|
'Round About Midnight Miles Davis Columbia/Legacy, 2001 Tracks 1: Round
Midnight
Buy it online
Reviewed by Tom Nolan
|
Although Miles Davis recorded for other labels at the start and stop of his long career, the late trumpeter-composer's main association was with Columbia. That label is in the midst of restoring and repackaging a host of Davis albums in ongoing commemoration of the 75th anniversary of his birth. One such LP is 'Round About Midnight, Davis' debut recording for Columbia, which signed him after his sizzling "comeback" performance at the Newport Jazz Festival of 1955. Recorded at three sessions stretching from 1955 to 1956, the 'Round About Midnight LP matched Davis with tenor saxophonist John Coltrane, pianist Red Garland, bassist Paul Chambers and drummer Philly Joe Jones in a fresh-sounding collection that became an instant classic and presaged even more exciting music to come. The original album, which clocked in at just under 40 minutes, has been supplemented on this hour-long CD with four bonus tracks from the original sessions (previously issued on four subsequent Davis LPs). But the bonus cuts come last; so the CD starts, like the vintage LP, with what soon became a (if not the) definitive version of "'Round Midnight" (note the variant title), the haunting bebop ballad by Thelonious Monk, Cootie Williams and Bernie Hanighen. Davis is at his ruminative best in his muted statement and variations on Monk's theme, with Coltrane in light counterpoint behind. The tenor's vigorous ramble is brought up short by Miles' return with the final statement -- setting a pattern of tension-and-release between the two horns which is a hallmark of this disc and of their work in general. Track two, the Charlie Parker line "Ah-Leu-Cha," is also from the Manhattan-centric bop library; but it has a West Coast sound on this 1955 date, done not long after Davis' "Birth of the Cool" confrere Gerry Mulligan's California quartet work with Chet Baker. Davis evokes some of Baker's breezy insouciance on this track, which has the bounce of a cool-school vehicle. The leader flies through his solo like an athletic aerialist, while Coltrane's upper-register turn has the tenor player sounding almost like an alto. Paul Chambers' bass provides propulsive underpinning, and Philly Joe Jones' brushwork is sparkling. The tempo pulls back for Cole Porter's "All of You," an example of the smart pacing that was one of Davis' strengths. The mood returns to a more reflective mode, too; but this is a happy-sounding cataloguing of the title pronoun's charms. Again, Coltrane's verbose approach, where he plays with double-time, is in contrast to the restraint of the trumpet. Red Garland's buoyant, brilliant solo seems to evoke both Coltrane's rapid runs and Davis' reverie; he's simultaneously swinging and lyrical. And witty: Here he seems to quote the Duke Ellington-Ray Nance query, "Tulip or Turnip?" The classic cuts keep coming with the gorgeous "Bye Bye Blackbird," in which Garland's Errol Garner-esque intro sets up the surprise of Davis's muted entry. After poignantly stating and paraphrasing the standard's melody, Miles touches base often with the tune in the course of his lovely and inventive solo, which is miked so close that his Harmon-muted horn seems to breathe in your ear. Coltrane's solo is bracingly harsh, bringing to mind the phrase "surprisingly graceful for a man his size"; he's like a football player with dance training. Where Davis's expressiveness is inner-directed, Coltrane's turns outward: another example of the tension their partnership created and released. The up-tempo and enjoyable "Tadd's Delight" (by Tadd Dameron) is among other things a showcase for a good solo by Red Garland, whose tight comping beneath the horns is also a treat. Jones' fast-handed timekeeping and Coltrane's bluesy, sweet'n'sour solo also stand out. The nearly eight-minute "Dear Old Stockholm," a traditional arranged by Stan Getz, was the original LP's final track. With its welltimed riffs and breaks, it bookended the first cut's similarly well-conceived chart. Paul Chambers' solo blends smoothly into Coltrane's statement, which gives way easily to Davis's darting turn. Now the bonus tracks: "Two Bass Hit," by John Lewis and Dizzy Gillespie, is a perky bebop line with an echo of Gillespie's "Salt Peanuts." Davis takes an attractive solo, with some Morse Code-like telegraphic effects; Coltrane cooks briskly, and Jones' controlled bursts kick the band along. Jackie McLean's now-familiar "Little Melonae" was a brand-new, days-old composition when Davis and company recorded it in 1955. At mid-tempo, it seems both bouncy and meditative. This is a very "live"-sounding track, with straight-ahead playing by Davis and Coltrane over Jones' prodding shoves and Garland's driving chords. The pianist's winning 90-second solo, with its long single-note lines, makes this bonus cut a prize gift. "Budo," credited to Davis and Bud Powell, was recorded earlier by Miles on his "Birth of the Cool" sides; it was already in some sense a Davis "oldie." It's done faster here and affords room for a longer, muted trumpet solo. Finally there is the brief "Sweet Sue,
Just You," recreating a performance done for a Leonard
Bernstein TV show that asked the "what is jazz?" question.
With Davis's quadruple-tonguing solo, Coltrane's Middle
Eastern-sounding chorus, and Garland's laid-back lope, "Sue"
sounds at once fresh and traditional, arranged and
improvised, thoughtful and spontaneous. It (and the whole
CD) is as good an answer to Bernstein's musical question as
one might have wished for in 1956 -- or 45 years later. |
October 2001 |
Recorded at three sessions stretching from 1955 to 1956, the 'Round About Midnight LP matched Davis with tenor saxophonist John Coltrane, pianist Red Garland, bassist Paul Chambers and drummer Philly Joe Jones in a fresh-sounding collection that became an instant classic and presaged even more exciting music to come. |
|
|
 |
|
