"I'll play it and tell you what it is later."
This is Miles Davis to his recording engineer at Rudy Van Gelder's studio in 1956, before counting off the quintet and launching them into jazz history.
If y'all listen to jazz you probably already know the story. But if you don't, well, lemme tell you. In 1955 Davis wasn't the man. He had only been back in New York a year or so, having kicked heroin in 54, and his reputation was still that of a junkie. But he put together a quintet, including a relatively unknown John Coltrane, and spent that year gigging, building a repertoire.
Then in 1955 Davis played the Newport Jazz Festival with a supergroup of sorts, including Thelonious Monk and Gerry Mulligan, to wide acclaim. Suddenly the record labels came calling. He agreed to sign with Columbia Records, except he was still under contract with Prestige from before he left to get clean. Columbia bought out the contract, but Davis still owed Prestige four records.
So in 1956, Davis took his quintet, now honed to perfection after two years of performance, into the studio; they recorded enough material drawn from their live repertoire for those four albums. In two days.
The four albums -- Workin', Steamin', Cookin', and Relaxin' With the Miles Davis Quintet -- are some of the most beloved hard bop records of all time. When I first heard this story as a teenager I was amazed that they captured these incredible performances so quickly. Only later did I realize that the sessions were probably a walk in the park, because these recordings are just a snapshot of what the quintet was doing every. goddamn. night.
