It was with his interpretation of “’Round Midnight” in the presence of its composer Thelonious Monk at the1955 Newport Jazz Festival that Miles Davis convinced George Avakian to include him in the Columbia catalogue. Coming out of a long depression, Miles went from working with small independent record companies to a very large firm. Unlike the recordings that he still did for Rudy Van Gelder’s studio to fulfill his previous contract with Prestige, the production of his first sessions in the Columbia studio was very well planned. Many takes were required in order to select and edit the best solos among them, and the arranger Gil Evans brought a discrete touch to this new version of “’Round Midnight.” But, above all, Miles was now the head of a regular quintet whose rhythm section brought him the kind of elegant dynamism that he had envied in Ahmad Jamal’s trio, and whose saxophonist would set his music afire for
almost five years running, and contrast with his own gifts as a crooner.

Original issue: Columbia LP CL 949 on March 4, 1957
Producer: George Avakian
Engineer: Frank Laico
October 26, 1955 (a)
Miles Davis (tpt); John Coltrane (ts); Red Garland (p); Paul Chambers (b); Philly Joe Jones (d)
Columbia Studio D, NYC
June 5, 1956 (b)
Same personnel as October 26
Columbia 30th Street Studio, NYC
September 10, 1956 (c)
Same personnel as October 26
Columbia 30th Street Studio, NYC

‘Round Midnight [c]
Ah-Leu-Cha [a]
All Of You [c]
Bye Bye Blackbird [b]
Tadd’s Delight [b]
Dead Old Stockholm [b]