1958 Miles

In 1958, Miles Davis was one of many jazz musicians growing dissatisfied with bebop, seeing its increasingly complex chord changes as hindering musical creativity.[9] Five years earlier, jazz pianist, composer and theorist George Russell published his Lydian Chromatic Concept of Tonal Organization (1953), which offered an alternative to the practice of musical improvisation based on chords.[10] Abandoning the traditional major and minor key relationships of classical music, Russell developed a new formulation using musical scales, or a series of scales, for improvisations.[10] Russell's approach to improvisation came to be known as modal in jazz.[10] Davis viewed Russell's methods of composition as a means of getting away from the dense chord-laden compositions of his time, which Davis had labeled as "thick."[11]

In contrast to the conventional method of composing during the time, modal compositions were to be written as a series of sketches in which each performer is given a set of scales that defines the parameters of their improvisation.[12] Modal composition, with its reliance on musical scales and modes, represented, as Davis called it,[9] "a return to melody."[12] According to Davis, "Classical composers—some of them—have been writing this way for years, but jazz musicians seldom have".[9] In early 1958, Davis began using this approach with his sextet, a jazz ensemble made up of alto sax player Julian "Cannonball" Adderley, tenor saxophonist John Coltrane, pianist Red Garland, bassist Paul Chambers, and drummer Philly Joe Jones.[13] Influenced by Russell's ideas, Davis implemented his first modal composition with the title track of Milestones (1958), which was based on two modes, recorded in April of that year.[14] Instead of soloing in the straight, conventional, melodic way, Davis's new style of improvisation featured rapid mode and scale changes played against sparse chord changes.[15][10] Davis' acclaimed collaboration with Gil Evans on Porgy and Bess gave him an opportunity to experiment with Russell's concept, as Evans' third stream compositions for Davis contained only a musical scale and no chords, the basis for modality.[9]

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[1]
Down Beat	[21]
Encyclopedia of Popular Music	[22]
The Penguin Guide to Jazz	[23]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide	[24]
Tom Hull – on the Web	A–[25]

As parts of Jazz Track and Jazz at the Plaza, respectively, the '58 Sessions chronicled the transition from the brawny agitation of Milestones, to the cerebral tranquility of Kind of Blue.[3] The recording sessions also became known as a stepping stone in Davis' move from bebop to modal jazz. The live side in particular was seen by critics as a glimpse at the sextet that would record Kind of Blue.[15] The complimentary and seemingly spontaneous style of performance ethic and the relationship between Davis and his musicians was fundamental for his work during these sessions and improved onto the Kind of Blue sessions.

Jazz historian and journalist Ira Gitler has considered 1958 Miles to be one of Davis' best works, while also noting that he was "very taken with the performances", alluding to the album's recordings after Gitler had listened to them. In the 1979 LP reissue liner notes, Gitler wrote "These prime cuts of the Miles Davis Sextet, representative of what this most influential leader and his trendsetting band of that time, were doing in that particular portion of 1958, are a most welcome addition to the collectors library."[3] The live portion of the album recorded at The Plaza Hotel was noted by critics as an early stage of the new sextet. Music writer Nicholas Taylor later wrote of the Plaza set:

An interesting and puzzling period piece, documenting the sextet exploring a sound that would soon morph into the rich tapestry of their 1959 masterpiece... It is the snapshot—albeit a blurred one—of a group of musicians on the verge of greatness, beginning to feel each other’s tics and idiosyncrasies, forming the bonds of a sextet that would soon alter the history of jazz forever.[15]

— Nicholas Taylor

Prior to the live session, Miles Davis had already established a reputation as one of the jazz era's top live performers, following well-received performances at such venues as Birdland, also known as "The Jazz Corner of the World", in New York and the Newport Jazz Festival in Rhode Island during the mid-1950s.[26] The set at the Plaza Hotel further expanded Davis' repertoire in concert venues and increased his popularity among jazz fans and writers. Even though Milestones was Davis' first use of modes and Cannonball Adderley's presence helped make the band became a more powerful sextet, these sessions helped introduce Bill Evans to the music of Miles Davis.[13][26] The May 26 session, in particular, exposed Evans to Davis' spontaneous ability in the studio to simplify complicated musical structures. In a 1979 interview for the jazz radio station WKCR, Evans remarked on his recording experience with Davis, stating "Miles occasionally might say, 'Right here, I want this sound', and it turn out be a very key thing that changes the whole character of the [song]. For instance, on 'On Green Dolphin Street', the original changes of the chorus aren't the way [we recorded it]: the vamp changes being a major seventh up a minor third, down a half tone. That was [one when] he leaned over and said, 'I want this here.'"[19] Evans' influence would be apparent on the Kind of Blue sessions as it was during the initial 1958 sessions.[5] All recorded studio work by Davis from 1958 for Columbia was later reissued on the box set compilation The Complete Columbia Recordings of Miles Davis with John Coltrane.[27] Following the implementation of his first modal compositions with the title track of Milestones and his first sessions with Bill Evans, the 1958 Sessions, Davis became satisfied with the results. This led to his preparation of an entire album based on modality, his 1959 masterwork, Kind of Blue.[28]

Originally released in 1974 (not 1958) on CBS/Sony Records, 1958 Miles has had a rather convoluted release history. The album has experienced many reissues under different titles and records labels, along with a variety of release date listings.

• Ira Gitler (1991). '58 Sessions Featuring Stella By Starlight album liner notes. Sony Music Entertainment Inc.
• Ashley Kahn (2001). Kind of Blue: The Making of the Miles Davis Masterpiece. foreword by Jimmy Cobb. Da Capo Press, USA. p. 82. ISBN 0-306-81067-0. OCLC 48527365. The Making of Kind of Blue: Miles Davis and His Masterpiece bebop.
• Porter, Lewis (1999). John Coltrane: His Life and Music. University of Michigan Press. ISBN 0-472-08643-X. OCLC 42309304.
• Nathan Brackett, Christian Hoard (2004). The New Rolling Stone Album Guide. Completely Revised and Updated 4th Edition. Simon and Schuster. ISBN 0-7432-0169-8.
• Richard Cook, Brian Morton (2002). The Penguin Guide to Jazz on CD. Edition 6. Penguin. ISBN 0-14-051521-6.
• Colin Larkin (2002). Virgin Encyclopedia of Popular Music. Edition 4. Virgin Books. ISBN 1-85227-923-0.

• ModalJazz.com
• 1958 Miles, '58 Sessions Featuring Stella by Starlight at Discogs