Description

SUPERVINYL: SOURCED FROM THE ORIGINAL MASTER TAPES: SUPERVINYL LP PRESENTS THE 1958 STANDARD IN DEFINITIVE STEREO SOUND
1/4 / 15 IPS Dolby SR analogue master to DSD 256 to analogue console to lathe

Miles Davis created just one studio album with his original sextet: Milestones. And he made every moment count. Pairing with Cannonball Adderley, John Coltrane, Red Garland, Paul Chambers, and Philly Joe Jones, Davis not only laid the groundwork for the modalism that immediately followed but tailored a genuine modern-jazz masterwork laden with performances among the most explosive of his distinguished career. Sandwiched between the more famous Round About Midnight and the epochal Kind of Blue, Milestones remains a seminal work of art.

Sourced from the original master tapes and pressed on dead-quiet SuperVinyl, Mobile Fidelitys numbered-edition 180g LP grants each musician their own space amid broad soundstages. Afforded the benefits of a nearly non-existent noise floor and supreme groove definition, this vinyl reissue doubles as a time machine back to the February-March 1958 recording sessions.

Colors, shapes, and dimensions appear in the manner that resembles what youd glean from behind a studio control rooms window. Davis burnished trumpet is rendered in three-dimensional perspective and seemingly coaxes the band to play with unburdened zest. Coltranes trademark saxophone teems with lifelike tonality and images with specificity; his solos work in tandem with and against the driving rhythms. Garlands swaggering piano lines? Visualize the keys as he hits full stride, the chords and fills slithering around skeletal frameworks.

Inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame and selected as a Core Collection record by the Penguin Guide to Jazz, Milestones is as famous for its title track widely considered ground zero for modalism and bolstered by Jones hallmark Philly Lick rim shot as the players that produced it. The launching pad for many of Davis improvisational flights, the album teases the explorations Coltrane would soon chase. Davis own solo work broaches territories that far exceed what he had done in his bop-rooted past. Every song is a highlight.

Take the bravado Dr. Jackle, featuring a hot-foot pace and bebop strains, or Sids Ahead, which continues the albums blues theme while juggling edgy harmonics and inside-out structures. On Billy Boy, distinguished with an arco bass solo from Chambers, Garland gets a turn in the spotlight and channels the openness practised by one of his heroes, Ahmad Jamal. Even more instructive is the bands reading of Dizzy Gillespies Two Bass Hit. Three years removed from the version Davis and company recorded for the trumpeters Columbia debut, this interpretation demonstrates the extent to which the group had jelled in a relatively short amount of time.

Then theres Straight, No Chaser, the definitive rendition of Thelonious Monks signature piece. Coltranes marbled playing pulls at the tunes borders, Adderley takes liberty with solos, and Davis dances around his mates, at one point quoting When the Saints Go Marching In while demonstrating his knowledge of tradition and casting an eye towards the future.

About that future. Garland already had one foot out the door during the Milestones sessions to the extent Davis spells him on Sids Ahead. Jones would stick around for a bit longer but soon plot his exit. History proves Davis navigated the changes with visionary aplomb. Yet the chemistry, excitement, and beauty the sextet achieves on Milestones cannot be overstated. This reissue helps put the album in proper perspective and presents the music the fidelity it deserves.