Album Reviews

Miles Davis's second collaboration with arranger/orchestrator Gil Evans (and the first recorded in stereo) is arguably the duo's best effort—a majestic, moody re-working of George Gershwin's classic folk opera recorded in three summer of 1958 sessions at Columbia's 30th street studios.

So many great jazz versions of "Porgy & Bess" have been released—with Ray Charles and Cleo Lane, Ella and Louis Armstrong among them—and perhaps you have at least one of those and so don't feel the need for another "jazzy" P&B, but this one is so much more. Evans and Davis combine to create simmering, slowly unfolding color-streaked episodes, one more grand than the next. Evans was a master mixer of brass, woodwinds and reeds and here he uses them (4 Trumpets, 3 French horns,4 Trombones, 2 Flutes, 2 Saxes and a Tuba played by many greats including Cannonball Adderly (sic), Bernie Glow, Gunther Schuller and many others) to produce delicate swirls and subtle blasts of color anchored by Paul Chambers on bass and either Philly Joe Jones or Jimmy Cobb on drums. Evans manages to make the most familiar, somehow unfamiliar.

The original (CS 8085) has its own more murky atmospheric charms, though finding a quiet copy can be a chore. This double 45, a Mark Wilder remix to analog tape from the original 3 track and pressed on much quieter vinyl, is a treat even for well acquainted owners of the original pressing. The mix is more cohesive than the early stereo original. The gatefold "Tip on" jacket features session photos that add value to this outstanding reissue. If you're unfamiliar with this recording be ready for an opening fanfare blast that's bright, shrill and not at all like the rich, atmospheric sonics that follow for four sides. Highly recommended and I see it's sold out on the MusicDirect website but not out of print.