'Round About Midnight [Bonus Tracks] [Remaster]

Performer: Miles Davis
Artist: John Coltrane; Red Garland; Paul Chambers; Philly Joe Jones
Engineer: Frank Laico; Mark Wilder; Ray Moore
Producer: George Avakian; Michael Cuscuna (Reissue); Bob Belden (Reissue)
Distributor: Sony Music Distribution (

Notes: Personnel: Miles Davis (trumpet); John Coltrane (tenor saxophone); William "Red" Garland (piano); Paul Chambers (bass); Philly Joe Jones (drums). Recorded at Columbia Studios, New York, New York between October 26, 1955 and September 10, 1956. Includes liner notes by Bob Blumenthal. Personnel: Miles Davis (trumpet); John Coltrane (tenor saxophone); Red Garland (piano); Philly Joe Jones (drums). Liner Note Authors: George Avakian; Bob Blumenthal. Recording information: Columbia 30th Street Studio, New York, NY (10/27/1955/06/05/1956); Columbia 799 Seventh Avenue Studio, New York, NY (10/27/1955/06/05/1956); Columbia Studio D, New York, NY (10/27/1955/06/05/1956). Photographers: Don Hunstein; Dennis Stock; Marvin Koner; Aram Avakian. With the release of the spectral title tune, and the efforts of the Columbia marketing and publicity departments behind him, a thirty-year old Miles Davis entered into a period of extraordinary artistic maturity and growth. And Miles instinctively knew how to cultivate his star quality. Looming behind those shades, was the diffident, sensitive anti-hero--proud and defiant--who only spoke to his audience through his horn, and turned his back on them when the other soloists were blowing. The combination of attitude and intellect was irresistible. Beginning with ROUND ABOUT MIDNIGHT and proceeding through a remarkable succession of famous recordings over the next 30 years, Miles Davis became one of the greatest soloists, arrangers and talent scouts in the history of American music. People who didn't own a single jazz record came to know his name--Miles was a jazz icon. His famous intro on the title tune is based on mentor Dizzy Gillespie's arrangement, and Miles' tone, always a strong point, has here matured into something deeply personal and unique. His provocative use of space and silence--matched only by Lester Young, Billie Holiday and Thelonious Monk--sets up the famous release and Coltrane's agitated statement. Here and on the Prestige recordings, Coltrane found his voice as Miles' foil, while "The Rhythm Section" (pianist Red Garland, bassist Paul Chambers and drummer Philly Joe Jones), became the most celebrated in jazz--capable of smooth, bouncy delicacy ("Dear Old Stockholm," "All Of You" and "Bye Bye Blackbird"), hard swing ("Tadd's Delight") and relentless complexity (Charlie Parker's contrapuntal "Ah-Leu-Ch"). A masterpiece. The reissue of 'Round About Midnight is the definitive presentation of one of Miles Davis' greatest recordings. As is Legacy's wont, once an anthology box set is issued -- in this case The Complete Columbia Recordings: Miles Davis & John Coltrane -- the individual recordings are released with bonus tracks. This reissue features the original album as sequenced, with the addition of four cuts from the same sessions. Given that this was Miles Davis' debut Columbia recording, it was both a beginning and an ending. First, this is the label that issued most of his important recordings. It is also the first offering from an exciting new band that had within its ranks Philly Joe Jones, Paul Chambers, pianist Red Garland, and John Coltrane. The date was also an ending, because by the time of the album's release, Davis had already broken up the band, which re-formed with Cannonball Adderley a year later as a sextet. Musically, this sound is as unusual and beautiful as it was when issued in 1956. Davis had already led the charge through two changes in jazz -- both cool jazz and hard bop -- and was beginning to move in another direction here that wouldn't be defined for another two years. The title track, with muted trumpet, was premiered at the Newport Jazz Festival the previous summer to a thunderous reception. Charlie Parker's "Au Leu-Cha" is edgy, with deep blues leaping from every chord change from Red Garland's left hand. Coltrane's solo here too is notable for its stark contrast to Davis' own: he chooses an angular tack where he finds the heart of the mode and plays a melody in harmonic counterpoint to the changes but never sounds outside. Cole Porter's "All of You" has Davis quoting from Louis Armstrong's "Basin Street Blues" in his solo that masks the melody, while in his own, Coltrane has never respected a melody so much. But it's in "Bye Bye Blackbird" that listeners get to hear the band gel as a unit, beginning with Davis playing through the head, muted and sweet, slightly flatted out until he reaches the chorus and begins his solo on a high note. Garland is doing more than comping in the background; he's slipping shapes into those interval cracks and shifting them as the rhythm section keeps "soft time." When Coltrane moves in for his break, rather than Davis' spare method, he smatters notes quickly all though the body of the tune and Garland has to compensate harmonically, moving the tempo up a notch until his own solo can bring it back down again. Of the bonus material, it's interesting, but the only stunner is Jackie McLean's "Little Melonae" -- recorded before its composer could put it in the can. The band comes out blazing, but it's Coltrane with the surprise in quoting various Dizzy Gillespie solos. ~ 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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