Miles Davis & the Modern Jazz Giants (20 Bit Mastering)
Most of the music on this CD comes from an unusual session held on Christmas Eve of 1954 at Rudy Van Gelder's Hackensack, New Jersey, studio. Gathered there were five giants of the bop movement, most linked by the highest musical sympathy. VibraphonistMilt Jackson, drummer Kenny Clarke, and bassist Percy Heath were all members of theModern Jazz Quartet, having worked extensively with the session's pianist,Thelonious Monk, while Clarke and Heath had worked throughout the year as Miles Davis's rhythm section. The only incompatibility was between Davis and Monk, and it shows in what isn't here: though they shared an almost sculptural sense of musical structure, Davis hated Monk's comping and asked him not to play during his solos. The hurt feelings never show in the music, though, with two profound and distinct takes of "The Man I Love," a lively version of Monk's "Bemsha Swing," and Davis's first exploration of scale composition, "Swing Spring," all linked by focused musical invention and inspired swing. Whatever he thought of Monk's playing, Davis had the highest regard for his compositions. It shows here in the arrangement of "'Round Midnight" recorded at Davis's final Prestige session in October of 1956, with its thoughtful contrast between Davis's pensive, muted theme statement andJohn Coltrane's aggressive tenor solo. --Stuart Broomer