Track Listing

1. Just Squeeze Me (But Don't Tease Me)
2. There Is No Greater Love
3. How Am I to Know?
4. S'posin'
5. Theme
6. Stablemates

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #216231 in Music
• Brand: Davis
• Released on: 1990-10-25
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .21 pounds

Album Description
Limited Edition digitally remastered Japanese pressing of this album comes housed in a miniature LP sleeve. Prestige. 2006.

Amazon.com
Miles was still a child when this album was cut in 1955. Fresh from the so-cool-it's-hot masterpiece Round About Midnight, he was still seeking his voice. John Coltrane and Red Garland were just as young, mortals not yet become icons--the later recordings, especially Workin' with the Miles Davis Quintet and Miles & Coltrane, contain far more lasting, memorable performances. This album is more like a Miles Davis starter kit, far down on the list of essential recordings but containing its fair share of notable additions to the legacy. "S'posin," "The Theme," and "How Am I to Know?" are among its handful of gems. --Robert Wilonsky

Customer Reviews

Good, just not great
This cd features the initial recordings by Davis' first great group of Red Garland on piano, Paul Chambers on bass, Philly Joe Jones on drums, and John Coltrane on tenor. In the next two years this quintet would record "'Round About Midnight" for Columbia and the marathon sessions for Prestige that produced the landmark albums Cookin', Workin', Steamin', and Relaxin', leaving this album in their historical dust. Recorded four years before "Kind of Blue" this album is dominated by Miles laidback trumpet, which he plays muted for the first four tracks. Coltrane is uneven and his solos are relatively pedestrian as he was in the "searching period" of his carrer, still a couple of years from his breakthrough "sheets of sound" innovations. Gardland, Jones, and Chambers are rock solid throughout, providing a tight swing for the hornmen to work over. A highlight is "The Theme", which is kicked off with a nimble bass solo by Chambers who is followed by two solid solos by Miles that are split by one from Coltrane. This is an entertaining if not essential recording that is of historical interest, as it offers a look at this influential group at its formative stage. Newcomers should check out some of Miles' more important works, while diehard Davis fans and completeists will search it out for its historical value.

The beginning
Unless you frequented jazz clubs in Baltimore or Philly in the fall of 1955, this would have been your first exposure to the Miles Davis-John Coltrane collaboration (a few tracks recorded for Columbia, the label Miles would soon be joining exclusively, a few weeks before this session weren't issued until much later). Davis settled on Coltrane as his replacement for the departing Sonny Rollins almost by default - no one else fit the bill or new the book. That they would stay together long seemed unlikely because their temperaments differed so much (Davis was a hands-off leader, Coltrane wanted constant input from Miles on his playing and music in general).

STABLEMATES (a Benny Golson tune) is the track that seems to draw the most attention. It's an excellent composition, and although Coltrane sounds somewhat tentative (nervous?), the performance is attractive. But my favorite side is THERE IS NO GREATER LOVE, even though Coltrane sits this one out: Miles plays beautifully, and I love the emotion he wrings from the tune.

True, this is an early effort by the group that would transform modern jazz, but it's a very good session nonetheless. The group plays well, the rhythm section is rock solid, and they are all off and running. Full speed ahead!

Stablemates
3 stars for this early adventure, however Stablemates - 5 stars - is classic sound and early glimpse of things to come. A must for any who collect more than one taste of miles (album) and TRANE.