Miles Davis - 1958 Miles (1979 Japanese CBS/Sony Mono Vinyl LP)

Miles Davis - 1958 Miles | Vinyl LP - 1979 Japanese CBS/Sony Mono (20AP 1401, CBS Favorite Jazz series)

1958 Miles gathers one of the most beautiful sessions Miles Davis ever recorded. By the spring of 1958 his sextet had reached an extraordinary line-up, John Coltrane and Cannonball Adderley sharing the front line, Paul Chambers and Jimmy Cobb in the rhythm section, and a young Bill Evans newly installed at the piano in place of Red Garland. Evans changed everything. His impressionistic, classically shaded harmony pulled Miles's music towards the spare, modal, floating sound that would become Kind of Blue a year later, and you can hear the shift happening in real time here. The May 1958 date is the heart of the record: a definitive "On Green Dolphin Street", a "Stella By Starlight" of almost unbearable tenderness with Miles on muted trumpet, and a long, easy "Love For Sale". The set opens out with "Fran-Dance", Miles's reworking of an old folk tune, and closes with "Little Melonae", a Jackie McLean line from an earlier 1958 date with Red Garland and Philly Joe Jones still aboard. It is Miles at a hinge point, and it is gorgeous.

This material has been scattered across various American releases over the years, but Japanese collectors have long treasured 1958 Miles as the album that gathers the best of it in one place, and this CBS/Sony pressing is one of the reasons. Japanese buyers took the presentation seriously: the cover carries a print by Masuo Ikeda, one of the country's most celebrated postwar artists, and the pressing itself is prized for its quiet, well-defined sound.

This copy is the 1979 Japanese mono edition on CBS/Sony, part of the CBS Favorite Jazz series, catalogue number 20AP 1401.