1956 · Album
Collectors’ Items
Recorded 1953 and 1956 · Not specified in source material · Produced by Not specified in source material
Two Rooms, Three Years Apart
A collection that captures Davis in two distinct moods, three years and a lifetime of musical thought between them.
Drop the needle and you're in two different rooms. The 1953 tracks — "Compulsion," "The Serpent's Tooth," and "'Round About Midnight" — carry the weight of a crowded session. Sonny Rollins and Charlie Parker trading tenor sax lines over Walter Bishop's piano, Percy Heath's bass anchoring everything, Philly Joe Jones pushing from the drums. It's dense, occasionally chaotic, the sound of brilliant players working things out in real time. Parker especially casts a long shadow here; his presence changes the oxygen in the room.
Then jump to 1956 and the air clears. Just Rollins on tenor now, Tommy Flanagan at the piano, Paul Chambers on bass, Art Taylor on drums. "In Your Own Sweet Way," "Vierd Blues," and "No Line" breathe differently. Fewer voices, more space. Flanagan's touch is lighter than Bishop's, and the whole session has the clarity of a working band that knows exactly what it's doing.
This isn't a curated masterpiece. It's a practical reissue of studio takes that deserved circulation, materials that had been sitting in the vaults. For Davis completists, it fills gaps. For newcomers, it's probably not the place to start — go to Kind of Blue (1959) or Cookin' with the Miles Davis Quintet (1957) first. But if you want to hear Davis as a sideman and bandleader in two different configurations, this is honest documentation.
Who's playing
Percy Heathbass
Paul Chambersbass
Walter Bishop, Jr.piano
Tommy Flanaganpiano
Charlie Parkertenor saxophone
Sonny Rollinstenor saxophone
Miles Davistrumpet
Philly Joe Jonesdrums
Art Taylordrums
Where next?
More by Miles Davis
All 59 albums →
The musicians on this record
Way Out West 1957
Sonny Rollins
plays tenor saxophone here
plays tenor saxophone here
Kenny Drew Trio 1957
Philly Joe Jones
plays drums (drum set) here
plays drums (drum set) here
Early Bird 1956
Charlie Parker
plays tenor saxophone here
plays tenor saxophone here
Overseas 1958
Tommy Flanagan
plays piano here
plays piano here
