The Miles Davis Quintet - Relaxin' with the Miles Davis Quintet (1976 Japanese Prestige Mono Vinyl LP)

The Miles Davis Quintet - Relaxin' with the Miles Davis Quintet | Vinyl LP - 1976 Japanese Prestige/Victor Mono Reissue (SMJ-6532M, Prestige Jazz Masterpiece Series no. 32)

Miles Davis had signed with Columbia but still owed Prestige enough material for several albums. The solution was two marathon sessions at Rudy Van Gelder's Hackensack studio, on May 11 and October 26, 1956, that produced four complete LPs. Relaxin' draws from both dates and may be the most balanced of the four. "If I Were a Bell" opens with Miles's voice on the master tape, audibly loose and confident, before the band settles into an eight-minute reading of the Frank Loesser standard. Davis plays open horn and his tone is dark and rounded, with Coltrane's tenor entering as a sharper, more angular counterweight. The contrast between the two is the engine of the whole record. "You're My Everything" and "I Could Write a Book" are both ballad readings, concise and unhurried, with Red Garland's block chords cushioning Davis's lines. "Oleo", Sonny Rollins's contrafact on "I Got Rhythm", is taken at a brisk clip with Chambers and the full trio alternating behind the solos.

The two tracks from the earlier May session sit on Side B. "It Could Happen to You" has Davis playing with a mute over a midtempo groove, and "Woody'n You", Dizzy Gillespie's bebop staple, closes the album with the quintet playing the head arrangement with precision that comes from months of live work at Café Bohemia. Philly Joe Jones is worth listening to on every track, holding the centre of the band with a subtlety that matched Miles's own restraint. Bob Weinstock supervised the session and Van Gelder recorded it, as he did nearly everything on Prestige. This is the 1976 Japanese mono reissue (SMJ-6532M), number 32 in Victor Musical Industries' Prestige Jazz Masterpiece Series, manufactured in Tokyo under licence from Prestige Records. Cover artwork reproduces the original Prestige 7129 design by Esmond Edwards. Liner notes by Ira Gitler.