Miles Davis – Cookin’ With The Miles Davis Quintet (Rudy Van Gelder Remaster) (1957/2014)
FLAC (tracks) 24-bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 33:25 minutes | 375 MB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Master, Official Digital Download – Source: Qobuz | Artwork: Digital Booklet | © Prestige Records
Recorded: October 26, 1956 at Rudy Van Gelder Studio, Hackensack, NJ
Remastered: 2007, 2006, Rudy Van Gelder at Van Gelder Studio, Englewood Cliffs, NJ
Cookin’ With the Miles Davis Quintet is the first of four classic albums that emerged from two marathon and fruitful sessions recorded in 1956 (the other three discs released in Cookin’s wake were Workin’, Relaxin’ and Steamin’). All the albums were recorded live in the studio, as Davis sought to capture, with Rudy Van Gelder’s expert engineering, the sense of a club show · la the Café Bohemia in New York, with his new quintet, featuring tenor saxophonist John Coltrane. In Miles’s own words, he says he called this album Cookin’ because “that’s what we did-came in and cooked.” What’s particularly significant about this Davis album is his first recording of what became a classic tune for him: “My Funny Valentine.” Hot playing is also reserved for the uptempo number “Tune Up,” which revs with the zoom of both the leader and Trane.
Cookin’ is the first of four albums derived from the Miles Davis Quintet’s fabled extended recording session on October 26, 1956; the concept being that the band would document its vast live-performance catalog in a studio environment, rather than preparing all new tracks for its upcoming long-player. The bounty of material in the band’s live sets — as well as the overwhelming conviction in the quintet’s studio sides — would produce the lion’s share of the Cookin’, Relaxin’, Workin’, and Steamin’ albums. As these recordings demonstrate, there is an undeniable telepathic cohesion that allows this band — consisting of Miles Davis (trumpet), John Coltrane (tenor sax), Red Garland (piano), Paul Chambers (bass), and Philly Joe Jones (drums) — to work so efficiently both on the stage and the studio. This same unifying force is also undoubtedly responsible for the extrasensory dimensions scattered throughout these recordings. The immediate yet somewhat understated ability of each musician to react with ingenuity and precision is expressed in the consistency and singularity of each solo as it is maintained from one musician to the next without the slightest deviation. “Blues by Five” reveals the exceptional symmetry between Davis and Coltrane that allows them to complete each other’s thoughts musically. Cookin’ features the pairing of “Tune Up/When Lights Are Low” which is, without a doubt, a highlight not only of this mammoth session, but also the entire tenure of Miles Davis’ mid-’50s quintet. All the elements converge upon this fundamentally swinging medley. Davis’ pure-toned solos and the conversational banter that occurs with Coltrane, and later Garland during “When the Lights Are Low,” resound as some of these musicians’ finest moments. ~~AllMusic Review by Lindsay Planer
Tracklist:
1. My Funny Valentine 06:01
2. Blues By Five 09:56
3. Airegin 04:25
4. Tune-Up / When Lights Are Low 13:03
Personnel:
Miles Davis, trumpet
John Coltrane, tenor saxophone
Red Garland, piano
Paul Chambers, double bass
Philly Joe Jones, drums
“I was the engineer on the recording sessions and I also made the masters for the original LP issues of these albums. Since the advent of the CD, other people have been making the masters. Mastering is the final step in the process of creating the sound of the finished product. Now, thanks to the folks at the Concord Music Group who have given me the opportunity to remaster these albums, I can present my versions of the music on CD using modern technology. I remember the sessions well, I remember how the musicians wanted to sound, and I remember their reactions to the playbacks. Today, I feel strongly that I am their messenger.”
-Rudy Van Gelder
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