Miles Davis - Miles '56: The Prestige Recordings (2026)

08 Oct, 00:34
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Artist: Miles Davis
Title: Miles '56: The Prestige Recordings
Year Of Release: 2026
Label: Prestige [00888072745643]
Genre: Jazz, Hard Bop, Cool
Quality: FLAC (tracks + .cue,log) | MP3/320 kbps
Total Time: 02:55:19
Total Size: 751 MB(+3%) | 414 MB(+3%)
WebSite: Album Preview

Tracklist

CD1:

01. In Your Own Sweet Way (March 16, 1956 version) (4:34)
02. No Line (5:40)
03. Vierd Blues (6:51)
04. In Your Own Sweet Way (May 11, 1956 version) (5:44)
05. Diane (7:50)
06. Trane's Blues (8:33)
07. Something I Dreamed Last Night (6:14)
08. It Could Happen to You (6:31)
09. Woody'n You (5:02)
10. Ahmad's Blues (7:22)

CD2:

01. Surrey with the Fringe on Top (9:04)
02. It Never Entered My Mind (5:23)
03. When I Fall in Love (4:25)
04. Salt Peanuts (6:08)
05. Four (7:13)
06. The Theme (take 1) (2:00)
07. The Theme (take 2) (1:05)
08. If I Were a Bell (8:16)
09. Well, You Needn't (6:19)

CD3:

01. 'Round Midnight (5:23)
02. Half Nelson (4:46)
03. You're My Everything (5:19)
04. I Could Write a Book (5:10)
05. Oleo (6:17)
06. Airegin (4:27)
07. Tune Up (5:43)
08. When Lights Are Low (7:30)
09. Blues by Five (10:27)
10. My Funny Valentine (6:03)

Released as part of Miles Davis' centennial celebration, Miles '56: The Prestige Recordings spotlights four of the trumpeter's key early albums. Along with the previously released '54 and '55 sets, '56 nicely illuminates Davis' initial ascension from bebop star to jazz auteur. The focus of the collection is on what became known as the First Great Quintet, featuring tenor saxophonist John Coltrane, pianist Red Garland, bassist Paul Chambers, and drummer Philly Joe Jones. Prior to this group, Davis had played frenetic bebop alongside Charlie Parker and helped launch the next wave of cool jazz with his Nonet (compiled on Birth of the Cool), featuring Gerry Mulligan and arranger Gil Evans. He brought all of this together with his quintet, who famously honed their sound at a regular gig at New York's Cafe Bohemia, developing a bespoke amalgam of their individual voices, all pulled together by Davis' dark charisma. The story goes, that having just signed with Columbia, Davis still owed several albums to Prestige and so entered the studio between May and October 1956 for a long session that ultimately produced the classic string of albums, Cookin', Relaxin', Workin', and Steamin'; each of which were released over a protracted period from 1957 to 1960. Largely playing American Popular Standards and ballads alongside a modicum of bop-informed originals, including what would become his trademark closer "The Theme," Davis again set the paradigm for small group modern jazz heading into the hard bop-and-modal jazz-centric sound of the '60s.
Remixed and remastered from the original tapes by engineer Paul Blakemore, the recordings are presented here in chronological order. We also get informative liner notes from noted historian/archivists Ashley Kahn and Dan Morgenstern; all of which nicely sets this anthology apart from other reissues of the albums. From the opening "In Your Own Sweet Way," the band's chemistry is evident; the trumpeter's spare, often muted lines contrasting against Coltrane's warm harmonicism, while Garland's sparkling two-handed chording is urged on by Chambers and Jones' impeccable swing. It's an indelible sound, whether Davis is pulling you deep to his chest on a ballad like "It Never Entered My Mind," skipping joyfully through "Surrey with the Fringe on Top," or pointing toward the future on "Four." While Davis' 1957 Columbia debut 'Round About Midnight is the quintet's official debut (a moody classic in its own right, pre-figuring the bold studio albums to come with the label including Kind of Blue), Miles '56: The Prestige Recordings albums offer a looser, more unguarded portrait of the band's live sound and one that remains as indelible as ever.~Matt Collar

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