Miles Davis - Cookin' With The Miles Davis Quintet [180g Vinyl]

Miles Davis and his first great quintet turn Cookin' With The Miles Davis Quintet into a compact showcase for lyrical trumpet, hard-swinging rhythm and close ensemble interplay. John Coltrane's tenor saxophone adds a more forceful counterweight to Davis, while Red Garland's piano, Paul Chambers' bass and Philly Joe Jones' drums keep the music moving with supple momentum. The album balances ballad restraint with brisk, blues-rooted hard bop.

"My Funny Valentine" opens at a spacious ballad pace, leaving room for Davis to shape long, muted phrases before the rhythm section gradually increases the tension. "Blues by Five" shifts into a relaxed blues groove with room for extended solos, while "Airegin" moves faster and gives Coltrane a more prominent role. The closing "Tune Up / When Lights Are Low" combines a brisk Davis original with Benny Carter's standard, moving from tightly driven bebop lines into a lighter, swinging finish overall.

Recorded by Rudy Van Gelder, the session has the spontaneous character of a working quintet playing material it knew well, with little separation between composed themes and improvisation. This audiophile Original Jazz Classics edition uses all-analog mastering from the original tapes at Cohearent Audio, is pressed on 180g vinyl at RTI, and comes in a Stoughton Tip-On jacket with obi strip.

• Format: Vinyl LP, Original Jazz Classics Series
• Standout tracks: "My Funny Valentine," "Blues by Five," "Airegin," "Tune Up / When Lights Are Low"
• Pressing details: 180g Vinyl, AAA Mastering from Original Tapes at Cohearent Audio, RTI Pressing, Stoughton Tip-On Jacket, Obi Strip
• Genre/style: Hard Bop, Bebop, Jazz
• UPC: 888072735729

"My Funny Valentine" shows the quintet at its most spacious, while "Airegin" and "Tune Up" bring out its speed and interplay. Cookin' is a concise portrait of one of Miles Davis' defining groups, moving from ballad playing to hard bop drive on four tracks.

* The Spotify track list may not exactly represent the tracks and audio of this LP edition.

Track List:

Side A:

1. My Funny Valentine
2. Blues By Five

Side B:

1. Airegin
2. Tune-Up / When The Lights Are Low