Steamin [Original recording remastered]

Miles Davis | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (August 7, 2007)
• Original Release Date: 1961
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Original recording remastered
• Label: Prestige
• ASIN: B000SQJ2N2
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #99,287 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Surrey with the Fringe on Top - Miles Davis

2. Something I Dreamed Last Night - Miles Davis

3. Well, You Needn't - Miles Davis

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Full Steam Ahead, June 20, 2008

By 

Jack Baker "Beauty Will Save the World" (LeRoy,IL) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Steamin (Audio CD)

Steamin' was the last to be released of the four classic albums created from the marathon two day sessions in 1956, which were recorded to fulfill Davis's Prestige contract. The quintet consisted of Davis on trumpet, John Coltrane on tenor sax, Red Garland on piano, Paul Chambers on bass, and Philly Joe Jones on drums. This is the second of the four albums that I've purchased, the other in my collection being Workin' With the Miles Davis Quintet.

Steamin' begins with the Rodgers and Hammerstein tune "Surrey With the Fringe on Top" from the musical Oklahoma, a light-hearted romp. The album steamrolls ahead with a frantic version of Dizzy Gillespie's "Salt Peanuts". Philly Joe's drums sound almost crazed as he sets a manic pace for the other musicians to follow, culminating with a tour-de-force percussion solo that seems to occupy most of the song's six minute running time (without once becoming stale!) before a brief stab of horns ends the piece. From there, the album settles into a more relaxed tone with Coltrane dropping out for "Something I Dreamed Last Night", prime time Davis balladry. "Diane" is another mid-tempo number that's not quite a ballad, nor quite a burner, but finds a happy medium. "Well You Needn't" has a nice call and response between Davis and Coltrane, as well as some excellent ivory work from Garland. The interplay between Garland and Chambers is especially nice on this piece. And then there's the simply devastating version of "When I Fall in Love" that closes the set. Coltrane sits this one out and I'm not sure Miles's trumpet ever sounded as poignant as it does here. I was utterly charmed by this piece, my favorite on the record. I rather wish that I had discovered this album five years ago and perhaps my wife and I would have done our first dance to this song at our wedding.

Thus far, Steamin' and Workin' have both lived up to the hype that surrounds them. Based on these, I can't wait to hear Relaxin' and Cookin'. Strongly recommended.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Cookin' up joy, December 9, 2010

By 

Matthew Watters (Vietnam) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Steamin (Audio CD)

It's funny that the critical consensus regarding this album is that, since Prestige held back it's release the longest, it is somehow the weakest of the four albums by the Miles Davis Quintet recorded for that label in 1956. It is somehow viewed as 'leftovers' from the famous October '56 marathon session that produced the albums Cookin', Relaxin' and Workin', when, in fact, only the Monk tune "Well You Needn't" in the present collection is from that session. Steamin' mostly presents the considerable fruits of an earlier March '56 session when this particular group may have been most feeling its oats. The band, with Red Garland and Philly Joe Jones at their peaks and Trane just reaching his, sounds far more at ease than during the somewhat more tense October date. And while the material on Steamin' is a merely a variety of covers of show tunes and standards (plus "Salt Peanuts"), it is all so imaginatively and swingingly executed, and with such joy, it's hard not to be moved. It's toe-tapping, lyrical and engaging, among some of the most purely happy music Davis ever recorded. Alongside the great Columbia dates like Kind of Blue and Milestones, Steamin' is quite simply one of Miles' finest albums. Of this quintet's four aforementioned Prestige albums, it's my personal favourite, and the one I'm most likely to return to most often.

5.0 out of 5 stars The "Miles Trilogy", Cookin', Steamin', and Relaxin', June 20, 2011

By 

Jay Brown "musicologist" (WATERBURY, CT, US) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Steamin (Audio CD)

Ah the 'Miles Trilogy': Cookin',Steamin' and Relaxin'. They may not be a "must", but they are a definite "should have" for any Miles segment of a good listening collection. They are,after all,Miles and Trane. Take Steamin'(please). It opens with Rodgers & Hammerstein's "Surrey With The Fringe On Top",and everybody from the Seven Brothers (play) to Sonny Rollins (Newk's Time) plays it just like R&H wrote it...fast. Except Miles! Here,it's a muted,laid-back,low-swinging,very cool classic. Thanks,also,to Red Garland,Paul Chambers and Philly Joe Jones. The opening and closing bars of Trane's solo have been stuck in my head since the 60's. The solo is quite sharp,too,as is Red's. Dizzy's "Salt Peanuts" is an old high-speed, birdland-style bebop classic jam, and Miles and Trane, introd(ed) by Philly Joe and Red, relay it as such. Watch for a long,mean drum solo from Philly Joe, which comes out of nowhere, and takes up most of the jam. Always the romantic, a muted Miles ballards to a low swing on "Something I Dreamed Last Night". Notice Paul's bass support here. Red, known for his harmonics,is 'swept along' by Philly Joe's brushwork, while soloing beautifully. "Diane" is similar to 'Surrey', in style. Red intros Miles (muted) and the theme. Miles swings a solo. Note Red's piano work behind Miles here. Trane enters with the theme, once, and is then off, blowing that old familiar "Tranesmoke". Red puts down a typically good solo. Miles closes. Miles'"Well You Needn't" is an excellent bop jam with very good solos from everyone. Notice a slightly different Red here, as well as a 'bowed' Paul. Miles "owns" "When I Fall In Love". Miles' romanticism is what makes Miles....well Miles! A romantic second to none. AND this is Miles Davis' "Steamin'", another in a long line of great Miles (and Trane) magic.