![]() ![]() Nevertheless, that performance got him his biggest career boost, courtesy of Columbia Records executive and producer George Avakian. Maybe people finally noticed him in the festival setting. While his performance is indeed great, Miles had many solos on his recent albums no less significant than the one at Newport. All the musicians there were treating me like I was a god… It was something else, man, looking out at all those people and then seeing them suddenly standing up and applauding what I had done.” At the time though, Miles said nonchalantly in an interview “What’s all the fuss? I always play that way”. But his performance on Monk’s ‘Round Midnight was a pivotal moment in his career. In his autobiography Miles recalled the event: “When I got off the bandstand, everybody was looking at me like I was a king or something – people were running up to me offering me record deals. Miles was brought in at the last minute and his name was not even on the program. The group included Zoot Sims on tenor, Gerry Mulligan on baritone, Thelonious Monk on piano, Percy Heath on bass and Connie Kay on drums. The following month, on July 17, 1955, Miles took the stage at the Newport Jazz Festival with an all-star band sandwiched between performances by Count Basie’s band and Dave Brubeck’s quartet. But we have a few more months until that takes shape. ![]() That tune sounds very much like the music Davis will soon be making with the quintet. The standout track on Miles’ quartet session from June 1955, which was released as The Musings Of Miles, is I See Your Face Before Me, a ballad featuring Miles on the Harmon mute and an excellent playing by Red Garland. That trio feature impressed Prestige Records manager Bob Weinstock enough to get Garland his own recording contract with Prestige, a fruitful relationship that yielded about twenty records for the label over the next decade. Garland complied with Miles’ request to “give me Ahmad’s sound, because Red played his best when he played like that.” The experience of playing some of Jamal’s repertoire and applying his style had an important influence on Garland, who later got a trio feature on one of his sessions with Miles Davis and played Jamal’s composition Ahmad’s Blues. Miles was a big fan of Jamal, and the session included two tracks that were favorites in Jamal’s repertoire: Will You Still Be Mine and A Gal In Galico. More importantly, Miles saw in Garland someone who could bring into his band the style of Ahmad Jamal, what Miles called that ‘melodic understatement and lightness’. The two shared a love for boxing, Garland being a former professional boxer who went eight rounds against Sugar Ray Robinson in 1942. Miles knew Garland for a couple of years, after the pianist moved to New York City from his home state of Texas. This was a quartet date, significant for being the first session with pianist Red Garland. On JMiles Davis went into Rudy van Gelder’s Studio in Hackensack, NJ to record a session for Prestige. This is the story of his first classic quintet and the recordings they made in 19, including some of the most revered albums in jazz history. But starting in June 1955 events started unfolding at an accelerated pace for Miles. Two factors in his professional life were lacking and prevented him from reaching his goals – a bigger, nationwide record label, and a stable working band of excellent musicians. He was ready to move on to the next stage of his career, gain wider recognition and prestige than what his current label (Prestige, ironically) could give him and no less important – make more money. The quality of his 1954 studio output for Prestige exceeded most of his early 1950s recordings and yielded some of the best records in his career thus far: Walkin’, Bag’s Groove and Miles Davis and the Modern Jazz Giants. His tone on the trumpet improved and so his ability to lead groups of musicians at recording sessions and in clubs. After kicking his heroin habit at his father’s house in 1953, he came back to New York City a more complete musician. In the first half of 1955 Miles Davis was in a much better shape than he was in a long time. ![]()
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