1955 · Album
Miles Davis and Milt Jackson Quintet / Sextet
Recorded August 5, 1955 · Prestige Records · Produced by Not specified in verified sources
One August Session, Two Saxophones
Davis and Jackson gathered an all-star lineup that had never played together before, and the results were direct and hard.
On August 5, 1955, Miles Davis and Milt Jackson walked into a studio with no regular band — just Jackie McLean on alto saxophone, Ray Bryant on piano, Percy Heath on bass, and Art Taylor on drums. This was an all-star pickup session, the kind that happens when Prestige Records wants to move product and has the pull to assemble talent on short notice. The music that came out was straightforward and intensive, driven by bebop fundamentals and hard edges that Davis's biographer Peter Wießmüller later noted marked a stylistic turn toward hardbop. The arrangements were typical for the day, but McLean was given room to stretch — encouraged by the other players to take long, exploratory solos that pushed against the structure around them.
What makes this session worth hearing now is exactly what made it worth hearing then: it's competent, unpretentious hard bop played by musicians who knew what they were doing. Davis sounds like himself, focused and direct. Jackson's vibraphone cuts through cleanly. McLean gets to show what he could do when given the chance to breathe, particularly on his own compositions "Dr. Jackle" and "Minor March."
This isn't a landmark recording in Davis's catalog — it's a solid working date, the kind that fills out catalogs and keeps labels solvent. But it holds up as exactly what it was meant to be: a capable ensemble doing their job at a high level, nothing wasted, nothing pretended. Not essential, but honest work.
Who's playing
Percy Heathdouble bass
Ray Bryantpiano
Jackie McLeanalto saxophone
Miles Davistrumpet
Art Taylordrums
Milt Jacksonvibraphone
Where next?
More by Miles Davis
All 59 albums →
The musicians on this record
Milt Jackson 1955
Milt Jackson
plays vibraphone here
plays vibraphone here
4, 5 and 6 1956
Jackie McLean
plays alto saxophone here
plays alto saxophone here
Ray Bryant Plays 1960
Ray Bryant
plays piano here
plays piano here
