The Guide to Classic Recorded Jazz (44 page)

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Authors: Tom Piazza

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BOOK: The Guide to Classic Recorded Jazz
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Page 171
the next session after the "Four" session, at which Davis is joined by the rarely heard altoist Dave Schildkraut, Silver, Heath, and drummer Kenny Clarke. "I'll Remember April" is an exciting track and is, along with "Smooch," enough of a reason to buy the album. The other tracks from this session, "Solar,'' "You Don't Know What Love Is," and "Love Me or Leave Me," are available on one of the essential Davis albums,
Walkin'
(Prestige/OJC-213).
Davis plays the whole session with a cup mute, which he had last used consistently on record with Parker. He plays beautifully throughout, very lyrically; the mute doesn't bring out a different side of his personality, exactly, but at that time it cushioned his tone, which was sometimes a little cloudy and brittle sounding when he played open horn. This session is worth hearing, also, just for Dave Schildkraut, who plays some melodically inventive, moody alto, definitely straight out of Parker but original in its way. "Solar," written on the chords of "How High the Moon" and taken at a relaxed walking tempo, became a jazz standard, and Davis's reading of "You Don't Know What Love Is" has the intimacy and smoldering mood for which he later became famous. When Davis played ballads like this, back then, on open horn, the quality of pain in his playing could be almost too much to take - see "The Blue Room," from 1951, or even "Smooch." The mute was a way of wearing musical sunglasses to hide some of the vulnerability.
In April 1954 Davis went into the studio with tenorist Lucky Thompson, J. J. Johnson, Horace Silver, Percy Heath, and Kenny Clarke to record two tunes, a medium, walking-tempo blues titled, appropriately, "Walkin'" and an up-tempo blues recorded nine years earlier by Dizzy Gillespie called "Blue 'n' Boogie." Both are available, along with the Schildkraut material, on
Walkin'
(Prestige/OJC-213). Beyond containing accomplished modern blowing, the session had a very definite "roots" feeling, much of which is due to Horace Silver's presence; his solos are relatively simple, harmonically, using lots of blue notes, and his percussive, riffing feel suffused the proceedings ("Walkin'" makes an interesting comparison to "Bluing," from two-and-a-half years earlier).
Lucky Thompson's playing provides the high points of both tunes; the riffs behind him on "Blue 'n' Boogie" make this one of the most exciting jazz records of the 1950s. On "Walkin'," which is about half the speed of "Blue 'n' Boogie," he sets a deep and creative groove; Davis comes in for a second helping after Silver's solo. This is an example of a performance heating up as it goes along.
Davis's next session, available on
Bags Groove
(Prestige/OJC-245) had the same rhythm section as the "Walkin'" session, but the front line was just Davis and Sonny Rollins. In some ways, it's really Rollins's date; three of the four
 
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tunes they recorded were his compositions, all of which became jazz standards, and he solos brilliantly throughout. By this time he was really getting something of his own together. After 1955, when he entered a correctional facility in Kentucky and kicked dope, it all fell into place. But he must have known at this time that, as well as he was playing and as distinctively, it was time to make sure he didn't kill himself.
"Airegin" starts out with a vamp by Rollins, Heath, and Clarke; the changes, like those of Lester Young's "Tickle Toe" (available on
The Essential Count Basie, Volume 2
[Columbia CK 40835]), go from major to minor, providing a kind of built-in drama. Rollins and Davis are both very into the changes here, but on two other tunes, "Oleo" and "Doxy," Davis seems to be playing more simply than Rollins, harmonically speaking, almost as if he were already hearing the different harmonic notion, built on one scale rather than on a series of chord changes, that would guide his thinking after 1957. Davis takes "Oleo,'' a Rollins line based on "I Got Rhythm," with the Harmon mute.
On every chorus on "Oleo," Horace Silver lays out (stops playing) except for the bridge, so that both Davis and Rollins are free to stroll, which means to play with only bass and drum accompaniment. Rollins, in particular, leaves a lot of space in his solo. Kenny Clarke's playing has a very even four-four feeling here, and it gives the proceedings an almost static feeling. Notice in "Oleo," in Rollins's second chorus, how Clarke starts at one point playing the high hat on two and four, putting a more accented, dance-oriented feeling into things. Listen also to how, when Horace Silver comes in, Clarke deftly switches to brushes; shortly thereafter, Percy Heath is playing high notes on the bass. It's as if the group is a mechanism that has shifted into another gear.
Miles took the scale notion farther on his next session, on Christmas Eve of 1954, when he brought in a piece called "Swing Spring." The whole melody of the tune consisted of a repetition of a scale fragment, which Davis said he got from Bud Powell (you can hear Powell play this fragment in the middle of his solo on "Un Poco Loco" on
The Amazing Bud Powell, Volume 1
[Blue Note 81503]). The session is split between
Bags Groove
(Prestige/OJC-245), which has two takes of the tune for which the album is named, and
Miles Davis and the Modern Jazz Giants
(Prestige/OJC-347), which contains the balance of the material, including "Swing Spring." The cast of characters included Thelonious Monk on piano and Milt Jackson on vibes, with Percy Heath and Kenny Clarke held over from the other session. As Dan Morgenstern says in his liner notes for
Miles Davis Chronicle: The Complete Prestige Recordings 1951-1956
(Prestige PCD-012-2), the sound Miles got on this session is the one he had been working to achieve.
This session has always been a favorite with critics, but it has never been
 
Page 173
one of mine. Davis has said a number of times that he doesn't like the way Monk plays behind horn players. Here, Davis has Monk lay out behind his solos, except on "Bemsha Swing," which is Monk's tune. To my ears, it gives the session an uncohesive feeling, as if Davis gets up and does his thing while Monk sits there bound and gagged.
The hottest cut is "The Man I Love"; Milt Jackson plays wonderfully, and Monk's accompaniment sounds fine. It starts out very slowly, with Miles playing the melody and Jackson sharing it with him. As soon as the melody is over, there is a break, in which Jackson suggests the slightest acceleration, like a top-spin on a tennis serve. After Jackson's solo, Monk plays a famous abstraction of the melody; at one point he stops playing for a while and Davis comes in, seemingly to cue him or to bring him back to earth. Monk finishes out the solo with a swinging riff that Davis comes in on top of. In the middle of his solo, Davis decides to put in his Harmon mute. It just doesn't add up to a whole picture to me, although there is some great music here.
Changes
In 1955 a number of pieces came together for Davis, the most important of which was the formation of his quintet with John Coltrane, one of the greatest groups in jazz history. Davis would have Coltrane in his band until 1960, with a shifting personnel in the rhythm section. But before he found the exact balance he wanted, Davis had a little more wandering to do.
The Musings of Miles
(Prestige/OJC-004), recorded in June 1955, shows Davis getting very close to the sound he ended up with in his quintet. Pianist Red Garland is here, along with drummer Philly Joe Jones; both would be with Davis full-time by year's end. The legendary Oscar Pettiford is keeping the bass chair warm for Paul Chambers, probably his greatest disciple, although still a relative unknown at this point. Pettiford takes a fantastic solo on the slow blues "Green Haze."
The repertoire on this album, too, prefigures the quintet's predilection for pop and jazz standards; beautiful but lesser-known tunes such as "Will You Still Be Mine" and "I See Your Face Before Me," played open and with his signature Harmon mute, respectively, show a joy in melody that would help Davis make some immortal records and a lot of money. They coexist with "A Night in Tunisia" and I Didn't," which is based on the harmonies of Thelonious Monk's "Well You Needn't," both cooking performances. Garland's crisp accompanying style, Pettiford's round and swinging bass lines, and Philly Joe Jones's drumming keep things from flagging, as they did on some of the 1952-1953 sides. Davis's tone is so much better, too. If you like Miles on the rocks, uncut with other horns, this set is a good choice.
 
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In July Davis went into the studio as a sideman with Charles Mingus to record an album that is available under Davis's name as
Blue Moods
(Debut/OJC-043). It is a strange record, the front line consisting of Davis and trombonist Britt Woodman, vibist Teddy Charles in place of a pianist, Mingus on bass, and young Elvin Jones on drums. The program consists of four top-quality standard tunes - "Nature Boy," "Alone Together," "There's No You," and "Easy Living." Despite the intriguing instrumentation and repertoire, for some reason the session just didn't come off, and Davis says as much in his autobiography.
Maybe it's the chords from the vibes, hanging there in midair, instead of piano chords, that gives the album a kind of sticky-sweet, hothouse quality, or maybe it's the doubling of trumpet with trombone. Every year and a half or so I pull this set out, look at the tunes and the personnel, and think, "This has got to be better than I remember it being." It never is. Note: the material on this album, despite being part of the Original Jazz Classics series, is not included on the
Miles Davis Chronicle
set, since it was originally recorded for Mingus's Debut label, not Prestige.
The album
Miles Davis and Milt Jackson: Quintet/Sextet
(Prestige/OJC-012), recorded in August, reunites Davis with two of his favorite front-line mates, vibist Jackson and alto saxophonist Jackie McLean. The rhythm section consists of the fine pianist Ray Bryant, bassist Percy Heath, and drummer Art Taylor. McLean is present on two tunes, both his compositions, the medium-tempo blues "Dr. Jackle" (which Davis would record later - at a much faster tempo - on his
Milestones
[Columbia CK 40837] album, with John Coltrane and Cannonball Adderly) and "Minor March," a fast, minor-key performance with a good solo from Milt Jackson. "Changes," a blues by Ray Bryant, is a good, relaxed track with unusual chord changes, great muted Miles, and Jackson on his turf, the blues.
A very good live item from this period is a set recorded at Boston's Hi-Hat Club, released under the title
Hi-Hat All Stars; Guest Artist. Miles Davis
(Fresh Sound FSR-302). Davis appears with Jay Migliori, a Lester Young-inspired tenor saxophonist who would later play with Woody Herman's big band, and a local rhythm section. The repertoire consists mostly of straight-ahead bebop standards associated with Davis - "Ray's Idea," "Dig," "Tune Up" - and a couple of ballads. The set is valuable because it showcases Davis playing crackling-hot bebop trumpet to an extent we rarely hear; the rhythm section isn't the most subtle in the world, but it swings hard, due largely to the propulsive bass of Jimmy Woode, who would shortly be cooking up some masterpieces with the orchestra of Duke Ellington.
 
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Before looking at the Davis quintet with Coltrane, I'm going to jump ahead to March 1956, as the
Miles Davis Chronicle
does, to one of my favorite Davis sessions, with Sonny Rollins, pianist Tommy Flanagan, bassist Paul Chambers, and drummer Art Taylor. They recorded three tunes, "No Line," "Vierd Blues," and Dave Brubeck's "In Your Own Sweet Way," available on
Collectors' Items
(Prestige/OJC-071). It's a perfect set-in order, an up-tempo blues, a slow blues, and a ballad. Davis is in top form throughout, as is Sonny Rollins, who had really come into his own by this time, the most melodically inventive tenor saxophonist since Lester Young. Flanagan, one of the best pianists in jazz, makes every note shine like a pearl, swings hard, and makes melodic sense, and the rhythm section could hardly be much better. This, along with the Davis/Rollins/Parker session that accompanies it, makes
Collectors' Items
an essential set.
Blues by Five
Davis's classic quintet, with John Coltrane, Red Garland, Paul Chambers, and Philly Joe Jones, made its first recordings in 1955 and very quickly laid down a vocabulary of group interplay that affected all the young straight-ahead musicians who followed. Davis and Coltrane together were one of the great horn teams in jazz history, a perfectly balanced contrast of sensibilities. Davis had found the ideal sparring partner: voluble where he was laconic, hot where he was cool (at least on the surface). Yet at the heart of each man's playing lay a paradox; Davis, for all his cool, could make you cry by playing eight bars of a ballad, and Coltrane, for all his fire, at least during this period had something cold at the center of his piercing tone.
The rhythm section was a triumvirate which quickly became
the
rhythm section of its day, often in demand for independent recording sessions backing up other musicians. (When California alto saxophonist Art Pepper recorded with Garland, Chambers, and Jones in 1957, the album was titled
Art Pepper Meets the Rhythm Section
[Contemporary/OJC-338].) Garland's spare, swinging touch and distinctive block-chord style, Chambers's huge sound and melodic accompanying lines, and Jones's snare drum accents and extremely swinging way of playing the ride cymbal made for an absolutely authoritative, and even definitive, summation of the bebop rhythm section style.
The five albums the quintet recorded for Prestige -
The New Miles Davis Quintet
(Prestige/OJC-006),
Cookin'
(Prestige/OJC-128),
Relaxin'
(Prestige/OJC-190),
Workin'
(Prestige/OJC-296), and
Steamin'
(Prestige/OJC-391) - are, collectively, a kind of summa of bebop knowledge. The rhythm section provides a complete network of support for Davis and Coltrane, making each performance

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