Read more

The recorded debut, and sole studio recording, of the Miles Davis Dream Team -- with altosaxophonist {|Cannonball Adderley|} added to the in-place quintet of John Coltrane, Red Garland, Paul Chambers, and Philly Joe Jones -- done a yearbefore KIND OF BLUE. The set is balanced between the up- and medium-tempo tautness of "Dr. Jekyll," "Two Bass Hit," "Straight, NoChaser," and "Milestones" -- the three horn players riding Jones's rhythmicpulse like bronco busters -- and the one leisurely ballad ("Sid'sAhead," which stretches to a full 13 minutes) that foreshadows the long, slow modal explorations just down the road. Throughout, Davis plays someof his greatest trumpet solos, slices of perfection nestled between the earthy Adderley and the already ethereal Coltrane. This album is a modelof its times -- a happy marriage between the gritty soulfulness of hard bop and the romantic lilt of cool jazz. Only a rhythm section prance through "Billy Boy" breaks the mood.