Miles Davis With John Coltrane

8/3/2019 Miles Davis With John Coltrane

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to become known as "modal" and set the stage for the jazz sounds during the1960s and 1970s.

This celebration of these two adept soloists comes from the vaults of ColumbiaRecords who recorded the majority of the twos work together. Many of the

Coltrane and Davis recordings were memorialized on the Davis sessions with thePrestige label. Through classic albums such as Relaxin, Cookin, SteaminandWorkin on Prestige, the world was first introduced to the collaborations of MilesDavis and John Coltrane. These albums are considered classics, but Davis, whowas also known as a shrewd businessman as well as a skillful musician, held outon his best stuff for the Columbia Recordings. Davis knew that he could ride amuch better wave of success through the marketing and promotion of ColumbiaRecords that we the smaller Prestige company. When Davis came out of his self-imposed drug rehabilitation, he was signed for Prestige Records but he knew thatthe real fame and glory would only arrive upon signing with Columbia. After Davisfamed set at the 1955 Newport jazz Festival, George Avakian, the producer forColumbia, was finally convinced that Davis had kicked his habit and that he was infull musical stride. Although Davis and Columbia were ready to make a matchmade in heaven, Davis was still signed to Prestige. Through some crafty businessmaneuvers, Davis, Prestige and Columbia cut a deal in which Davis could recordwith Columbia but they could not release any of the recordings until the Prestigecontract was finished. In the months following the negations, Davis took his bandinto the Prestige studios to record Relaxin, Cookin, Steaminand Workin and alsorecorded for Columbia. Once the Prestige contract was complete, Columbiareleased the pre-recorded sessions and a wonderful relationship commenced.

What made Miles Davis stand out and truly becomes a jazz music icon was morethan his compositions, it was his unique playing style. In comparison to other greattrumpeters such as Dizzy Gillepsie, Davis mastered the lower register of thetrumpets sounds and preferred to play at a much slower tempo which mademoodier, more contemplative pieces of music. The key ingredient to creating thismood pieces was Davis use of the Harmon mute. Coupled with the economicaluse of notes and phrasings through which Davis tried not to overwhelm acomposition with excessive notes, Davis created a unique playing style that wouldinfluence generations of musicians to come. In contrast, John Coltrane preferred afaster tempo and he attempted to bombard the listener with notes. As Miles Daviswas economical, Coltrane used his notes like a child with a ten-dollar bill in apenny candy shop.

These early recordings both musicians during different stages with their bouts withdrug addiction. By the time of these recordings, Davis had just arisen from his exilefrom music and affliction with heroine. Since his groundbreaking work in the late1940s with the Birth of the Cool sessions, Davis had disappeared from thelimelight. Because of drugs, Davis was shunned by most performance halls andwork was hard to come by. As a result, Davis headed home to Illinois to dry out. In1955, Davis was resurrected with his appearance at the Newport Jazz Festival in1955,where he amazed the crowd with his muted trumpet solo on Thelonious


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Monks "Round Midnight". This led to resurgence in popularity and ultimately hisrelationship with Columbia Records.

During the first couple of months after the Newport performance, Davis searchedfor a saxophonist for his new band. At first, he recruited the talented work of Sonny

Rollins, but like Davis a few years earlier, Rollins escaped from jazz to fight hisdrug addiction. Rollins was replaced by John Gilmore ( of the Sun Ra Arkestrafame) but ironically Davis hired Gilmores greatest admirer, John Coltrane.Coltrane, who was championed by Philly Joe Jones, was about to join organistJimmy Smiths band but at the last minute, teamed up with Davis. The variousformats for these recordings featured Miles Davis 1st great quintet which consistedof Davis, Coltrane, Red Garland (Piano), Paul Chambers (bass) and Philly JoeJones (drums). "First and foremost Garland, Chambers and Jones took care not toduplicate each others functions," explains author Richard Williams in his book TheMan in the Green Shirt, "there was no unison hammering of the beat. Chambersgliding walk, Jones sizzling ride cymbal and commanding snare drum commentaryand Garlands urbane interjections dovetailed with such perfection that theimpression was always grace and light, even when the band was cooking hard ona bop tune."

On February 4, and March 4, 1958, the quintet was joined by alto saxophonistCannonball Adderley who recently arrived from Florida and his deep solos were anexcellent balance to Coltranes playing. For May 26, 1958 Cannonball Adderleyremained with the band, but Garland and Chambers were replaced by Bill Evansand Jimmy Cobb, respectively. This was the same lineup for the Miles DavisQuintets performance at the 1958 Newport Jazz Festival on July 3 rd and thebands show at the Plaza Hotel in September of the same year. As the quintetmade its final recordings in the early 1960s, Bill Evans left to start his own trio andhis piano work was replaced by Wynton Kelly. On March 21, 196I Hank Mobleyreplaced Cannonball Adderly.

As much as this compilation is a tribute to the great tenor saxophone playing ofJohn Coltrane, we cannot forget that alto saxophonist Cannonball Adderly was anessential contributor these sessions as well. Adderly, who was often considered tothe be successor of Charlie Parkers alto saxophone throne, played with an equalmelodic passion and fast pace as Coltrane. Together, both Coltrane and Adderlyspenchant for the fast tempo and loud energetic sounds were a perfect balance forDavis slow pace and muted tone. This balance was further accentuated as

Adderlys playing patterned his style after Coltrane's "Sheets of Hounds" in whichthe listener was overwhelmed by a steady stream of sound. In contrast, Davis wasmore known for his economy of sound in which his used notes sparingly andincorporated silence into his compositions. When Coltrane was forced to leave theband for various health reasons, Adderly filled in the void masterfully. WhenColtrane made his return to the band, the first classic quintet segued into theclassic "revolving" sextet with Davis, Coltrane and Adderly forming the front lineand the revolving of Red Garland, Bill Evans and Wynton Kelly on piano; Philly Joe


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Jones and Jimmy Cobb on the drum kit and the stalwart bass playing of PaulChambers.

Round About Midnight

While still under contract with Prestige, Miles Davis headed into the Columbiastudios to record Round About Midnight. Named after the Thelonoius Monk tunethat Davis nailed perfectly at the 1955 Newport Jazz Festival, the album was anexcellent sign of the brilliance that was ahead in the future. Session producerGeorge Avakian described Davis during the session: " His playing is characterizedby both the nervous, jagged lines of the bop school and the pensive relaxation ofthe cool period which followed. The latter quality dominates in Miles' playing, and tosuch a degree that it tempers the surface excitement of his playing in fast tempo;Miles seldom produces the familiar sound of frantic exasperation to exploit the

emotions of his listeners, but rather seeks to achieve response through the innertension of his improvisations. "

Although it was Davis performance of the "Round Midnight" at Newport thatbrought him back to the public eye, it was the albums title track th at also broughtColtrane into the spotlight. In his book, The History of Jazz, Ted Gioia spoke of oneof the highlights from Round About Midnight, John Coltranes solo on theabbreviated title track "Round Midnight": "Such solos were an odd hybrid: a worldof emotion diffused through an analytical perspective of a scientist." This quotebest described the mentality of John Coltrane. He is often described as a "practice-room" musician for he spent almost all of his time practicing and constantlydiscovering new directions to take his music. At the same time, he musicpossessed the fluidity, spirituality and creativity of a natural musician.

While Davis and Coltrane definitely found a creative and professional bond duringthe sessions for Prestige and also the Round About Midnightsessions, theirrelationship never went beyond music. Miles Davis commented on Coltraneslifestyle and work ethics: "But as much as I linked Trane we didnt hang out muchonce we left the bandstand because we had different styles. Before, it wasbecause he was deep in heroin, and I just come out of that. Now, he was clean anddidnt hardly hang out, but would go back to hotel room and practice. He hadalways been serious about his music and always practiced a lot. But now it waslike he was on some kind of mission." Although Davis was an admirer of theplaying of Coltrane, it was Tranes personal habits that would eventually send awedge between the two players.

When John Coltrane joined up with Miles Davis, he was amidst his heroineaddiction, which ultimately made Coltrane hard to work with. In his autobiography,Miles Davis spoke of Coltranes drug abuse " After he moved to New York his habitgot worse, and real quick, too. I didnt have no moral thing about Trane and all ofthem shooting heroin, because I had gone through that, and I knew that it was a


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sickness that was hard to get rid of. So I didnt give them no grief about doing it.What I did start to get on them about was coming late and nodding off on thebandstand; I told them I couldnt tolerate that." It was because of Coltranes abusethat Davis was forced to fire Coltrane, which was obviously a difficult task forDavis. Davis continued " But I loved Trane, I really did. Trane was a beautiful

person, a real sweet kind of guy, spiritual, all of that. So you really couldnt helploving him and caring about him, too."

After the recording of Round About Midnight, John Coltrane was forced to leavethe band due to problems with heroin. When Coltrane first joined the Miles DavisQuintet, he was a relatively unknown player who only had recorded periodically asa sideman. Upon his return to Miles Davis for the recording of Milestones eighteenmonths later, Coltrane was a changed man. He had kicked his addictions toalcohol, tobacco and drugs (although sweets would forever remain his vice); hehad just finished a six month engagement with Thelonious Monk at the Five SpotCaf, which opened Coltrane eyes to new improvisational and compositionaltechniques and he had just come of the success from his first album as a leaderBlue Train.

Milestones

During John Coltranes absence from the band, Miles Davis dedicated much of histime collaborating with composer/arranger Gil Evans where the two worked in alarge band format to record Sketches of Spain, Porgy and Bessand Miles Ahead.When Davis was not in the studio with Gil Evans, he went out on the road with thehelp of saxophonist Sonny Rollins, Bobby Jaspar and ultimately CannonballAdderly. After spending the Fall of 1957 in Europe, Davis formed a sextet withAdderly, Coltrane, Garland, Chambers and Jones and after playing throughoutDecember and January; Davis took the band into the Columbia studios to recordMilestones.

Milestoneswas the first recording to feature the dueling saxophone work of bothAdderly and Coltrane. Davis commented about the two brilliant instrumentalists,"I loved the way the band sounded on this record and I knew that we hadsomething special. Trane and Cannon were really playing their asses off and bythen were really used to each other." The session contained some energetic tunessuch as "Two Bass Hit" which was written by two of Miles Davis longtime friends,trumpeter Dizzy Gillepsie and the Modern Jazz Quartets John Lewis as well asMonks "Straight No Chaser"and Jackie Mcleans " Dr. Jackle" Two interestingtracks from the Milestonessessions were "Billy Boy" and "Sids Ahead". Theformer was a spotlight on the Red Garland Trio and did not feature any of the frontline players while the latter featured Miles Davis on piano because Red Garlandwalked out during this part of session. For the liner notes, Columbia recruitedCharles Edwards Smith who spoke of Davis: " Miles has developed an unusualbeauty of tone that gives warmth even to his most restrained, understated


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choruses. His playing has never lacked emotion, but the emotion has usually beencontained--he doesn't slap emotions at the listener--and, like J. J. Johnson, he is a"complete chorus" improviser and is unusually objective in his playing. On open ormuted horn his style has gradually gained in strength and outward vigor. Indeed,listening to the muted chorus on "Miles," the word cool no longer seems

appropriate to it, if it ever was. The melody emerges with sureness, with clarity, oryet like sound coming softly through lustred velvet or pouring richly through shotsilk." Smith also spoke of the attributes of bassist Paul Chambers, "(he) is rarebeauty of tone is combined, in his playing, with an extraordinary technical gift and,underlying it, such a strong sense of swing that he could carry the rhythm all byhimself, if that were necessary."

Although considered a "cool jazz" album as many of Milestonespossessedcharacteristics of swinging bebop, there were early hints of the "modal" style of

jazz that Miles was soon to create. The primary characteristic of "modal" jazz wasthat the improvisations flowed along sets of musical scales or modes. Instead ofimprovising only occurring within a preset and confining chord pattern, the soloistswere allowed to stretch out along more melodic lines. Coltrane spoke of the newdirections that Davis was taking in his music, "Miles was once interested in chordsfor their own sake, but now it seemed that he was moving in the opposite direction,using tunes with fewer chord changes and free-flowing melodic lines. Thisapproach allowed the soloist the choice of playing chordally (vertically) ormelodically (horizontally). I now found it easier to apply the harmonic ideas that Ihad.Miless music gave me plenty of freedom." ( J.C. Thomas, Chasin theTrane, pg. 106)

Jazz Track

By the time the band when into the studio for Jazz Trackin May of 1958, Philly JoeJones, whose drug problems were a millweight around the bands productivity, waskicked out of the band. A smoother and subtler Jimmy Cobb replaced Jones. Inaddition, Red Garland was asked to leave for his playing was unsuitable for thenew directions that Davis wanted to move his music in. Garland was replaced byBill Evans.

In the months following the Jazz Trackrecording session, in which the tunes "OnGreen Dolphin Street", "Fran Dance", "Stella By Starlight" and "Love For Sale",were recorded; the sextet also played some remarkable live dates that have beencaptured on this compilation. Although most of the Sextets interplay and adeptmusicianship was best documented in the studio, the sextets live performanceswere equally chock full of talent. The two live dates captured on this compilationarrive from their performances at the Newport jazz Festival on July 3, 1958 and atthe Plaza Hotel on September 9, 1958. During the bands 1958 appearance at the1958 Newport Jazz Festival, the quintet, consisting of Davis, Coltrane, Adderley,Bill Evans, Chambers, and Cobb, played songs, which were previously appeared


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on various quintets albums. There was "Ah-Leu Cha" and "Bye Bye Blackbird"from Round About Midnightand Thelonius Monks "Straight No Chaser" andGillepsie/Lewis "Two Bass Hit" from Milestones. "Fran Dance", which was a tributeto Miles Davis wife, dancer Francis Taylor Davis, appeared on Jazz Track. Theonly tune from the Newport set that was not previously recorded was Davis

traditional closing number, "The Theme", in which Davis removed his Harmon muteand lets his trumpet fly. Although Adderly was the popular man at the time, theNewport set really put Coltrane in the spotlight as his solos during "Two bass Hit"and "Bye Bye Blackbird" were the true crowd pleasers of the day.

For the liner notes of the album Miles and Coltrane, which was the first albumappearance of the 1958 Newport set as well as versions of Bud Powells "Budo"and Jackie McLeans "Little Melonae from Davis first recordings Columbia, JeffRosen spoke of the Davis/Coltrane phenomenon: "In this collection we're privilegedto eavesdrop on conversations by two of the greatest players in jazz: Miles Davisand John Coltrane. Both were innovators, both were expert technicians, both werecontinually exploring new directions. But each approached the jazz solo from avery different point of view. A comparison could be made with Hemingway andFaulkner. Miles is like Hemingway, spitting out short, perfectly crafted sentences.Coltrane is like Faulkner, examining every detail in long intricate passages. Thiscombination of approaches is what made the Miles Davis Quintet one of the best

jazz groups of the fifties."

The remaining live set was taken from the sextets show in the Persian Room atthe Plaza Hotel in New York City. The four tunes from this Columbia Recordspromotional event that also featured the Duke Ellington Orchestra were theswinging "If I Were a Bell", Sonny Rollins "Oleo", Rodgers and Harts "My FunnyValentine" and Monks "Straight, No Chaser." "Oleo" and "My Funny Valentine"were both remnants of Davis Prestige years and most of these tunes possess afaster, more swinging tempo which may have had to do with the presence of theDuke in the same room.

Kind of Blue

With Bill Evans departure from the band in 1958, due to both creative constraintsand subliminal inter band racism, Davis searched for a new pianist to fill the voidleft by the talented pianist. At first he returned to Red Garland who was only toserve as a temporary ivory man. The real replacement came with New York Citypianist Wynton Kelly whom Davis spoke of: "I loved the way Wynton played,because he was a combination of Red Garland and Bill Evans; he could playalmost anything. Plus, he could play behind a soloist like a "mother#$%^er", man.Cannonball and Trane loved him, and so did I."

Jimmy Cobb, the drummer for the Kind of Bluesessions, recollected the recordingsessions: " The guys started to come in. Miles, Bill, John, Cannonball and Paul,


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then Wynton from Brooklyn in a cab. But when Wynton got there and saw BillEvans, he was sort of confused and irritated until I talked to him, assuring him andBill were both on the gig. Miles often surprised everybody. He craved change, andnever thought twice about how it would effect anything and anybody, but the music.In fact, I think he enjoyed hearing the consequences."

Despite the decisive hiring of Kelly, Davis still had pianist Bill Evans in mind for thegroundbreaking release Kind of Blue. "Freddie the Freeloader" was the only songfrom the Kind of Bluesessions that featured Wynton Kelly on piano. While BillEvans could swing as well as anybody, the down to earth funky blues of "Freddiethe Freeloader" seemed to be meant for the Brooklyn born Kelly. Davis describedthe origins of the song: "That song was named after this black guy I knew who wasalways seeing what he could get from you free, and he was always around the jazzscene." Much of the compositions on Kind of Blueare credited to Evans for Davispurposely chose Evans for the Kind of Bluesessions for he was extremelyknowledgeable of modes and scales.

Evans was a classically trained pianist in whom modes were used extensively andDavis wanted to incorporate classical music into Kind of Blue. Evans turned Davisonto a lot of classical music, which eventually effected Davis own compositions.Davis commented, " besides Ravel and whole lot others, Bill Evans turned me ontoAram Khachaturian, a Russian-Armenian composer. I had been listening to himand what intrigued me about him were all of those different scales (or modes) heused. Classical composers, at least some of them, have been writing like this for along time, but not many jazz musicians have. The musicians were giving me tuneswith chords all the time, and at the time I didnt want to play them. The music wastoo thick." Not only did Davis appreciate the influences that Evans brought to theband, but also appreciated Evans playing style " Bill had this quiet fire that I lovedon the piano. The way he approached it, the sound he got was like crystal notes orsparkling water cascading down from some clear waterfall.Bill played underneaththe rhythm and I liked that, the way he played scales with the band."

At the same time that he wanted classical influences, Davis yearned to return hismusic to his own roots. "This time I added some other kind of sound rememberedfrom being back in Arkansas, when we were walking home from church and theywere playing these bad gospels (translate: wicked good)," Davis continued, "sothat kind of feeling came back to me and I started remembering what the musicsounded like and felt like." From these feelings, Davis wrote some standard bluesthemes that he brought into the studio. From there, he allowed for the soloistsimprovise freely upon themes such as "All Blues" and "So What" and that is howKind of Bluecame to fruition. The band never practiced and most of the tunes wererecorded in one take and the few extra takes are featured in this new compilation.For the original liner notes to Kind of Blue, Bill Evans described the recordingprocess, "Miles conceived these settings only hours before the recording dates andarrived with sketches which indicated to the group what was to be played.Therefore, you will hear something close to pure spontaneity in these


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performances. The group had never played these pieces prior to the recordingsand I think without exception the first complete performance of each was a take".

What was established by the sextet during the Milestonessessions would reach ahigher level of development for the Kind of Bluerecording. J.C. Thomas

commented on Kind of Bluein 1975: "The music was modal, with compositions ofexquisite simplicity structured on a few scales. This was a seminal recording in thehistory of American music , offering the soloists unprecedented improvisationalfreedom and minimal chordal restrictions, with the subtly of chamber music and theswing of jazz. It was music of beauty and brilliance, and offered the most arrestingand advanced Coltrane solos on record so far."

Robert Palmers original liner notes described the impact of this recording: "Kind OfBlueflows with all the melodic warmth and sense of welcoming, wide-open vistasone hears in the most universal sort of song, all supported by a rigorous musicallogic. For musicians, it has always been more than some beautiful music to listen

to, although it is certainly that. It's also a how-to, a method for improvisers thatshows them how to get at the pure melody all-too-frequently obscured by "hip"chord changes or flashy finger work. But no matter how much a musician or alistener brings to it (for this is one of those incredibly rare works equally popularamong professionals and the public at large), Kind Of Bluealways seems to havemore to give. If we keep listening to it, again and again, throughout a lifetime--well,maybe that's because we sense there's still something more, something not yetheard.

All of the tunes on Kind of Bluefollow Davis innovations with modal improvisation.In the slow tempo "Flamenco Sketches", there is a steady four measure beat laiddown by bassist Paul Chambers who provides both the introductory modal notesfor the improvisers as well as maintains a point of reference for the listener. On"Flamenco Sketches", Davis, Adderley, Coltrane each take a solo that explores 5different modes (C Ionian, A Flat Ionian, B Flat Ionian, Phrygian, G Aeolian).

Author Richard Williams compared Davis scale changes to switching gears in acar." Within each of the modes, the soloists have endless possibilities for playingalong a melody. Unlike the improvising within a chord structure, which was thestandard for hard bop and was finite in soloing abilities, the modal explorationtypified by the songs on Kind of Blue and especially "Flamenco Sketches" allowedfor infinite choices for musical direction.

In total, Kind of Blue possessed five remarkable tunes. They were all based in theblues, but definitely had a distinctive style that put the album in a category of itsown. " The content of a piece dictated its own formal structure. And the sum of thefive pieces was a unique overall ambience," authors Richard Williams stated in hisbook The Man in the Green Shirt, " It was drenched in the feeling of the blues, butof a new kind of blues, elegant and eclectic, at once earthy and sophisticated."From the aforementioned highlight of the aforementioned "Flamenco Sketches" tothe traditional call and response format of "So What", Kind of Bluemay have been


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fresh and unheard of at the time but it laid down a foundation for generations ofjazz musicians to feed off of.

By the beginning of the 1960s, both Adderly and Coltrane has left the Davis groupto pursue their own efforts. Through the advice and leadership of Miles Davis

manager, Coltrane signed with Atlantic Records and released the immenselypopular Giant Steps, which featured the Coltrane staple for years to come "MyFavorite Things." Meanwhile, Adderely joined his brother Nat for many popularrecordings. During the years following the departure of Coltrane and Adderly, Davissearched for a replacement, ultimately landing veteran Jazz Messenger HankMobley. During the rest of Coltranes living career, he would only join Davis in thestudio for two more instances for the recording of "Someday My Prince WillCome" and "Teo." The former was Davis interpretation of the popular theme songfrom the Walt Disney film "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" and like Coltranes"My Favorite Things", the tune was an excellent jazz interpretation of a populartune. The latter recording, "Teo" was named after the famed producer, TeoMacero, who remained with Miles Davis throughout his tenure with ColumbiaRecords. "Teo" was simply an faster paced Latin version of Kind of Blues"Flamenco Sketches".

Although their time spent together was short and often typified by conflict, MilesDavis and John Coltrane were a perfect match for each other. They were the Yingand yang of jazz. Davis was soft and subtle and Coltrane was direct andoverpowering. The two musicians had the utmost respect for each others abilities."Trane was the loudest, fastest saxophonist Ive ever heard. He could play real fastand real loud at the same time and thats very difficult to do," Davis continued,"because when most players play loud, they lock themselves. Ive seen manysaxophonists get messed up trying to play like that, But Trane could do it and hewas phenomenal. It was like he was possessed when he put that horn to hismouth. He was so passionate-fierce-and yet so quiet and gentle when he wasntplaying. A sweet guy." Davis appreciated Coltrane for his unrelenting and hurricanestyle approach to playing the saxophone. Years later, Davis was asked about thefact that his complex music seem to require 5 saxophones, Davis answered "I usedto have Coltrane." Similarly, Coltrane admired Davis for his economical approachtop playing. Coltrane commented on his first stint with Miles Davis: "After I joinedMiles in 1955, I found that he doesnt talk much and will rarely discuss his music.Hes completely unpredictable; sometimes hed walk off stage after just playing afew notes, not even completing one chorus. If I asked him something about hisown music, I never knew how he was going to take it"

Together, these two artists capitalized on their skills and styles and gave birth tothe modal style of jazz playing. After these productive years, both Coltrane andDavis would expand upon the foundations that they laid together and go evenfurther. Although they played together often during the late 1950s, their actualtechnique never rubbed off on each other. With his classic 1960s quintet and thenhis electronic lineups, Davis continued to play softly and subtlety while Coltranecontinued to blow until he couldnt blow any more. Both Coltrane and Davis were


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very distinctive in their technique and this Colombia compilation is the idealopportunity to hear the two styles meld as one.

Documents

Miles Davis With John Coltrane