Miles Davis on the cusp of stardom—classic, concise, and timeless

Recorded when Miles Davis was still on the cusp of becoming a mononymous, genre-defining star, this collection—primarily made up of two marathon 1956 sessions that the trumpeter recorded with his “first great quintet” to fulfil obligations to the indie label Prestige—is more confident and easy than it is frantic and ambitious.

Davis’ quintet here featured John Coltrane, Red Garland, Paul Chambers and Philly Joe Jones, all at the height of their powers and completely in sync. Davis fans will already be familiar with these recordings as Cookin’, Steamin’, Workin’ and Relaxin' but can listen here in chronological order. The set begins with a brief (also previously released) all-star session from the same year featuring Sonny Rollins in the place Coltrane would inherit alongside pianist Tommy Flanagan, Chambers and drummer Art Taylor.

Though Davis and his colleagues didn’t yet use the high-concept, perennially progressive approach that would come to define his LPs, these recordings remain some of his most beloved—classic, concise and timeless. Ballads are urbane and unrepentantly romantic, show tunes swing with a wink that never overpowers the playing itself, and new compositions show if not the shape of jazz to come, the shape of jazz in that wildly prolific mid-’50s moment.

Virtuosic and still totally approachable, this is an ensemble embracing a soon-to-be-familiar sound rather than pushing against it or onward into new territory—these were old warhorses, well-honed enough to be almost entirely recorded in first takes. If it was just another day at the office for them, the results teem with an all-too-rare combination of brilliance, simplicity and effortlessness.