Miles Davis - Hi-Hat All-Stars (Live) (1998/2020)

"If your only knowledge of Miles Davis is his plugged in work such as Bitches Brew, or his modal work classic Kind of Blue, you might be surprised to learn that he was at one time a proto-bopper, having learned the ropes with Charlie Parker. He was never as bright and strong as Dizzy, nor as rapid on the chops as Fats, but he knew how to swing, and he does well on this recording from 1955 with Jay Migliori/ts, Al Walcott/p, Jimmy Woode/b and Jimmy Zitano/dr (with Bob Freeman sitting in on piano of a track). Yes, the sound fidelity is lacking a bit, but this was 1955, after all.

As far as Davis’ chops go, just get a load of his trumpet break on the torrid “Night In Tunisia” where he doesn’t drop a stitch. The leader here, actually, was Migliori, and the muscular tenor saxist gets plenty of space on the tricky “Dig” and kinetic “Well You Needn’t”. To put this album in perspective, it is about a year before he formed his first “Classic” team with Coltrane, Jones, Garland and Chambers, but after his seminal 1954 Walkin’ which introduced hard bop to jazz, to which most of the world had not yet caught up.

The team sizzles on “Ray’s Idea” while Miles in a particularly lyrical mood for “Nice Work If You Can Get It” and the darker “Alone Together”. While the recording quality sounds dated, the music itself has aged amazingly well."