Miles Davis: 1958 Miles
Author: Stuart Nicholson
View record and artist detailsRecord and Artist Details
Porgy and Bess
Musicians: |
Billy Kyle (p) |
Label: |
State of Art |
Magazine Review Date: |
June/2018 |
Catalogue Number: |
81207 |
RecordDate: |
18-19 August 1957 and 14 October 1957, 15 August 1956 |
Musicians: |
Miles Davis |
Label: |
Dreamcovers Records |
Magazine Review Date: |
September/2014 |
Catalogue Number: |
6084 |
RecordDate: |
1958 |
1958 Miles is a facsimile CD of a Japanese issue of the four remaining studio tracks of the Kind of Blue band with pianist Bill Evans. Three of these orphaned tracks were originally released on the album Jazz Track (coupled with the original music for L'Ascenseur Pour L’Échafaud) while ‘Love for Sale’ turned up on a 1975 Columbia compilation Black Giants. All four titles surfaced in 1991 as ’58 Sessions Featuring Stella by Starlight (Columbia/Legacy) and in 2008 they appeared on Miles Davis – Kind of Blue: 50th Anniversary Collectors Edition together with an alternative take. They have also popped up from time to time on bootleg releases but for reasons of space, only the main sources are cited here. They are masterpieces, of course; Bonislaw Kaper's ‘On Green Dolphin Street’ in surely its definitive version, while ‘Love for Sale’ remains as fresh now as in 1958. Thrown in for good measure are four tracks by the 1955 Davis quintet and three by a 1956 quintet with Sonny Rollins on tenor. Porgy and Bess is a bona fide jazz masterpiece; here in the form it took on its original release as Columbia CS-8085. It is an album everybody reading this magazine should possess. If you don't then here's another chance to work out your own relationship with this haunting, compelling music. Bonus tracks thrown in at the end of this CD are totally unrelated to what has gone before – the famous Prestige session with Monk and a jaunty quintet from 1954 with Rollins and Horace Silver on piano.

Jazzwise Full Club
- Latest print and digital issues
- Digital archive since 1997
- Download tracks from bonus compilation albums throughout the year
- Reviews Database access
From £9.08 / month
Subscribe
Jazzwise Digital Club
- Latest digital issues
- Digital archive since 1997
- Download tracks from bonus compilation albums during the year
- Reviews Database access