Relaxin With the Miles Davis Quintet (Reis) [Original recording remastered]

Miles Davis, Miles Davis Quintet | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (March 21, 2006)
• Original Release Date: 1956
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Original recording remastered
• Label: Prestige
• ASIN: B000EGDAHU
• Also Available in: Audio CD
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #6,435 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #27 in Music > Jazz > Bebop > Hard Bop
  • #59 in Music > Jazz > Bebop > Bebop General
  • #59 in Music > Jazz > Bebop > General AAS

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

This CD comes from the marathon 1956 Prestige sessions with the first of Miles Davis's great quintets: John Coltrane on tenor, Red Garland on piano, Paul Chambers on bass, and Philly Joe Jones on drums. The group recorded four LPs for Prestige, contemporaneous with the early Columbia material recently celebrated on the Davis-Coltrane Complete Columbia Studio Sessions. Relaxin' emphasizes Davis's concentrated ballad style, with his middle-register trumpet played through a harmon mute very close to the microphone. What might be a mere buzz in lesser hands becomes restrained passion and detailed expression on the slow tempos of "You're My Everything" and "It Could Happen to You," while Davis conveys joy on the faster tempo of "I Could Write a Book." "If I Were a Bell," from Frank Loesser's then contemporary Guys and Dolls, is another melodic highlight.

The boppish side of the band is heard on Sonny Rollins's "Oleo," a tour de force animated by Chambers's limber walking bass, and on Dizzy Gillespie's "Woody 'n' You," the only tune with Miles playing his trumpet with an open bell. Coltrane was entering a period of sustained musical growth, still beholden to Charlie Parker and Rollins, but with flashes of the convulsive power and incendiary questing that his work would soon attain. As different as the two horns are, they reflect the band's ineffable mix of hot and cool elements, from Garland's masterful vamps to the explosive power of Philly Joe Jones. Davis and his cohort were defining the modern mainstream, providing models that are still durable today. --Stuart Broomer

Product Description

No Description Available.
Genre: Jazz Music
Media Format: Compact Disk
Rating:
Release Date: 21-MAR-2006

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars absolutely essential jazz, March 25, 2008

By 

Dean Winiarski "guy with opinions" (Milwaukee, WI United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

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This review is from: Relaxin With the Miles Davis Quintet (Reis) (Audio CD)

I remember when my musical interest was first drawn to jazz. I spent a summer working a lonely late shift on the Wisconsin-Illinois border, and the only tolerable radio station I could pick up was WBEZ out of Chicago. Legendary jazz DJ Larry Smith became my nightly guru, and I was converted.

But when the time came to start building a Jazz collection, I was clueless where to start. Like an endless parade of other newbies (I'm sure) I followed the ubiquitous advice and purchased "Kind of Blue"--a fortuitous beginning indeed! But I was on my own for the second choice. I will come clean and admit that I picked "Relaxin" solely because the cover art struck me as the hippest example of 50's cool I ever saw. Hmmm...how often do you get this lucky twice in a row?

This quintet OWNED jazz from '55 to '58. Their pinnacle achievement was the four albums they knocked off for Rudy Van Gelder in two marathon "live in the studio" recording sessions in '56. All four titles are essential. Of the four, Relaxin' is arguably the best. Jazz doesn't get any better than this. If you don't own this CD, you're not a true jazz fan, so be sure to rectify that situation immediately!

Then follow up by purchasing "Something Else" (issued under Cannonball Adderley's name, but in reality a Miles Davis session). Then buy everything from Miles' second great quintet from the 60's...his groundbreaking projects with Gil Evans...where do you stop?

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Perfect, September 7, 2006

By 

Michael Hardin (South Duxbury, Vermont United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Relaxin With the Miles Davis Quintet (Reis) (Audio CD)

Perfect is hard to define in jazz. In the traditional sense, "perfect" would mean without mistakes, but that denies the human element at the core of this music. What is perfect in jazz is when you sit and listen to Miles or Coltrane play something that is entirely them, and you could never think of any other way they should have played what they just did. "Kind of Blue" is one of those albums, when everything lines up and the creation is natural and beautiful. This album, recorded three years earlier, is another.

Miles hauled his band into the studio for Prestige records to fulfill the rest of his contract, and he cut four albums with two marathon recording sessions loosely constructed of standards. Miles didn't bother with many takes of the same tune and that is what makes his recordings almost as spontaneous as his live performances. This album is one result of those two sessions, and it's probably the strongest of the four albums. The tunes featured are very nice vehicles for incredibly melodic, tasteful playing by the entire group. That group, by the way, is known as the first great quintet, made up of Miles, John Coltrane, Red Garland, Paul Chambers, and Philly Joe Jones. While I'm not a big fan of Red Garland (I'm a piano player myself) I do appreciate his sense of swing and his taste and it's in evidence here. Trane was just getting his bearings and is still a little rough but he manages to put out some incredible ideas. The rhythm section holds down the groove really well. Then there's Miles, who is relaxed (mostly muted) and as melodic as any of his recordings. I listen to this album and, cliche as it may sound, all of my anxieties just melt away. My favorite tune on here is "If I Were A Bell," one Miles would continue to play brilliantly for years but he would never match the softly swinging vibe he created with it here. Tempos vary on this album but nothing is supercharged or blazingly fast, hence the title. The complete picture is one of spontaneous creation of beautiful music, the epitome of playing inside the form while still being creative and just swinging hard.

In terms of accessibility, the only sticky wicket is the playing of Coltrane. Non-jazz listeners looking for classy background music for a dinner party will find his tone abrasive and his budding "sheets of sound" to be quite odd. But serious listeners will be able to appreciate what he was reaching for (he hadn't yet found it all the way) and be fascinated by this stage of his development. The rest of the group is very in the pocket while still being interesting, so there's nothing too outlandish about this music. I can safely recommend it to anyone who appreciates the beauty of simplicity and space in music. Just be sure you really listen closely to pick up on the subtleties. Jazz like this will not demand your attention, but once you give it, it is some of the most rewarding music out there.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Essential Miles, January 29, 2009

By 

J. Rich - See all my reviews

This review is from: Relaxin With the Miles Davis Quintet (Reis) (Audio CD)

This 1957 recording is one of my favorite Miles albums. It has everything that was great about Miles and his band: the lyrical, muted trumpet lines mixed with the aggressive saxophone playing of John Coltrane, the great pianist Red Garland, bassist Paul Chambers, and the always versatile Philly Joe Jones. What a great recording this is! I believe Miles cut this album along with "Cookin," "Steamin," and "Workin" all within a few days. That creative force was flowing from Miles around the time of these albums, because he had kicked his drug habit and was about to sign with Columbia Records where he would remain until the early '90s.