1958 Miles

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1958 Miles is an album by American jazz musician Miles Davis, released in 1958 on Columbia Records.[1][2] Recording sessions for the album took place on May 26, 1958 at Columbia's 30th Street Studio and September 9, 1958 at The Plaza Hotel in New York City.[3][4] 1958 Miles contains three songs featured on the first side of the LP album Jazz Track, CL 1268,[5], which was released earlier in 1958 and three recordings from Davis' live performance at the Plaza Hotel with his ensemble sextet.[2]

The sessions for the album, along with the Milestones sessions, were seen by many music writers as elemental in Miles Davis' transition from hard bop to the modal style of jazz and were viewed as precursors to his most well-known work, Kind of Blue.[2][6] Following audio engineering and digital restoration by engineer Larry Keyes at Sony Music New York Studio, the album was reissued on compact disc in 1991 as part of Columbia's Jazz Masterpieces Series.[7] For later reissues, the album was retitled as '58 Sessions Featuring Stella by Starlight or '58 Miles Featuring Stella by Starlight.[7][8] The complete 1958 sessions for Columbia were later reissued on the box set The Complete Columbia Recordings of Miles Davis with John Coltrane,[9] while Jazz at the Plaza was reissued in 2001.[4]

Conception

Background

When you go this way, you can go on forever. You don't have to worry about changes and you can do more with the [melody] line ... there will be fewer chords but infinite possibilities as to what to do with them.

—Miles Davis, on modality, 10/58[10]

In 1958, Miles Davis was one of many jazz musicians growing dissatisfied with bebop, seeing its increasingly complex chord changes as hindering musical creativity.[10] Five years earlier, in 1953, pianist George Russell published his Lydian Chromatic Concept of Tonal Organization, which offered an alternative to the practice of improvisation based on chords.[11] Abandoning the traditional major and minor key relationships of Western music, Russell developed a new formulation using musical scales, or a series of scales, for improvisations.[11] Russell's approach to improvisation came to be known as modal in jazz.[11] Miles Davis saw Russell's methods of composition as a means of getting away from the dense chord-laden compositions of his time, which Davis had labeled as "thick."[12]

In contrast to the conventional method of composing, modal compositions were to be written as a series of sketches in which each performer is given a set of scales that defines the parameters of their improvisation.[13] Modal composition, with its reliance on musical scales and modes, represented, as Davis called it,[10] "a return to melody."[13] In early 1958, Davis began using this stylistic approach with his sextet, a jazz ensemble made up of alto sax player Julian "Cannonball" Adderley, tenor saxophonist John Coltrane, pianist Red Garland, bassist Paul Chambers, and drummer Philly Joe Jones.[14] Influenced by Russell's ideas, Davis implemented his first modal composition with the title track of his 1958 album Milestones, which was based on two modes, recorded in April of that year.[14] Instead of soloing in the straight, conventional, melodic way, Davis’s new style of improvisation featured rapid mode and scale changes played against sparse chord changes.[15][11] Davis' critically acclaimed collaboration with Gil Evans on Porgy and Bess also gave him more room for experimentation with Russell's concept, as Evans' third stream compositions for Davis featured only a musical scale and no chords, the basis for the modal concept.[10] This style would be prevalent on most of Davis' recording sessions during 1958.

The Sextet

Following the historic Milestones sessions, Davis made some significant personnel changes. By the time John Coltrane had returned from Thelonious Monk's quartet to Davis' sextet, pianist Red Garland and drummer Philly Joe Jones were replaced by Bill Evans and Jimmy Cobb.[2] Problems with money, tardiness, attitude and heroin preceding the Milestones sessions troubled Garland and Jones.[16] During one of these sessions, an incident occurred between Davis and Garland when he was playing piano on the song "Sid's Ahead". Apparently, Davis leaned over his pianist's shoulder, commenting on his piano playing. What was said by Davis is still unknown, but it was enough to make Garland exit the studio, leaving Davis to play piano on the track and straining the friendship between the two musicians.[16] Afterwards, Bill Evans was hired by Davis for his rich precision and ability to understate the piano's solo voice.[17] While Davis was fascinated and favorable of the new sound Evans brought and the challenges it inspired, the remainder of the band, including Julian "Cannonball" Adderley, preferred the harder, more rhythmic sound of Garland's.[17] In a 1960 column for Down Beat magazine, Adderley elaborated on his initial reaction to the change:

Especially when he started to use Bill Evans, Miles changed his style from very hard to a softer approach. Bill was brilliant in other areas, but he couldn't make the real things come off.[17]

— Cannonball Adderley

Despite his preference for a harder piano style, Adderley opened up to the new sound. He later used Bill Evans on a July 1958 session for his Portrait of Cannonball LP.[17] Evans' unique piano sound and Davis' experiments with modal jazz would culminate on the '58 Sessions. Documented in a studio session from May of 1958 at Columbia's 30th Street Studio and a live gig at The Persian Room of the Plaza Hotel in September of that same year, these sessions would mark the advent of Davis' new sextet, during what had already become a pivotal year for Miles Davis.[2]

Music

Studio session

The entire session has an informal feel that is unusual for a studio date. Upon hearing it again I immediately knew why I was so taken with it those many years ago.

—Ira Gitler, on the studio session, 06/79[2]

Featured as the first side of 1958 Miles, the May 26 session took place at Columbia's 30th Street Studio in New York City.[3] The songs recorded were previously issued on the second side of Jazz Track, an LP that consisted mostly of songs composed by Davis for the soundtrack to the 1958 French film Ascenseur pour l'échafaud.[5] In contrast to the mood pieces composed for the film, the May session featured Davis' growing curiosity in modal jazz and the relationship of fewer chords and variations with melody. This was the first studio session to feature Bill Evans and Jimmy Cobb in the new sextet, recording on Davis' thirty-second birthday.[18]

A different aesthetic was in place during the session, as Bill Evans' first rhapsodic, impressionistic chords on "On Green Dolphin Street" highlighted the mid-tempo track, while Jimmy Cobb's brush technique grooved behind Davis' trumpet solo. John Coltrane and "Cannonball" Adderley doubled and tripled-up their syncopations over Paul Chambers' transparent counterpoint, as Cobb and Evans pealed away on their instruments, sharing solos with Davis, Addeley and Coltrane.[4] The contrast between hot melodic variations and cool, laid back swing gave the whimsical "Fran Dance", named after Davis' wife Francis,[2] the romantic "Stella By Starlight", and the jumping "Love for Sale" their elemental tension. This contrast represented Davis' transitional stage between bebop and modality; standard chords and musical variety.[10] The sessions were also notable for featuring Coltrane's unique improvisational style, known as the sheets of sound. Coltrane employed extreme and dense improvisational, yet patterned, lines that consisted of high speed arpeggios and scale patterns played in rapid succession; hundreds of notes running from the lowest to highest registers.[19] "Stella by Starlight" featured Evans' delicate and sparse introduction, which made Coltrane's early solo seem startling. Evans' lush and laconic solo suggested the bittersweet spell he would cast over the Kind of Blue sessions the following year.[18]

Live performance

The live portion of the album was recorded in the Persian Room of New York's Plaza Hotel at a September jazz party given by Columbia Records to celebrate "the healthy state of jazz" at the label.[2] Later issued in 1973 as Jazz at the Plaza,[2] the live set featured three staples of Davis' and Coltrane's concert repertoire during their collaborating years.[4] The sextet opened up with the standard "Straight, No Chaser", originally composed by Thelonious Monk. The musicians took the number at a brisk tempo, and though Jimmy Cobb lacked former drummer Philly Joe's technocratic flair, he and Paul Chambers remained consistent, as the horns carried into whirling solos.[15] Evans used Adderley's solo and the song's tempo to improvise, as he scattered Bud Powell-like clusters. Journalist Lindsey Planer later called the performance "slippery and triple-jointed", and went on to write:

The band plays as if Monk might have been in the room that night. This is Davis at his most muted magnificence.[4]

— Lindsey Planer

The Sonny Rollins-penned "Oleo" followed along at a wild Paul Chambers bass tempo, as Evans' fluid orchestral piano technique suggested multiple key centers and modal impressions.[15] In contrast to the high tempos and improvisation of the other live tunes, "My Funny Valentine" was stately and serene, as Coltrane and Adderley sit out, giving Evans and Davis a more meditative backdrop for sensitive soloing. Evans displayed his soft and sensitive piano style. His unique and challenging sound was one of the reasons Miles Davis had hired him following Philly Joe's departure.[17] The late-night languor of "My Funny Valentine", along with Bill Evans' presence and the more consistent and improving sextet, would hint at the music later featured on Davis' next album, the 1959 jazz masterpiece Kind of Blue.[15]

Reception and influence

File:Davis at Birdland.jpg
Miles Davis performing live at Birdland NYC, 1958. Photo by Dennis Stock

As parts of Jazz Track and Jazz at the Plaza, respectively, the '58 Sessions chronicled the transition from the brawny agitation of Milestones, to the cerebral tranquility of Kind of Blue.[2] The sessions also became known as a stepping stone in Davis' move from hard bop to modal jazz. The live side in particular was seen by critics as a glimpse at the sextet that would record Kind of Blue.[15] The complimentary and seemingly spontaneous style of performance ethic and the relationship between Davis and his musicians was fundamental for his work during these sessions and improved onto the Kind of Blue sessions.

Jazz historian and journalist Ira Gitler has considered 1958 Miles to be one of Davis' best works, while also noting that she was "very taken with the performances", alluding to the album's recordings after Gitler had listened to them. In the 1979 LP reissue liner notes, Gitler wrote "These prime cuts of the Miles Davis Sextet, representative of what this most influential leader and his trendsetting band of that time, were doing in that particular portion of 1958, are a most welcome addition to the collectors library."[2] The live portion of the album recorded at The Plaza Hotel was noted by critics as an early stage of the new sextet. Music writer Nicholas Taylor later wrote of the Plaza set:

An interesting and puzzling period piece, documenting the sextet exploring a sound that would soon morph into the rich tapestry of their 1959 masterpiece... It is the snapshot—albeit a blurred one—of a group of musicians on the verge of greatness, beginning to feel each other’s tics and idiosyncrasies, forming the bonds of a sextet that would soon alter the history of jazz forever.[15]

— Nicholas Taylor

Prior to the live session, Miles Davis had already established a reputation as one of the jazz era's top live performers, following well-received performances at such venues as Birdland in New York City and the Newport Jazz Festival in the mid-1950s.[20] The live set at the Plaza Hotel further expanded Davis' repertoire in concert venues and increased his popularity among jazz fans and writers. Even though Milestones was Davis' first use of modes and Cannonball Adderley's presence helped make the band became a more powerful sextet, these sessions helped introduce Bill Evans to the music of Miles Davis.[14][20] The May 26 session, in particular, exposed Evans to Davis' spontaneous ability in the studio to simplify complicated musical structures. In a 1979 interview for the New York City jazz radio station WKCR, Evans remarked on his recording experience with Davis:

Miles occasionally might say, "Right here, I want this sound," and it turn out be a very key thing that changes the whole character of the [song]. For instance, on "On Green Dolphin Street," the original changes of the chorus aren't the way [we recorded it]: the vamp changes being a major seventh up a minor third, down a half tone. That was [one when] he leaned over and said, "I want this here."[18]

— Bill Evans

Evans' influence would be apparent on the Kind of Blue sessions as it was during the initial 1958 sessions.[6] After implementing his first modal compositions with the title track of Milestones and his first sessions with Bill Evans, the 1958 Sessions, Davis became satisfied with the results. This led to his preparation of an entire album based on modality, his 1959 magnum opus, Kind of Blue.[21]

Track listing

Side one

Recorded at Columbia's 30th Street Studio, New York, New York on May 26, 1958.[3]

  1. "On Green Dolphin Street" (Kaper, Washington) – 9:48
  2. "Fran Dance" (Davis) – 5:48
  3. "Stella by Starlight" (Young, Washington) – 4:41
  4. "Love for Sale" (Porter) – 11:43

Side two

Recorded live at The Plaza Hotel, New York, New York on September 9, 1958.[4]

  1. "Straight, No Chaser" (Monk) – 10:57
  2. "My Funny Valentine" (Rodgers, Hart) – 10:05
  3. "Oleo" (Rollins) – 10:48

Bonus track

2006 Sony Japan release featured only side one and a bonus cut.[22]

  1. "Little Melonae" (McLean) – 7:22

Personnel

Musicians

Additional personnel

Release history

Since its original release in 1958 on Columbia Records, 1958 Miles has had a long and complicated release history. The album has experienced many reissues under different titles and records labels, along with a variety of release date listings.

Issued title Year Label Format Catalog
1958 Miles 1958 Columbia Records stereo vinyl LP SL-1268[23]
1958 Miles 1979 CBS Records remastered LP CBS 1401[1]
'58 Sessions Featuring Stella by Starlight 1991 Columbia CD reissue CK-47835[4]
'58 Sessions Featuring Stella by Starlight 1991 Columbia cassette CT-47835[4]
'58 Miles 1991 CBS re-released CD CBS 467918-2[23]
'58 Miles 1991 CBS, Sony Records re-released cassette SRCS-9102[23]
'58 Sessions Featuring Stella by Starlight 1994 Jazz Records CD JR-4679182[4]
1958 Miles 1997 Sony CD SRCD-65344[1]
1958 Miles 2001 Sony CD SRCD-98004[1]
1958 Miles 2006 Sony CD SRCD-1204[1]
1958 Miles 2006 Sony Japan CD, bonus track SRCS-966[22]

Notes

  1. ^ a b c d e "allmusic {{{ 1958 Miles > Overview }}}". All Media Guide, LLC. Retrieved 2008-07-27.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k "1958 Miles Davis Session - Liner notes by Ira Gitler". Sitemeter. Retrieved 2008-07-27.
  3. ^ a b c "Bill Evans Webpages- The Catalog". Group TGS. Retrieved 2008-07-27.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i "allmusic {{{ '58 Sessions Featuring Stella by Starlight > Overview }}}". All Media Guide, LLC. Retrieved 2008-07-27.
  5. ^ a b "Discogs.com - Miles Davis - Jazz Track". Discogs. Retrieved 2008-07-27.
  6. ^ a b "1958 Miles Davis - Kind Of Blue Period (1955-1961)". Sony BMG Music Entertainment. Retrieved 2008-07-27.
  7. ^ a b "Discogs.com - '58 Sessions Featuring Stella by Starlight". Discogs.com. Retrieved 2008-07-27.
  8. ^ "Amazon.com: '58 Miles Featuring Stella by Starlight: Miles Davis: Music". Amazon.com, Inc. Retrieved 2008-08-03.
  9. ^ "AllAboutJazz.com - The Complete Columbia Recordings of Miles Davis With John Coltrane". All About Jazz. Retrieved 2008-07-27.
  10. ^ a b c d e Ashley Kahn (2001). Kind of Blue: The Making of the Miles Davis Masterpiece. foreword by Jimmy Cobb. Da Capo Press, USA. pp. pgs. 67-68. ISBN 0-306-81067-0. {{cite book}}: |pages= has extra text (help); Cite has empty unknown parameter: |1= (help)
  11. ^ a b c d "George Russell - About George". Concept Publishing. Retrieved 2008-07-27.
  12. ^ Kahn (2001), p16.
  13. ^ a b Palmer, Robert (1997), "Liner Notes to 1997 Reissue", Kind of Blue (CD), New York, NY: Sony Music Entertainment, Inc./Columbia Records
  14. ^ a b c "allmusic {{{ Milestones > Overview }}}". All Media Guide, LLC. Retrieved 2008-07-27. Cite error: The named reference "milestones" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
  15. ^ a b c d e f "Miles Davis: Jazz at the Plaza < Music - PopMatters". PopMatters.com. Retrieved 2008-07-27.
  16. ^ a b Ashley Kahn (2001). Kind of Blue: The Making of the Miles Davis Masterpiece. foreword by Jimmy Cobb. Da Capo Press, USA. pp. pgs. 76-77. ISBN 0-306-81067-0. {{cite book}}: |pages= has extra text (help); Cite has empty unknown parameter: |1= (help)
  17. ^ a b c d e Ashley Kahn (2001). Kind of Blue: The Making of the Miles Davis Masterpiece. foreword by Jimmy Cobb. Da Capo Press, USA. pp. pg. 83. ISBN 0-306-81067-0. {{cite book}}: |pages= has extra text (help); Cite has empty unknown parameter: |1= (help)
  18. ^ a b c Ashley Kahn (2001). Kind of Blue: The Making of the Miles Davis Masterpiece. foreword by Jimmy Cobb. Da Capo Press, USA. pp. pgs. 82-83. ISBN 0-306-81067-0. {{cite book}}: |pages= has extra text (help); Cite has empty unknown parameter: |1= (help)
  19. ^ Porter 1999, p. 111.
  20. ^ a b Gitler (1991), p. 2-5.
  21. ^ "Liner note reprint: Miles Davis - Kind of Blue (FLAC - Master Sound - Super Bit Mapping) -". Stupid and Contagious. Retrieved 2008-07-27.
  22. ^ a b "allmusic {{{ 1958 Miles (Bonus Tracks) > Overview }}}". All Media Guide, LLC. Retrieved 2008-07-27.
  23. ^ a b c "CannonballJazz.com - 58-0728 - 1958 Discography". Chris "Doc" Stewart & Cannonball Jazz. Retrieved 2008-07-27.

References


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