Miles Davis, Vol. 2 [Original recording reissued, Original recording remastered]

Miles Davis | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (July 24, 2001)
• Original Release Date: 1953
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Original recording reissued, Original recording remastered
• Label: Blue Note Records
• ASIN: B00005LKC2
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #34,659 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Nice, Boppish Miles from the early 50s, August 3, 2001

By 

G B (Connecticut) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Miles Davis, Vol. 2 (Audio CD)

1953 wasn't a good time for Miles Davis -- he was still in the throes of a heroin addiction, making steady work hard to find. Nevertheless this is a welcome Rudy Van Gelder remaster of a recording from the most overlooked period of the trumpeter's career. Miles is joined by some fine company: Jimmy Heath on tenor, J. J. Johnson on trombone, Gil Coggins on piano, Percy Heath on bass, and Art Blakey on drums. The style is mostly bop, plus two ballads that hint at Davis's future mastery in this setting. Miles's playing, which was often erratic in the early 50s, is strong throughout; he sounds confident on the more up-tempo tunes and his balladeering on "I Waited for You" is wonderful. This is not the best place to start a Miles Davis collection (I'd recommend at least 20 other CDs before this one), but if you're looking to explore the period between Birth of the Cool and Walkin' then you might as well dive in here. If you like this album, be sure to check out the RVG master of Volume 1. And if none of this appeals to you, buy it just to hear Blakey's monster drumming on the master take of "Tempus Fugit"!

12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Meager, August 31, 2001

By 

Scott McFarland (Manassas, VA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Miles Davis, Vol. 2 (Audio CD)

Pretty mediocre stuff, not as well-done as Miles' other 2 Blue Note sessions (available on the "Volume 1" disc). The tunes just kind of lay there for the most part.

In his autobiography Miles discusses this session indirectly. He says that he and some of the other players were getting high (heroin) during the recording. Specifically he says that he & Jimmy Heath went out of the studio together to carry in a box of reeds - the one guy went out to do it, the other volunteered to help him. The comedy of course is that a box of reeds hardly weighs anything, and this is not a two-man effort. The players were not at their best, and the music is not noteworthy.