Search - Miles Davis :: Legendary Prestige Quintet Sessions

Miles' "PreColumbian" Period Gets an Upgrade

Richard B. Luhrs | Jackson Heights, NY United States | 05/29/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Considering the size of Miles Davis' 1951-56 Prestige Records catalogue, it's surprising that only a single, all-encompassing fifteen-disc effort has been made to compile it - and that well over a decade ago. Wonderful remastered editions of many of the trumpeter's more important mid-fifties albums, including most of those featured on THE LEGENDARY PRESTIGE QUINTET SESSIONS, have since followed; but this is the first boxed edition to present all of and only the original Miles Davis Quintet's Prestige work. In the current "Let's release everything!" era, it's safe to call this a welcome addition to Miles' ever-growing discography.

With John Coltrane blowing tenor sax, Red Garland tickling the ivories, Paul Chambers handling the low end and Philly Joe Jones alternately keeping and reinventing time, Miles' first great quintet would have qualified as a major force in jazz on the strength of its personnel alone. The music this unit crafted, however, was of course some of the finest jazz of its era, and forged a link between the bop and cool schools which would influence practically everything that followed. Most of the compositions here may be covers; but if anything that only emphasizes the power and importance of this band's approach to a piece of music.

Amazingly, three discs - none much over an hour in length - are sufficient to tell the complete story of the Quintet's tenure at its first label, with most of the material recorded in a two-day marathon so that Miles and Company could move to the ostensibly greener pastures of Columbia Records. As a result, there are no outtakes or (except for Miles' set closer "The Theme") alternate versions here; what you get is basically a long live gig as performed in the studio, which is really all you could want from such a distinguished combo.

As for the box itself, the packaging is beautiful and quite protective of the discs, with a removable book providing all necessary details and some classic photos to complement these classic sounds as they issue from your speakers. The fourth disc, featuring television and club recordings from both the band's Prestige and Columbia eras, makes for a fine coda and connects this material to the later music represented in Columbia's ongoing series of Miles Davis boxed sets. A first-class job, in short, and one which Prestige would do well to follow up with similar packages chronicling Miles' early years on the label."

Among the first of many giant steps made by Miles Davis!

J. Lund | SoCal, USA | 05/27/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"With this 4CD boxed set, Prestige falls right in line with the outstanding series of Columbia-era Miles Davis boxed sets. In this case, the label's recordings by what many regard as Miles' first great small group gets freshly remastered and packaged. Yes, with the exception of the bonus tracks this material has been -- and still is -- available in a number of configurations. This just happens to be the best attempt yet to organize all of the quintet material (1955-1956) into a one-size-fits-all set. Furthermore, although the cover artwork could have gone either way -- classic or contemporary -- to good effect, I like the choice to use 1980s-era artwork by Miles himself, which sort of symbolizes the timelessness of the music.



Putting aside the details of the music itself for a moment, I've always been fascinated by the fact that the majority of the tracks included here were rush-recorded in two marathon sessions, solely aimed at fulfilling Davis' contract with Prestige after he had signed and already begun recording for Columbia (which is why most of the music here was recorded AFTER the earliest sessions on the Sony boxed set THE COMPLETE COLUMBIA RECORDINGS 1955-1961). For the 1956 dates, Miles basically decided to take his current working group into the studio and in effect play two concerts (sans audience), with one-take run-throughs of his live repetoire. As happened so often during Miles' career, his unconventional approach resulted in music with an electricity and level of inspiration that stays fresh no matter how many times one listens to it, or how much time has passed since the recording dates.



Although the result is that for the most part no new compositions are performed, that loss is not felt because the focus is less on the songs -- as great as the mix of tunes is here -- than on the personnel. At the time some questioned Miles' choice of sidemen (reedman John Coltrane, pianist Red Garland, bassist Paul Chambers, and drummer Philly Joe Jones). Yet what is obvious from every track here is how well the parts quickly came together to produce a greater sum than what might have been predicted beforehand. The tunes generally fall into two categories: 1) pop standards (including some ballads associated with Frank Sinatra), and updated versions of classic bebop-era compositions. Lastly, the studio cuts comprise the first three discs, while the fourth CD presents several tv and radio airchecks that are officially released for the first time (more great music, but not quite-as-good sound quality as the brilliantly-recorded studio cuts). There's some interesting ECD material as well. Overall this set is a must for first-time buyers and a great way to upgrade for those who already own some or all of this material."

On a high end system the sound IS a serious improvement !

J. Niss | Western Mass | 08/16/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"the sound of Miles trumpet is significantly better here. less "digitalis" (overly bright highs) but not at the expense of rolled off highs. this is sonically better then the rvg 2006 remaster of relaxin'.



in fact it sounds more like the MOSAIC records vinyl pressings then any 16 bit release so far. it may even surpass them in some ways but I did not do an a/b comparison yet so I couldn't say. But some of what I heard hinted at it: it sounded as if the tapes were fresher here.



my search for truely enjoyable cd masterings of this incredible work is finished. Thanks Joe Tarantino for working a wonder!"