Relaxin 'with the Miles Davis Quintet
| Relaxin 'with the Miles Davis Quintet | ||||
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| Studio album by Miles Davis | ||||
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| Label (s) | Prestige Records | |||
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CD, LP |
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running time |
33:15 |
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Studio (s) |
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Relaxin 'with the Miles Davis Quintet is a jazz album by Miles Davis , recorded on May 11 and October 26, 1956 for Prestige Records .
Prehistory of the album
With his appearance at the Newport Jazz Festival on July 17, 1955, the career of Miles Davis got a strong boost, as he was able to impress the audience with his performance - accompanied by Percy Heath and Connie Kay - with pieces like Now's the Time and 'Round Midnight . That year modern jazz had grown in popularity in the USA ; this was due to musicians like Chet Baker , Gerry Mulligan or Dave Brubeck , who made jazz accessible to a wider audience again after the bebop revolution. The record label Columbia Records was therefore looking for young, unspent talent. The Columbia boss was in the audience in Newport, was enthusiastic about Miles' performance and offered him a record deal.
The obstacle to the quick move to Columbia was the fact that the trumpeter owed his record label Prestige Records four more albums. After the Newport gig, Miles Davis immediately set about putting together a new band. He engaged Red Garland and Philly Joe Jones , with whom he had made quartet recordings in the summer of 1955. Then there was the only 19-year-old bassist Paul Chambers . He also wanted a second wind instrument, a saxophone in the band that would provide the kind of contrast that Charlie Parker had once done in their formation. Garland and Jones brought John Coltrane's attention to Miles . You eventually got a contract to play in the legendary Birdland . On October 27, 1955, the new quintet recorded two bebop numbers, Budo and A-Leu-Cha . The two tracks could only be released after Davis had fulfilled his contractual obligations with Prestige Records . One month later, on November 16, the prestige album Miles (PRLP 7014) was created, which represented the final breakthrough to hard bop style. Coltrane was given the freedom to develop his then revolutionary style in the soon-to-be-famous "first Miles Davis quintet".
The album
In order to get out of his contract with Prestige prematurely, Miles Davis and his quintet recorded a total of 24 tracks in two “studio marathons” in May and October 1956: “ Like a club appearance, the quintet let its entire repertoire happen. All titles were downplayed without repetition. Although both sessions are characterized by a high musical level, the rush of production is clearly audible with some tracks (such as Blues by Five or Half Nelson ). "
The repertoire ranged from bebop standards like Salt Peanuts or Woody 'n' You reminiscent of Dizzy Gillespie to Broadway numbers like You Are My Everything and I Could Write a Book . The “refinement” of standards was particularly successful in pieces such as If I Were a Bell or My Funny Valentine , which Miles Davis has had in his program for a long time since then.
The titles
The first four pieces are from the October session, the other two from the May session.
- If I Were a Bell ( Frank Loesser )
- You're My Everything ( Mort Dixon - Joe Young - Harry Warren )
- I Could Write a Book ( Richard Rodgers - Lorenz Hart )
- Oleo ( Sonny Rollins )
- It Could Happen to You ( Johnny Burke - Jimmy Van Heusen )
- Woody 'n' You ( Dizzy Gillespie )
Edition history
In addition to Relaxin ' (P 7129, 1957) , the tracks recorded during the two sessions on May 11 and October 26 appeared on three other albums, first on Cookin' with the Miles Davis Quintet (P 7094, October 1956), Workin 'with the Miles Davis Quintet (P 7166, 1959) and Steamin' with the Miles Davis Quintet (Prestige P 7200, 1961).
literature
- Miles Davis: The Autobiography . Heyne, Munich 2000, ISBN 3-453-17177-2 .
- Eric Nisenson: Round About Midnight - A Portrait by Miles Davis . Hannibal, Vienna 1985, ISBN 3-85445-021-4 .
- Peter Wießmüller: Miles Davis - his life, his music, his records . Oreos (Collection Jazz), Gauting 1984, ISBN 3-923657-04-8 .
Web link
Remarks
- ↑ The recordings made on July 4, 1955 appeared on the Prestige LP The Musings of Miles (PRLP 7007 / OJC 004)
- ↑ a contract that guaranteed them 20 weeks of work per year and participation in the Birdland Package Tours , see Nisenson, p. 86.
- ↑ "Al-Leu-Cha" finally appeared on Miles' first Columbia LP: Round About Midnight (PC 8649) in 1957, Budo was only later on the LP Basic Miles (Columbia PC 32025) and on the LP Facets (French CBS 62637) published.
- ↑ cf. Wießmüller, p. 106.