Miles Davis - Walkin' (1973 Japanese Prestige Mono LP)

Vinyl: VG+
Sleeve: VG+
Obi: None

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Miles Davis All Stars - Walkin' | Vinyl LP - 1973 Japanese Prestige Mono Reissue (LPR-8851, Toshiba Musical Industries Ltd.)

Miles Davis cut these two April 1954 sessions after coming through a period of serious personal difficulty. He had been back in New York, clean, for less than a year. The same rhythm section, Horace Silver, Percy Heath and Kenny Clarke, played both dates and was by that point the default Prestige house rhythm section.

The April 29 session put Davis alongside J.J. Johnson on trombone and Lucky Thompson on tenor. The two pieces they recorded were long, using the 12-inch LP format to its logical extent in a way that 10-inch records had prevented. "Walkin'" runs thirteen minutes, a 12-bar blues at a tempo that gave every soloist room to develop extended statements. Thompson's solo was singled out by Ira Gitler in the liner notes and by subsequent critics as the high point: a solo that builds gradually across its own internal structure, Davis and Johnson riffing behind him before his final phrases. "Blue 'N' Boogie," Gillespie's composition, runs eight minutes and is rarely discussed in the same breath as the title track despite containing some of Davis's most committed playing on the date.

The April 3 session was a quintet. Schildkraut, who had been a regular with Stan Kenton's band, played alto saxophone. "Solar" is four and a half minutes, Davis in the muted tone he was developing, the harmonic movement slower and more open than the Side A pieces. "You Don't Know What Love Is" is the DePaul and Raye standard, a ballad feature. "Love Me or Leave Me," the Donaldson and Kahn piece, closes the record.

The album was compiled and released on Prestige as PRLP 7076 in March 1957. This is the 1973 Japanese Prestige mono reissue (LPR-8851), manufactured by Toshiba Musical Industries Ltd.