Miles Davis and the Modern Jazz Giants make a formidable team, enjoyed by fans in New York and San Francisco as well as in countless places in between end beyond.

The team itself is a potent mixture of the top modern jazz veterans of the Forties and Fifties and more recently established stars of the Fifties.

Although modern jazz has only been with us since the early Forties, the standouts of the era are already clearly indicated and I doubt whether further jazz history will dull their lustre. A great jazz performance is always within a certain tradition and a timeless thing regardless of the era in which it was played. Some critics of jazz say that it may well be a transient thing and that we must wait centuries to see if it survives with a validity like Bach and Beethoven have in their idiom. Without going in to why I would disagree with this, I would say that the next two centuries are likely to move twice as quickly in terms of cultural evolution as the two centuries which preceded them and the position of all music, as we know it, may be very different than its present one. All we can draw from in judging the relative merits of a jazz performance is our listening experience within the idiom.

Louis Armstrong's recorded solos of thirty years ago are pure and powerful statements today and, for the same reasons, Miles Davis' of 1954 will be meaningful thirty years hence, barring a ban on jazz in an Orwellian actuality.

The majority of the material in this album was recorded in the already legendary session of December 24, 1954. Miles Davis, Milt Jackson, Thelonious Monk, Percy Heath and Kenny Clarke, in one group, certainly constitute a formidable array of talent. Only the most narrow-minded, unfeeling of the anti-modernists would question giving these men the title of "giants". It would seen natural, and almost inevitable, that such a combination would produce jazz of memorable proportions. The results bear this out, but as one who audited the first half of the preceedings I can report that, in this case, the course of "true jazz" did not run smoothly.

Legend had it, for a while, that Miles hit Monk during a disagreement over whether Monk should "lay out" or not ("Laying out" is the equivalent of "strolling" where the pianist refrains from chording and the soloist is backed only by bass and drums.) I know there was no fight during the time I was at the studio although there were verbal exchanges. (Listen to the dialogue at the beginning of take 1 of The Man I Love.) When I asked Monk about the alleged fisticuffs that some inside hipster had confronted me with, he chuckled, "Miles'd got killed if he hit me". In any event, things were not serene when I left towards the dinner hour (the session had started somewere between two and three in the afternoon) and not much had been accomplished. I had my doubts as to whether anything would. Later that night, at Minton's, I saw Kenny Clarke who answered my "How did it go?" with "Miles sure is a beautiful cat", which was his way of saying that despite the obstacles Miles had seen it through and produced something extraordinary and lasting.

The tunes do not necessarily appear in the order they were recorded. (Bags' Groove, also done that day, can be heard in two takes in the album which bears its name, Prestige 7109.)

Take 2 of The Man I Love finds Miles interpreting the melody much more broadly in the first chorus than he does on take 1. It is a classic trumpet statement. Milt, who splits the bridge with him, comes in for the first lengthy solo as the tempo goes to medium. His choruses are warm, flowing and typical of his excellent playing, so evident in this entire session. Monk's opening statement is similar to his in take 1. On the bridge he stops playing and resumes only when Miles picks up the empty space. As Monk finishes with a little call-like phrase, Miles comes riding in with a figure resembling, "Horses, horses, horses" and continues to solo in the "strolling" manner. After eight bars he hurriedly employs a mute. As in take I the tempo reverts to the original on the bridge. Miles

and Milt combine to finish the number; Davis' ending here is far more adventuresome than on take I and Monk adds some interesting tone clusters at the very end.

Davis' Swing Spring features rhythmic suspensions and underlinings in its theme and a tricky little introduction to the solos. Miles, in talking about it during the course of an interview in Jazz Review, said, "It was meant to be just like an exercise almost. It was based on that scale there (demonstrating at the piano) and when you blow, you play in that scale and you get on altogether different sound. I got that from Bud Powell, he used to play it all the time."

Miles is heard with only bass and drums backing him. Monk "comps" for Milt and Percy is especially powerful here. Another Miles solo sans Monk follows and then Thelonious plays a stint that becomes very spirited after a tentative middle. Milt plays a final solo that can only be described as "wailing" and also takes care of the bridge in the last chorus.

Side B opens with a previously unreleased number from the famous 1956 sessions which, so for, have given Cookin' and Relaxin' to the jazz audience at large. Thelonious Monk's 'Round About Midnight is a jazz classic and a permanent part of the Davis repertoire. Miles opens and closes the piece with mute. The middle section is occupied with a stirring solo by the new tenor giant, John Coltrane, backed superbly by Red Garland, Paul Chambers and Philly Joe Jones.

The two remaining tracks are from the 1954 session.

Bemsha Swing is the result of a collaboration between Monk and Denzil Best. A simple but effective 16 bar pattern, it was first recorded by Monk in trio form (Prestige LP 7027). Solos here are by Miles, Milt and Monk. After a short statement by Miles, Milt and he engage in exchanges before the out chorus.

Take 1 of The Man I Love, previously issued only on 16 rpm, has Miles playing the opening melody chorus with open horn in ballad tempo. Milt steps in and the tempo goes to medium for an extended set of choruses. Monk comes in and states the melody in on off-hand, typically Monk-phrased manner. After his solo, Miles improvises for 16 bars. Then the tempo reverts to the original as Miles and Milt combine to take the tune out.

To those of you who didn't have these tracks when they were on 10 inch lp (or have worn those original issues white) and don't have a 16 rpm player, here they are on 12 inch, 33 1/3 rpm. Rejoice!

notes by IRA GITLER
recording by Van Geidua