Birdland 1951

Performer: Miles Davis
Producer: Michael Cuscuna
Distributor: EMI Music Distribution

Notes: Personnel: Miles Davis (trumpet); Sonny Rollins, Big Nick Nicholas (tenor saxophone); J.J. Johnson (trombone); Kenny Drew, Billy Taylor, Charles Mingus (piano); Tommy Potter (bass); Art Blakey (drums). Recorded in 1951. Includes liner notes by Ira Gitler. These ten tracks, taken from radio broadcasts from the legendary Birdland in 1951, represent a particularly fruitful period in Miles Davis' development as a bandleader. There are three different broadcasts included here; two comprising six cuts in total were from June and September and have been issued in various forms on bootlegs over the decades. Four cuts, however, taken from a broadcast on February 17, have never been available in any form and it is these as well the marginally better fidelity of the entire set that makes this worth owning for Miles freaks -- and only Miles freaks. The sextet on the February and June dates included J.J. Johnson, Sonny Rollins, Art Blakey, Tommy Potter, and Kenny Drew. In September, Charles Mingus, Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis, Billy Taylor, and Big Nick Nicholas joined Davis and Blakey. The fidelity here is listed on the sleeve as "primitive." That's a nice way to say it sucks bad. These are better than Charlie Parker's Dean Benedetti recordings, but not by much. Soundwise, the best that can be said is that one can hear all of the instruments. The performances, however, particularly as delineated in the three different versions of the cut "Move," are stellar. They are inspired, furious, and cutting. Rollins outdoes himself in the June performance of the cut, and the latter band transforms it entirely. For the record, it is the only duplicate selection. Also, the live version of "Tempus Fugit," with its knotty head and punched-up rhythm, is revelatory in the manner of arrangement for those days and points a solid direction for the immediate future -- check the tempos and structure of the solo breaks on the September session for evidence. While this set is exclusively for those Miles fans who have to have absolutely everything, it is nonetheless worth it for those who have the bootlegs because of the heightened fidelity and the new session. ~ Thom Jurek

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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