Miles Davis - Milestones (1977 Japanese CBS/Sony Vinyl LP Mono)

Vinyl: EX
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Obi: EX

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Miles Davis - Milestones | Vinyl LP Mono - 1977 Japanese CBS/Sony Reissue (25AP 753)

The sextet that recorded Milestones was Davis's working band at its peak. Coltrane had just come out of detox. Adderley had been added to the quintet on alto, giving Davis two contrasting saxophone voices: Coltrane's sheets of sound against Adderley's blues-rooted lyricism. The rhythm section (Garland, Chambers, Philly Joe) had been together for three years and understood each other completely. On "Dr. Jekyll" (Jackie McLean's tune), "Two Bass Hit" (Gillespie/Lewis) and Monk's "Straight, No Chaser," the group plays hard bop at its most concentrated. Coltrane's solo on "Two Bass Hit" is a tight, rapid burst that shows how far his technique had developed. Adderley's blues phrasing on "Dr. Jekyll" sounds effortless in a way that belies its complexity. Then the title track arrives. "Milestones" (mislabelled "Miles" on this pressing's side B label) strips the harmony down to two scales. No chord changes to follow, just modal colours that open space for the soloists to think in longer, more melodic lines. It's a modest revolution in under six minutes, and the three horn solos (Adderley first, then Davis, then Coltrane) are marvels of economy. Davis was already working out the approach he would use for Kind of Blue.

"Sid's Ahead" runs past 13 minutes and contains one of the album's most telling stories. Red Garland, tired of Davis's demands, walked out of the studio mid-session. Davis sat down at the piano himself and played the accompaniment for the rest of the take. "Billy Boy" is a Garland trio feature: Davis, Coltrane and Adderley sit out entirely, and it's Garland, Chambers and Philly Joe swinging through a folk tune at a brisk pace. Five days after the March 4 session, Davis and Adderley went into Rudy Van Gelder's Hackensack studio to record Somethin' Else for Blue Note. A year later, Davis replaced Garland with Bill Evans and Philly Joe with Jimmy Cobb, kept the rest, and recorded Kind of Blue.

This is the 1977 Japanese mono reissue on CBS/Sony 25AP 753. Note the two misprints: the back cover spells Adderley's first name as "Jnliau" (for "Julian"), and the side B label titles the track "Miles" instead of "Milestones."