The Complete Columbia Recordings: Miles Davis & John Coltrane [Box]

Performer: Miles Davis
Artist: Cannonball Adderley; Hank Mobley; Red Garland; Bill Evans; Wynton Kelly; Paul Chambers; Philly Joe Jones
Distributor: Sony Music Distribution (

Notes: THE COMPLETE COLUMBIA RECORDINGS contains tracks recorded from October 1955 to March 1961. Personnel: Miles Davis (trumpet); John Coltrane (tenor saxophone); Cannonball Adderley (alto saxophone); Hank Mobley (tenor saxophone); Red Garland, Bill Evans, Wynton Kelly (piano); Paul Chambers (bass); Philly Joe Jones, Jimmy Cobb (drums). Producers: George Avakian, Cal Lampley, Teo Macero, Irving Townsend. Compilation producers: Michael Cuscuna, Bob Belden. Engineers include: Frank Laico, Harold Chapman, Buddy Graham. Recorded at Columbia Studio D, New York, New York on October 26, 1955; Columbia 30th Street Studio, New York, New York between June 5, 1956 and March 21, 1961; live at the Newport Jazz Festival, Newport Rhode Island on July 3, 1958; live at the Persian Room, Plaza Hotel, New York, New York on September 9, 1958. Includes liner notes by Jimmy Cobb, George Avakian, Michael Cuscuna, Bob Blumenthal, Bob Belden, Ken Vail and Bill Evans. Digitally remastered by Mark Wilder. THE COMPLETE COLUMBIA RECORDINGS won the 2001 Grammy Award for Best Boxed Recording Package. The set also won the 2001 Grammy Award for Best Album Notes. This massive set is the first in a series of Columbia boxed collections of the many periods in the career of Miles Davis. It encompasses the first great quintet, which included John Coltrane, Red Garland, Paul Chambers, and Philly Joe Jones, and the subsequent sextet with Cannonball Adderley, Wynton Kelly or Bill Evans, and Jimmy Cobb. Covering what is for some the most fruitful of the Davis eras, it features such classics as "Round Midnight," "Someday My Prince Will Come," "Bye Bye Blackbird," and the entire KIND OF BLUE album. While many may already own these essential recordings, it's the included extras that make this set so enticing--over the course of the six discs, 18 tracks have never before been issued. Most of these include alternate takes and trial runs of the golden cuts that any Miles Davis fan knows by heart, often with drastic changes in tempo and direction. Also included are a few behind-the-scenes studio discussions, including one between Davis and Leonard Bernstein. Finally, for the aficionado, the tremendous packaging that is this series' trademark serves as an excellent accompaniment to the musical treasures it contains.

Entertainment Weekly (4/21/00, p.79) - "...Enthralling....Its deceptively relaxed, visionary cool has a power that still captivates and sells....a worthy epic." - Rating: A Q (4/00, p.107) - 4 stars out of 5 - "...[these] sessions found them blossoming. Everybody loves 'Kind Of Blue', but there were several masterpieces made on either side of the sessions....It's all here at last, along with 90 minutes of previously unreleased music..." Alternative Press (5/00, pp.82-4) - 5 out of 5 - "...A stunning testament to these 2 masters of jazz....their collaborations are about as exciting as post-bop jazz gets." CMJ (5/8/00, p.29) - "...A meeting of 2 jazz giants. Davis' wry, lyrical style found the perfect counterpoint in Coltrane's prodigious, fiery playing..." Down Beat (8/00, p.82) - 5 stars out of 5 - "...Offers ample opportunity to study the development of not only these 2 giants but the great sidemen who were to join Coltrane behind Davis over the years..."

Few musicians have managed to change the course of music--trumpeter Miles Davis did it several times. An early disciple of Charlie Parker, Davis created an austere, understated approach that became the model for cool. His superb albums in the 1950s made him a star, and in the following decade, he brought small-group jazz to the limit before he unapologetically (and, for some, unforgivably) took on jazz-rock. After a break, he re-emerged in the '80s with a mixture of pop and dense, bristling funk. All the while, his refusal to follow anyone but his own muse made him both a hero and an enigma--either way, he was one of the most magnetic, influential figures in American music.

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