty (in my world) and rather good on first listen. Then I think the album falls apart and goes a bit all over the place. It's not that the music and playing is not good it just doesn't fit together well. It sounds like a random selection of singles instead of a great selection of singles like Birth Of The Cool. I'm not sure how many of these tracks that actually was singles but you get my point. Now on to "Dig".
Ok. Now I'm up to date with the thread. Dig was definitely my least favorite of the last three. I'm not sure if the knowledge of Miles having an addiction problem at the time affects my thinking but it sounded kind of "sloppy" to me at times like this is just another average day at work. Very different from the inspired final Prestige sessions (judging from what I've heard on "Cookin'") which was also a matter of getting sessions done but by a much better band and better playing Miles Davis. So far my ranking goes like this: 1. Birth Of The Cool 2. ..with horns 3. Conception 4. Paris festival 5. Dig
Miles Davis, Volumes 1 & 2 Blue Note 1952-1954 Penguin Guide To Jazz: Time, strength, cash and patience; Herman Melville said these were the key to an artistic career. When Blue Note picked up Miles, he was an artist who needed all four, temperamentally and creatively. These are inconsistent records, but they are also the first tokens of genuinely personal vision and a solo style that could never be mistaken for anyone else. Although still addicted to heroin when the first two sessions were made, and with his professional life in some disarray, Davis was beginning to move beyond the confines of small-group bebop and explore the more expansive musical language he had sketched in with the Birth Of The Cool ensemble. Nothing quite as ambitious here; but definite signs, even in these rather brief and pithy tracks, that he has changed gear. The music is intense, yet restrained, cool yet plangent. The first date seems comparatively hurried, but the second, with fine compositions from Johnson, Heath and Bud Powell, is indispensable, the first Davis record since Birth Of The Cool that must be in your collection. The third features Davis with rhythm, and as sole horn it properly includes some very strong playing, with fast, eventful solos on 'Take Off' and 'The Leap', as well as an idiosyncratic reading of Monk's 'Well, You Needn't'. Miles Davis, Vol. 1 (Blue Note BLP 1501) Miles Davis (trumpet) J.J. Johnson (trombone -1/4) Jackie McLean (alto saxophone -1/4) Gil Coggins (piano) Oscar Pettiford (bass) Kenny Clarke (drums) WOR Studios, NYC, May 9, 1952 1. BN428-1 tk.2 Dear Old Stockholm 2. BN429-3 tk.6 Chance It 3. BN430-0 tk.7 Donna (alt. take) 4. BN431-2 tk.12 Woody'n You (alt. take) 5. BN432-0 tk.14 Yesterdays 6. BN433-0 tk.15 How Deep Is The Ocean Miles Davis (trumpet) J.J. Johnson (trombone) Jimmy Heath (tenor saxophone) Gil Coggins (piano) Percy Heath (bass) Art Blakey (drums) WOR Studios, NYC, April 20, 1953 BN477-2 tk.3 Kelo BN478-2 tk.6 Enigma BN479-2 tk.9 Ray's Idea BN480-0 tk.10 Tempus Fugit BN481-2 tk.14 C.T.A. (alt. take) BN481-3 tk.15 C.T.A. ** also issued on Blue Note BST 81501 (pseudo stereo). Miles Davis, Vol. 2 (Blue Note BLP 1502) same session WOR Studios, NYC, May 9, 1952 BN430-1 tk.8 Donna BN431-3 tk.13 Woody'n You Miles Davis (trumpet) J.J. Johnson (trombone -1,2) Jimmy Heath (tenor saxophone -1,2) Gil Coggins (piano) Percy Heath (bass) Art Blakey (drums) WOR Studios, NYC, April 20, 1953 1. BN479-0 tk.7 Ray's Idea (alt. take) 2. BN480-1 tk.11 Tempus Fugit (alt. take) 3. BN482-0 tk.16 I Waited For You Miles Davis (trumpet) Horace Silver (piano) Percy Heath (bass) Art Blakey (drums) Rudy Van Gelder Studio, Hackensack, NJ, March 6, 1954 BN548-3 tk.4 Take Off BN549-0 tk.6 Lazy Susan BN550-0 tk.8 The Leap BN551-0 tk.9 Well, You Needn't BN552-0 tk.10 Weirdo BN553-1 tk.12 It Never Entered My Mind ** also issued on Blue Note BST 81502 (pseudo stereo).
I am particularly fond here of the later session with Art Blakey, especially 'Tempus Fugit'. I remember reading in Miles's autobiography that this session was the only of his old recordings that he still liked to listen to on his walkman in the '80s. But even the earlier sessions I find to be great. Maybe I didn't get the memo that I'm not supposed to like them. These come from a particular dark period for Miles and it's almost touching to see that the first rays of light come out on a label called Blue Note.
The Blue Note sessions were first released on a set of three 10-inch records called "Young Man With A Horn", "Volume 2" and "Volume 3". On their first 12-inch appearance (pictured in the introductory post) the sessions are all scrambled up, but the sequencing is very pleasing and there are new alternate takes scattered throughout. Here are pictures of the original 10-inches:
I've had a few listened on the "Vol.1". It's cool but somehow it doesn't grab me like some of the previous albums. I'm not sure why. I'm on another listen now to see if it just needs some more time. I'm not familiar with Miles' time on Blue Note at all. Was he signed to both Prestige and Blue Note at the same time?
I don't think he was ever signed to Blue Note, just one-offs, like the Coltrane session. I think he was signed to Prestige and after the last Blue Note session he got an exclusive contract with them. This session was also one of the first to have been recorded by Van Gelder, the other ones are from WOR Studios. The mixes on the RVG CD and the original LPs are quite different. The RVG CD uses the original dry masters from WOR (except for the Blakey session), while the LP employed some "re-mastering" by Van Gelder, adding his trademark spring reverb. Still, even if one generation removed from the masters, the LP sounds more homogenous because there is not that big a difference in sound quality between the sessions. The 1953 Blakey session is taken from the same masters on both the CD and the LP, but there is some weird phasing on "Tempus Fugit" on the CD which is not present on the LP.
I found a version of "Vol. 2" with the cover in your original post with a lot of alternative takes on it on Spotify. Not sure wether that is the original tracklist from the 12" LP version but I liked it much more than "Vol.1". The weird thing about these two albums is that the first one really didn't grab me at all while the second was a quite enjoyable listen but I couldn't put my finger on it at all. I'm not sure if this is because these albums are sort of "middle of the road" or if I have had a slight Miles overload lately. My updated personal ranking so far: 1. Birth Of The Cool 2. ..with horns 3. Vol.2 4. Conception 5. Vol.1 6. Paris festival 7. Dig
I'm playing catch up on this thread! I have only heard the Paris concert in the last year or so, and am really familiar with the Columbia and Prestige eras, but not before. Only looking to hunt down Conception now to be able to comment more here!
I have the RVG of Birth for the reasons you mention but the original Cd is my go to digital for this due to its great smoothness. This music must have sounded so modern at the time. Its l hard to imagine these tracks came outs ln 78 originally ... they look forward to Miles Ahead big time for me.
I know that the Blue Notes are of high quality, but they have just never appealed to me as much as what followed. What is coming up on this thread is wonderful indeed. To me the Blue Notes show a young artist at a certain stage of development.
Brilliant! I won't have anything to add from here to Kind of Blue, but I'm sure learning a lot about which albums I need to pick up...
I am out of town through the weekend, but will catch up when I get back. I am fairly familiar with all of the titles so far except the Paris sessions. As a side note, what I find interresting is that as we move into the prestige years, chronologically everything is a mess. Very few albums were released in the order which they were recorded and many were made up of sessions spanning a large time period.
Yes. It is not an easy discography to follow. Usually I prefer to follow release dates but this thread seems to follow recording dates in some way which might make more sense in the case of Miles Davis. Anyway it is an extremely interesting career to follow. I'm a newbie in Miles standards with actually owning only these albums physically: Cookin', Round About Midnight, Miles Ahead, Kind Of Blue, Sketches Of Spain and The Essential Miles Davis even though I have listened to a few others by streaming/downloads.
I've been listening to Miles almost literally all my life and haven't heard several of these albums from the early 50's. Don't be too discouraged if it takes some effort to keep the thread alive until the albums with Coltrane.
Yes, the Prestige albums are indeed a discographical mess. I'm using a German discography to guide me through those years, but it's not easy finding the right chronology.
Following release dates would be quite tricky. For instance, of Miles "quadrumvirate" of classic quintet albums (Cookin', Workin', Bumpin' etc) the last one was released as late as 1961. And I think it actually makes more sense to discuss all of those together. EDIT: I think if one would stick to originally released 10-inch LPs, the Prestige discography would make more sense chronologically.
Blue Haze (Prestige PRLP 7054) Walkin' (Prestige PRLP 7076) Bags' Groove (Prestige PRLP 7109) Miles Davis & The Modern Jazz Giants (Prestige PRLP 7150) Penguin Guide To Jazz: Things are beginning to take shape. Though none of these dates is by itself a classic, an impression is beginning to consolidate of a formidable artist with the capacity to reinvent his language wholesale, while remaining demonstrably within a tradition. The Blue Haze set is split between a merely good quartet date from 1953 and three altogether excellent tracks from the following March, by the same quartet that cut the final date for Blue Note. Few will even know Dave Schildkraut's name, but he makes a positive contribution to a single track from the April 1954 session, which is more fully covered on Walkin'. Here and on Bags' Groove Davis hits stride at last. The earlier session includes two clear-cut masterpieces in the title-track and 'Blue 'N Boogie'; the solos are diamond-sharp, absolutely without fat or verbiage, and elegantly executed. Most of Bags' Groove features a quintet with Rollins, a group which produced fine if slightly less than exalted music. It's marked out as the first occasion – and 'Oleo' the first track – on which he used the Harmon mute which was to define his sound in future years. Two compelling takes of the title-track round out a solid performance; these actually come from a Christmas Eve 1954 date which is otherwise contained in Meets The Modern Jazz Giants and documents the only official encounter between Davis, Monk and Jackson. The clash between the vibraharpist's typically fleet lines and the different kinds of astringency represented by Monk and Davis made for a tense and compelling situation. This disc is, in turn, completed by a very fine 'Round Midnight' by the quintet with John Coltrane.
So, yeah, unevenly distributed sessions across these Prestige LPs, but the important dates here (for me) are the April 1954 Walkin' session and the legendary 1954 Christmas Eve session with Thelonious Monk and Milt Jackson. By the way, if anyone's still wondering about how to spell 'Bags' Groove' — it refers to Milt Jackson's nickname Bags. So since the guy is called Bags, not Bag, the correct name is Bags' Groove and not Bag's Groove, as I've often seen it written. Miles Davis - Blue Haze (Prestige PRLP 7054) Miles Davis (trumpet) John Lewis (piano -1/3) Charles Mingus (piano -4) Percy Heath (bass) Max Roach (drums) WOR Studios, NYC, May 19, 1953 1. 479 When Lights Are Low 2. 480 Tune Up 3. 481 Miles Ahead 4. 482 Smooch Miles Davis (trumpet) Horace Silver (piano) Percy Heath (bass) Art Blakey (drums) Beltone Studios, NYC, March 15, 1954 556 Four 557 Old Devil Moon 558 Blue Haze Miles Davis (trumpet) Dave Schildkraut (alto saxophone) Horace Silver (piano) Percy Heath (bass) Kenny Clarke (drums) Rudy Van Gelder Studio, Hackensack, NJ, April 3, 1954 562 I'll Remember April ** also issued on Original Jazz Classics OJC 093, OJCCD 093-2. Miles Davis - Walkin' (Prestige PRLP 7076) Miles Davis (trumpet) Dave Schildkraut (alto saxophone -1,3) Horace Silver (piano) Percy Heath (bass) Kenny Clarke (drums) Rudy Van Gelder Studio, Hackensack, NJ, April 3, 1954 1. 559 Solar 2. 560 You Don't Know What Love Is 3. 561 Love Me Or Leave Me Miles Davis (trumpet) J.J. Johnson (trombone) Lucky Thompson (tenor saxophone) Horace Silver (piano) Percy Heath (bass) Kenny Clarke (drums) Rudy Van Gelder Studio, Hackensack, NJ, April 29, 1954 568 Blue 'N' Boogie 569 Walkin' ** also issued on Prestige PR 7608; Original Jazz Classics OJC 213, OJCCD 213-2. Miles Davis - Bags' Groove (Prestige PRLP 7109) Miles Davis (trumpet) Sonny Rollins (tenor saxophone) Horace Silver (piano) Percy Heath (bass) Kenny Clarke (drums) Rudy Van Gelder Studio, Hackensack, NJ, June 29, 1954 590 Airegin 591 Oleo 592-1 But Not For Me 592-2 But Not For Me (alt. take) 593 Doxy Miles Davis (trumpet) Milt Jackson (vibraphone) Thelonious Monk (piano) Percy Heath (bass) Kenny Clarke (drums) Rudy Van Gelder Studio, Hackensack, NJ, December 24, 1954 676-1 Bags' Groove 676-2 Bags' Groove (alt. take) ** also issued on Original Jazz Classics OJC 245, OJCCD 245-2. ** part of Prestige PRLP 16-3. Miles Davis And The Modern Jazz Giants (Prestige PRLP 7150) same session Rudy Van Gelder Studio, Hackensack, NJ, December 24, 1954 677 Bemsha Swing 678 Swing Spring 679-1 The Man I Love 679-2 The Man I Love (alt. take) Miles Davis (trumpet) John Coltrane (tenor saxophone) Red Garland (piano) Paul Chambers (bass) Philly Joe Jones (drums) Rudy Van Gelder Studio, Hackensack, NJ, October 26, 1956 997 'Round Midnight ** also issued on Original Jazz Classics OJC 347, OJCCD 347-2. ** part of Prestige PRLP 16-3.
Here's what jazz writer Gary Giddins had to say about Walkin': (...) he helped spur and codify the counterreformation [to cool jazz] known as "hard bop" with his 1954 blues "Walkin'", a stirring accomplishment on at least three counts: First, the twenty-bar head with its baronial eight-bar preamble is executed with rare drama: like Monk's "Brilliant Corners" or Ellington's "Such Sweet Thunder", "Walkin'" has the strutting grandeur of a jazz march. Second, the rhythm section is a unit of glowing, erotic beauty: between the years when Jo Jones tattooed the hi-hat for Basie and Tony Williams shivered the ride cymbal for Davis, nobody made concave plates resound with more colorful, emphatic hues than did Kenny Clarke on this record, in meticulous accord with Percy Heath's stalwart bass and Horace Silver's hungrily inspired piano. Third, it offers spellbinding improvisations that unfurl without recourse to pyrotechnics, working their magic with the penetrating logic of impeccable fables impeccably told. To me, Walkin' is, for the title track alone, an essential Miles Davis album. But I would rank Bags' Groove and Modern Jazz Giants even higher, the Christmas Eve session with Monk being indeed a rare moment in jazz. If you seek out the 3-CD set "The Complete Prestige Recordings of Thelonious Monk", you will get the complete session in one place, with great sound.
Sorry, that I am out of order...trying to catch up. Ok, so back tracking just a bit...some thoughts on what we will call 1951 Miles I want to start with Dig - Prestige 7012, but need to back track and split that up a bit. Recorded at Apex Studios in 1951 and remastered in 1956 by Rudy Van Gelder when it was actually issued. So again, Miles earliest Prestige sessions but not released until 1956. This was as a 12" album of course and 2 of Dig's initial tracks where released along with one song later placed on ...And Horns. Bluing, Blue Room and Out Of The Blue were originally released as Miles very 1st Prestige effort a 10" titled Blue Period The song Blue Room comes from Mile's 1st sessions for the label from January of 1951 and most of which make up tracks 1-4 and 9 of Miles Davis and Horns which would not see release until 1955 when blended with a 1953 session. The personnel for this January session are: Miles Davis – trumpet Sonny Rollins – tenor saxophone John Lewis – piano Percy Heath – bass Roy Haynes – drums Benny Green - trombone (although not on Blue Room) On one hand each of these players is and would become a monster in their own right in years to come. Both Percy Heath and more importantly John Lewis are one half of the Modern Jazz Quartet, and of course Sonny Rollins needs no introduction even though his early start as one of Miles go to sax players often gets overshadowed by Trane in history. The songs from this date are pleasing early 50's jazz that sit on the fence of wanting to show off Be-Bob licks but in a heavily arranged triple horn front line. As such none are bad, but I also don't walk away humming, remembering and desiring them if you follow me. The exception is interestingly enough the song picked for the first Prestige release mentioned above, Blue Room which is the most laid back and intimate and gives a naive glimpse of both what Miles and Sonny would become. The sessions that would finally yield the bulk of Dig as well as a few of the tracks on the Prestige compilation Conception are also from Apex studios. The band here is: Miles Davis – trumpet Jackie McLean – alto saxophone (except on Paper Moon and the Conception tracks) Sonny Rollins – tenor saxophone Walter Bishop, Jr. – piano Tommy Potter – double bass or Charles Mingus – double bass (on the song "Conception" only) Art Blakey – drums Again looking at the names this is an all star cast in its youth. McLean is one of my favorite saxophonists of all time and would have an amazing career at Blue note a few years later. Its amazing what 8 months can do and the band here as well as Miles playing is much more sure. My favorite track again is one picked for the original 10" above, Bluing. It has space, great playing and I love the comping that the horns are laying down behind Miles extended solo. One thing that I find jarring and am glad it goes away quickly in the mix is the startling reverb attack of the opening of Dig, both the track and the album. Lastly in 1951 we have a handful of oddities which would be come part of the aforementioned Conception album. Two of the songs where recorded at the October session, and the addition of Charles Mingus on one of them makes this compilation sound pretty deliberate and not just an afterthought. Having said that, the album as a whole with tracks from Lee Konitz, Chubby Jackson and Stan Getz is pretty all over the place. The song Conception with Mingus on it barely sounds like the same session as the rest of the Dig tracks. Its a great song and Blakey and Mingus swing it hard, but it still stands out from the bunch as a big be-bop swinger. The other 1951 Miles session for Prestige and issued on Conception with: Lee Konitz - Alto sax Miles Davis - Trumpet Sal Mosca - Piano Billy Bauer - Guitar Arnold Fishkin - Bass Max Roach - Drums Are in my opinion the cream of the 1951 Miles crop. One they are the most spacious and open a future Miles trait and they also feature the decidedly non-bop style of Konitz. I also love the addition of guitarist Billy Bauer who really gets this style and where the band is going. It must have also been great for Miles to play with his longtime Parker band cohort Max Roach. So in summary to dig (get it?) into Miles breakout year as a leader, check out the Prestige CDs Dig, Conception and the 1st half of Miles Davis and Horns No its not his great late 50's group, but there are still some awesome nuggets to be mined here in 1951.
