Cookin With... - Miles Davis Quintet (1957)

Ideated from: The Sevens, releases from years ending in 7.

Miles’ first quintet featured Coltrane, pianist Red Garland, and the rhythm section of Philly Joe Jones and Paul Chambers. He signed the band to Columbia records but still had to deliver four more records for his previous label, Prestige. To fulfil the obligation, he went to the studio in two marathon recording sessions in 1957 and cranked out the tunes the band had been playing live. It provided the backbone of the four “with the Miles Davis Quintet” records that Prestige would release.

Cookin’ is the first of these. The band was some of the best and most distinctive jazz players of the 50s, with lots of contrast. Miles liked slow-building, deliberate solos and a clean tone. Coltrane studied scales and theory like he had to pass a test the next day, and his work was technical and fast. Garland loved a good tune, and often provided melodic counterpoints to the other two.

To give you some idea of the creative streak Miles was on, and the commercial demand for it: he released no less than six records in 1957. This one by the quintet; that same quintet’s Columbia debut, Round About Midnight; the Gil Evans-orchestrated big band project Miles Ahead; an album with the sextet Miles Davis All Stars; an omnibus of his highly influential 1949-1950 sessions, called The Birth Of The Cool; and a forward thinking post-bop record with Thelonious Monk, Sonny Rollins, Milt Jackson, and others called Bag’s Groove.