'Round About Midnight [Legacy Edition]

Read About This Recording

Trumpeter Miles Davis differed from nearly every jazz musician (other than John Coltrane or Duke Ellington) in his desire to constantly change and update his surroundings. Early in his career, he idolized Dizzy Gillespie and tried to emulate him. However because his technique was not on Gillespie's very high level, he quickly realized that he needed to form his own style. Davis developed an alternative to Gillespie, playing harmonically sophisticated ideas but with a quieter tone, making use of space, and emphasizing his middle register.

Throughout his long and very productive career, Miles Davis retained his personal sound most of the time while keeping his surroundings up to date and pioneering several different jazz styles. He helped top popularize "cool jazz" with his Birth of the Cool Nonet recordings of 1949-50. In the early 1950s, Davis was one of the first to play hard bop, and his classic quintet and sextet performed modal-based jazz. After a period back to playing bebop, Davis in the mid-1960s led his second classic quintet, performing his own variation of avant-garde jazz. By 1969, he was a leader in fusion and he continued to evolve through the years, utilizing electronics, funky rhythms and updated technology.

'Round About Midnight is the best recording by Davis's 1955-56 quintet with the rapidly emerging tenor-saxophonist John Coltrane, pianist Red Garland, bassist Paul Chambers and drummer Philly Joe Jones. Their version of "'Round Midnight" is a classic, the renditions of "All of You" and "Dear Old Stockholm" became influential, and Davis's reshaping of "Bye Bye Blackbird" is a delight. The CD reissue adds four selections from the period to the original program including the heated "Two Bass Hit" and Bud Powell's "Budo."

This Miles Davis release is an important milestone in his remarkable career.

—Scott Yanow

Extended Article

'Round About Midnight, recorded between October 1955 and September 1956, was the first full album by Miles Davis released by Columbia Records. The LP inaugurated a highly productive, three-decade relationship between the great trumpeter-bandleader and the label that helped make him a household name around the globe.

During his tenure at Columbia, Davis was constantly reinventing himself, his groups, and the sound and sensibility of American improvisational music. 'Round About Midnight's multi-faceted approach to modern jazz, featuring Davis' first great quintet (with a then-little known tenor saxophonist named John Coltrane, and the rhythm section of William "Red" Garland, Paul Chambers and Philly Joe Jones) bridged the gap between "cool" and "hot." To ice the cake, Marv Koner's cover photo of Davis, impenetrable behind sunglasses, placed him at the epicenter of the Hip New World.

At the Newport Jazz Festival in the summer of '55, Davis (1926-1991) had made a stunning comeback with his deeply moving performance of 'Round Midnight. Thus it was no accident that Thelonious Monk's epochal ballad was selected as the title track of Davis' Columbia debut. Spotlighting the trumpeter's brooding, Harmon-muted sound, with which he would soon become synonymous, 'Round Midnight was perhaps foremost among ballads in the Davis canon. Deep-night balladry, however, was just part of the quintet's approach. Whether rendering the classic bebop of Ah-leu-cha, the hard bop of Little Melonae, classy Cole Porter tunes like All of You or overlooked 1920s pop standards such as Bye, Bye Blackbird, the band's overall mastery was absolute.

But now, 'Round About Midnight has yet another reason to be recommended heartily: a set recorded live in February 1956. Taken from a concert series produced by West Coast impresario Gene Norman, the additional music, running nearly 30 minutes, is the first-ever commercially-available live performance by Davis' first great quintet. With two sets of updated liner notes by Grammy®-winning writer Bob Blumenthal and producer Gene Norman, and full-color booklet containing superb new photographs, 'Round About Midnight, now clocking in at more than 90 minutes playing time, is not only one of the supreme jazz recordings; it is also a bona fide musical event.

Contents

CD 1: 'Round Midnight; Ah-leu-cha; All of You; Bye Bye Blackbird; Tadd's Delight; Dear Old Stockholm; Two Bass Hit*; Little Melonae*; Budo*; Sweet Sue, Just You*; CD 2: 'Round Midnight**; Introduction by Gene Norman†; Chance It (aka Max is Making Wax)†; Walkin'†; Gene Norman & Miles Davis†; It Never Entered My Mind†; Woody 'n' You†; Salt Peanuts†; The Theme†.

(*Bonus track not on original LP; **Recorded live at The Newport Jazz Festival 1955, featuring Thelonious Monk; †Recorded live 1956, all previously unreleased.)

Miles Davis, Trumpet; John Coltrane, Zoot Sims, Tenor Saxes; Gerry Mulligan, Baritone Sax; Thelonious Monk, Red Garland, Pianos; Paul Chambers, Percy Heath, Basses; Philly Joe Jones, Connie Kay, Drums.