For obvious reasons, the award-winning documentary maker Stanley Nelson couldn’t have had a very easy task compiling this musical companion to last year’s Miles Davis documentary film Birth of the Cool. Tracks are selected in more or less chronological sequence from the original discography, which is usually a smart move. From ‘Donna Lee’ with Bird to ‘New Rhumba’ with Gil Evans through to ‘Tutu’ with Marcus Miller, they more or less sketch out the Miles musical ‘revolution’ and mark his most important partnerships.

Between the recordings are short excerpts of interviews with a small selection of the film’s talking heads. It amounts to brief anecdotes and quotes, but the film dialogue generally serves as an introduction to the track that follows it. As has Nelson’s film, it will likely encourage more apostles to the cult of Miles; and those not so familiar with the projects at the source of the better-known tracks can revisit their dusty old albums with relish. It closes with a brand-new recording titled ‘Hail to the Real Chief’ that backs a few unreleased Miles solos: an ill-fitting so-called ‘bonus track’ for completists only that should have been politely binned. While the voice commentaries add some spice, the CD’s hardly an essential buy with the slew of Miles’ ‘greatest hits’ out there. If it’s a souvenir of an authoritative documentary film you’re after, however, it does the job.