Rating: NNNNN
|
|
Recorded in three sessions over 11 months beginning in October 1955, ‘Round About Midnight was not only Miles Davis’s stellar debut album for Columbia but also a coming out party for his first great quintet with John Coltrane, then still relatively unknown. The album is really a transitional work touching on old-school bop and hard bop interspersed with a few updates of forgotten show tunes, yet Davis’s masterfully muted performance established the iconoclastic trumpeter’s unique voice and vision. As a bonus, the 24-bit Legacy Edition adds a second disc featuring the crisp Voice of America recording of Davis’s standout rendition of ‘Round Midnight – sans mute! – from the 1955 Newport Jazz Festival along with a rare live snapshot of that quintet with Coltrane in hard swinging action at the Pasedena Civic Auditorium from 56, neatly providing valuable historical perspective on the ‘Round About Midnight sessions. Yes, it’s time to replace that 2001 reissue.
