On May 12, courtesy of Craft Recordings, Workin’ With the Miles Davis Quintet relaunches the Original Jazz Classics reissue series on 180-gram vinyl cut from the original master tapes. Featuring a magnificent band led by trumpeter-composer Davis, the group consists of tenor saxophonist John Coltrane, pianist Red Garland, bassist Paul Chambers, and drummer Philly Joe Jones. Bringing Davis’ working band into the studio resulted in an uncommonly communicative brilliance that fully earns Craft Recordings’ description of foundational, making it a fitting beginning for the rekindled Original Jazz Classics line.
Workin’ With the Miles Davis Quintet is one of four albums by the group that were released by the Prestige label between 1957-’61, with the contents drawn from two substantial sessions held on May 11 and October 26 of 1956. The lore once had it that it all came from one gargantuan session, but time has clarified the matter. There were actually three Prestige sessions by this group, an aggregation often described as Davis’ “first great quintet,” with their initial date taking place on November 16, 1955 and supplying the music for Miles: The New Miles Davis Quintet, released in April of the following year.
Maybe the most striking bit of background about Cookin’, Relaxin’, Workin’ and Steamin’ is that they are the byproduct of a contractual obligation. I don’t want to make too much of this, as once a musician signs a contract they are obliged to make records in fulfillment of the agreement, and it stands to reason that those musicians would want any record with their names on it to be wholly worthwhile.
But in this case, the May and October Davis Quintet sessions were undertaken to give indie label Prestige enough music to satisfy the terms of the contract and allow the recordings Davis and this group had made under the radar for the significantly larger label Columbia (sessions chronologically overlapping the Prestige dates), to be released as ‘Round About Midnight in 1957.
As Davis reportedly had to pay for rehearsal time in studio to meet the terms of the Prestige contract, the idea was struck to quickly record selections from their live sets rather than debut new material on record. And so, the title is apropos; what was essentially undertaken as a speedy resolution cast a bright spotlight on the creative heights of which a working Modern Jazz band, and one loaded with top flight players (not a weak link in the lineup), was capable.
It’s worth stressing that it’s the musicians involved, excelling across these essentially live-in-studio performances, who elevate Workin’ With the Miles Davis Quintet to its statue as one of the great jazz recordings. To be sure, few combos then and now would be capable of the tenderness heard in the record’s opener, the Richard Rodgers composition “It Never Entered My Mind.” Garland’s piano is pretty and stately while avoiding schmaltz as Davis, using a mute, attains a high level of emotion with expert poise. Chambers and Jones deepen the jazz foundation as Coltrane sensibly lays out.
The saxophonist comes on strong in “Four,” a Davis original that exemplifies up-tempo progressive bop swing circa 1956, a sound that was still dominant when Workin’ was released late in ’59. But if well-established by then, “Four” utterly transcends formula and still sounds fresh today. Setting the mute aside, Davis’ opening solo is immaculate and sturdy, contrasting well with the strength of Coltrane to follow. The threesome soon to be known as “The Rhythm Section” are flawless in execution throughout, with Garland delivering an exquisite solo.
The mute returns for a version of Dave Brubeck’s composition “In Your Own Sweet Way,” the band working up a subtle head of steam on this ballad and eventual jazz standard, though it was a new composition at the time of it’s recording for Workin’; an earlier Davis Quintet with Sonny Rollins on sax had cut it previously in ’56 for the Collectors’ Items album, and Brubeck’s studio version came out the same year on the Brubeck Plays Brubeck LP, though the pianist wrote it in ’52 and had been playing it live for a while.
Reinforcing the live nature of the Prestige Davis Quintet sessions, each side of Workin’ ends with a short reading of “Theme,” a Davis tune debuted in a significantly longer version on Miles: The New Miles Davis Quintet (as “The Theme”). It would become the trumpeter’s favored set closer in the ensuing years. Interestingly, Workin’ is the only album In this Prestige series to include “Theme,” a fact only deepening the live aura and sitting just right with the album’s title (Workin’ as in working band, dig?).
Side two opens with “Trane’s Blues,” the title a surefire tipoff to who wrote it, as the confident groove nods toward the sublime swagger of Coltrane’s Blue Train. The way Coltrane and Davis reenter the tune directly after Chambers’ solo is a sweet moment from an LP that’s full of them, as a stellar reading of “Ahmad’s Blues,” a composition from pianist Ahmad Jamal (RIP) comes next. That means it’s time for Garland to shine (understandably), but also Jones, whose drumming is as fine here as I’ve ever heard it.
Everybody shines during the Davis-penned “Half Nelson,” which brings another solid serving of bop energy prior to “Theme” wrapping up the side. In contrast to the Davis masterpieces to come, there’s an appealingly low-key aura to Workin’ With the Miles Davis Quintet, an atmosphere it shares with the three accompanying LPs Prestige gleaned from the ’56 sessions. Workin’ takes the emphasis off the glamor of the “jazz life” and presents it instead as a job of work. And yet, as the tracks unwind, it becomes obvious these guys wouldn’t have traded this vocation for anything at all.
GRADED ON A CURVE:
A+
