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Tracklisting & More Information
Tracklisting :-
If I Were A Bell
You're My Everything
I Could Write A Book
Oleo
It Could Happen To You
Woody 'N' You
Tracks 1-4 recorded October 26, 1956
Tracks 5-6 recorded May 11, 1956
Personnel :-
Miles Davis - Trumpet
John Coltrane - Tenor Saxophone
Red Garland - Piano
Paul Chambers - Bass
Philly Joe Jones - Drums
"I'll play it and tell you what it is later..." These are the famous words Miles utters at the start of this historic album. If you find yourself asking 'just what is jazz?' then look no further than this record. It features Miles & his First Great Quintet at the PEAK of their powers. We would go so far to argue that this is the GREATEST American jazz album that money can buy on the market right now. Read on...
In their nearly two years together, Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Red Garland, Paul Chambers & Philly Joe Jones achieved a unity in their playing. They were not just the Miles Davis Quintet, they were the most important & influential modern jazz group of its day. Don't believe us? It is all here in this record.
Relaxin' captures the effortless genius of The Miles Davis Quintet of '56. With no pre-rehearsals & only a set of loose standards for material, the spontaneity of these sessions is just mindblowing. Rudy Van Gelder captures this nightclub-type set to perfection, where Miles called tunes just as he would for any number of typical sets at a club. There were no second takes.
The impromptu nature of this set for Prestige is all there on tape & on the record, with little edited out. By their very nature, classic jazz records are personal & involving, & for maximum audio pleasure you'll want to get as close to the original reel & mic as humanly possibly. Rudy Van Gelder captured it all. The slight struggle to contain the dynamics of Miles & Coltrane's richly burnished tones, ranging from muted bell-like clarity to incredible brashness. The slight booming of the mic as a result. The crisp & lively rhythm section. The false start on You're My Everything. The end of Woody 'n' You where we hear Miles say, "Okay?" & Bob Weinstock, in jest, tells him to "do that one over." Miles asks, "Why?" but Coltrane, unconcerned, looks for the beer opener! Even ambient studio sounds are captured with clarity: there are several places on the record where you'll hear the floor creak!
Once you know the album, you realise there are many different pressings out there for this masterpiece & you'll naturally want to investigate the best pressing on the market. NOW bear in the mind the physical conditions of the original tapes. The 1/4" tape reels from these sessions were more than 40 years old when the 1996 remasters were prepared. They were more than 50 years old when the set was prepared again in 2008. The tapes are known to be brittle, especially where they were spliced & oxide was pulled from the tape. They are saturated in places. Several dropouts are audible on the remasters & there are even jumps & some seconds missing in a number of tunes. This very FIRST ISSUE vinyl pressing from 1958 suffers none of this. Simply put, this precious platter is the album's ULTIMATE in sonics & there can be no better. Still want to know what jazz is? Look no further!
Famously pressed for Prestige, the label's office was located at 446 West 50th Street & 'NYC' imprint releases ran for approximately two years. Most of the famous Bop recordings for Prestige were made by Rudy Van Gelder in his home studios in Hackensack, NJ & when Van Gelder moved to Englewood Cliffs in July 1959, label boss Bob Weinstock moved the head office to nearby Bergenfield, NJ. 'Bergenfield' label releases were next in line, but the stature of the short-lived 'NYC' label releases means that the original 'NYC' label address pressing for this album is the more desirable. The sound quality is considered the very best & most natural representation of what occurred for the sessions that produced this historic album.
Condition :-
The pasted heavyweight sleeve is a stunning example & practically as good as it gets. A little faint paper loss at the bottom edge is the only distraction from this near perfect copy. The album notes remain as sharp as the day it was made, the spine looks majestic & the Esmond Edwards artwork deserves to be framed in its own right.
The heavyweight vinyl is the real star of the show & remains in Near Mint condition. There is only the lightest suggestion of play by the spindle area. The wax appears as clean & near perfect as you can get for a fifty-seven year old record of this magnitude. It doesn't get any better than this!
LP RECORD
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