Miles Davis is the most maligned and idolized musician in modern American jazz today. He is at once the saint and the sinner. Miles has been attacked on the grounds that he is contemptuous of his audience, that he is a poor showman, that he often turns his back on his audience. He has been accused of being lackadaisical and unconcerned about his playing. When the spirit moves him he plays with warmth and lyric beauty, at other times he plays with vague disinterest. Miles has been given a mystic halo by his fanatic admirers, for them he can do no wrong. Each note is a secret that they share with him alone. But these secrets are more imagined than real.

Miles Davis is both the saint and the sinner. He is neither completely one nor the other. He is a musician of great talent and sensitivity whose playing is never mediocre. Miles is a musician whose talent and background have rocketed him to stardom, not only in the clandestein jazz circle, but in the hip periphery of show business. What he does and what he says makes useful copy for almost any columnist on a metropolitan daily. And the group he plays with on this record, his most famous Quintet, is the group that boosted him from the jazz into the charmed circle.

"Workin' with the Miles Davis Quintet" is the third album to be produced from two sessions in which 24 tracks were recorded. Previous to this "Cookin' with", (Prestige 7094), and "Relaxin' with The Miles Davis Quintet" (Prestige 7129) were issued, and each in its own way portrays a phase of the character of that highly stimulating group. And, after all it is the group as a unit that makes the atmosphere for creation.

I can remember being in the now defunct Cafe Bohemia in Greenwich Village one night during one of the Quintet's many 1956-7 stands there. It was early in the evening and the band was not functioning quite right. They were having, as the English would say, a sticky time of it. Miles sounded uninterested. His phrases rose and sailed in no particular direction. They were like bubbles blown indiscriminately to the winds. The only things that held or imposed any sense of

order on his solos were the chord progressions of the tunes he played. John Coltrane trying. He leaned into his horn and sent flurries of notes out over the audience, but his fingers seemed full of kinks, and from the look of him, John was more puzzled and annoyed by the trouble than anyone else in the room. The rhythm section functioned best of all, but they were forcing. There were times when I momentarily expected to see a deadly line of machine gun bullets appear in the table cloth in front of me, Philly Joe Jones was that aggressive.

As our beer grew warm in the glasses before us, and Miles picked his next tune, I told Teddy Charles about these things that I noticed and felt. Referring to his friend Sidney Hall he agreed, but said, "Watch the rhythm section. This is the best rhythm section in jazz the hardest swinging rhythm section, watch out when they loosen up."

At this point Miles and Coltrane abruptly walked off the stand. This was the usual cue for Red Garland to his featured number-trio style. Miles did this regularly when he was bored, felt he needed a break or a beer. I don't remember what tune it was exactly, something like "Ahmad's Blues" in this album, if I'm not mistaken, a medium tempo that more or less plays itself.

From the beginning the three men relaxed. Alone on the stand Red, Paul and Philly Joe relaxed and fell into a smooth spirited swing. The trio drew more applause for that one tune than the whole group had for the entire evening. When Miles and Coltrane returned to the bandstand the atmosphere in the club had changed. Somehow the tension had gone, and, on the next tune, "It Never Entered My Mind", which is also performed in this album, Miles played one of the most beautiful choruses I've ever heard him play.

The feeling created by the rhythm section on that one trio selection dispelled that aura of tension that had affected everyone, and replaced it with a secure calm. And the feeling that the rhythm section created that night at the Bohemia is in just about everyone of the tracks here. The time is alive and flowing. It is relaxed and controlled and in no way over-bearing. More than any one other thing, I believe that much of the Quintet's and Miles' real strength and success came from the combined efforts of Red, Paul and Philly Joe. It was as Teddy Charles said that night, "a gas," and something undeniably moving. But Miles disbanded the Quintet in the Spring of 1957.

But on to the Tunes:

"It Never Entered My Mind" is a perfect opener. Contrary to what a good many show folk believe, a wild lung-tearing flagwaver sometimes jostles the listener and creates a false impression of what's to follow. "Mind" in this case, is a quiet moving ballad that conditions the audience for the tender swing to follow. Choruses are by Miles into a mute, and soft Garland.

"Four" picks things up a bit but never destroys the easy mood. Miles' first chorus is strong and one of the best he's ever put on record. Coltrane hangs in and

around the chords. He feels them, seems to reach out and touch them and then leap away (into an extension) as if somehow they were going to burn him. Red builds nicely, spacing out his phrases, and before the out chorus, Miles and Philly Joe split some fours. I think too that mention should be made here of the wonderful lyrics Jon Hendricks has put to this tune. His vocal treatment uses as a primary source Miles' original recording of the tune which is on Prestige (7054).

"In Your Own Sweet Way" is a Brubeck tune. The performance again is soft yet strong. The mood here is astoundingly like the original Brubeck piano solo version, although the Quintet takes it at a much quicker tempo. Coltrane is more aggressive then Miles, but nevertheless keeps the soft overall texture.

"The Theme" (take #1) completes the first side and creates a set ending finality. It's a short improvisation on the basic tune Miles has recorded, and he uses it to signal the bands run off. Here he flashes a bit of the dry impish humor that appears every so often in his playing. He noodles around, clips phrases allows some room for Chambers and then, after a drum roll by Jones, slams the door shut on Side one. The inclusion of this lends an illusion of in person appearance to what actually was a studio date.

"Trane's Blues" is, as you can hear, built on "Theme"-atic material and is full of more gentle, wry Davis. Coltrane twice approaches an interpolation of "Kerry Dancers", but brings will power to bear and moves his improvisation off in another direction. If only more had his courage to stay away from the obvious. Garland is again light and airy, carrying the mood. The tone winds up with a short "Salvation Army" unison and a snap statement of the melody.

"Ahmad's Blues" features Garland and the rhythm section. It was recorded because Miles often featured the trio on gigs, and he wanted Bob Weinstock to hear how they sounded. This track so impressed Bob that he signed Red to an exclusive contract and has recorded him in trio form on five different LPs. Red parodys Ahmad Jamal's style here through the opening chorus and then plays himself. Chambers also has a crooning bowed bass solo.

"Half Nelson" is most readily identified with Charlie Parker. The sound the group manufactures dramatically shatters the gosamar feeling that had been established. It's hard and grinding and shows the driving spirit of the rhythm section in their most famous light. Miles walks a tightrope above them, touching his feet down now and again to make sure they're still there. If you listen carefully, at the start of the bar trading between Miles and Philly Joe, you'll hear that Miles had originally intended to play four apiece, but Jones wanted to play eight apiece -- and got them.

"The Theme" (take #2) closes things out. From the sound of this shortest of short takes, it's time to finish your beer, pay your check, pick up your change and leave.... Like, later.

notes by Jack Maher
(Contributing Ed. Metronome)
recording by Rudy Van Gelder

Since the quintet has been covered in biographies on any number of Prestige albums, there's no reason to go into the what, when, where and how of each of the individuals again. For information however, we refer you to other albums that will add to your listening pleasure:

"Cookin' with the Miles Davis Quintet" (7094), "Relaxin' with the Miles Davis Quintet" (7129), "The Musings of Miles" (7007), "Dig" (7012), "Miles" (7014), "Coltrane" (7105), "John Coltrane with the Red Garland Trio" (7123), "Soultrane" (7142), "A Garland of Red" (7064), "All Kinds of Weather" (7148), "Red in Bluesville" (7157).

Users of wide range equipment should adjust their controls to the RIAA curve for best results.

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