Miles Davis: Walkin' [CONCORD JAZZ]

Why you'll love it

This Original Jazz Classics pressing carries the Prestige album as first issued in 1957, both sessions recorded in Rudy Van Gelder's home studio. The title track became a staple of Davis' live sets for years and an anthem of the new hard bop sound.

This edition

• Original Jazz Classics series

About the album

Before the famous quintet and long before Kind of Blue, there were two spring afternoons in 1954 at Rudy Van Gelder's parents' house. Prestige first put the music out on a pair of 10-inch records, then gathered it onto one LP in 1957, and producer Bob Weinstock later said Walkin' was his favourite of all the records he made.

Side one is the April 29 sextet, with J.J. Johnson's trombone and Lucky Thompson's tenor joining Davis on a long, loping "Walkin'" and a blazing "Blue 'N' Boogie." Side two is the April 3 quintet, with Davey Schildkraut on alto: "Solar" in its first recording, a tender "You Don't Know What Love Is" and "Love Me Or Leave Me," which had sat unheard until this LP. Horace Silver, Percy Heath and Kenny Clarke hold down the rhythm on both dates, swinging hard and loose, and the whole record has the easy, unhurried feel of players who know each other's every move.

Who actually wrote which tune has kept jazz historians busy for decades. Who played them is right there on the cover, and that's the part worth paying for.

Also at Kops: more Miles Davis on vinyl · browse Classic Jazz

Tracklist

Listen

On Prestige / Original Jazz Classics (cat# OJC-213), a reissue of the 1957 album.