Billboard : 06/15/1959
Jazz Spotlight Winner of the Week

This album could easily become a collector’s item. It features Miles Davis, T. Monk, Milt Jackson, J. Coltrane, P. Heath, K. Clarke, etc., on tracks originally waxed in 1954 and 1956 and issued previously on 10-inch LPs or 16 rpm disks. Tunes include two tracks of The Man I Love, Swing Spring, ‘Round About Midnight and Bemsha Swing. A must for collectors.

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HiFi Stereo Review
Nat Hentoff : October, 1959

On December 24, 1954, Miles Davis was in charge of a Prestige session that turned out to be one of his most memorable. Four of these five tracks were recorded that today. Interestingly, two takes of one tune are included and the listener thereby better understand the genesis of an improvised solo. (On the second take, Miles treats the melody more freely than he did the first time.) The first take had previously been available only in a 16 rpm album. The others were first released on 10″ LPs. ‘Round About Midnight is released for the first time here, and comes from a 1956 session.

The playing is generally excellent, particularly that of Davis and Jackson. Davis is now in the position of having contributed so importantly to modern jazz that nearly every record of his is historically helpful in clarifying the development of his approach. This one happens, besides, to be one of his best.

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Minneapolis Star Tribune
Charles Hanna : 05/24/1959
Miles Davis Album is Balm for Bruised Fans

Probably no one jazz musician is admired by his colleagues and fans more than the moody and sometimes belligerent Miles Davis.

Since his arrival in Minneapolis last Monday he has verbally offended and musically attracted scores of listeners. (Sometimes at the same time.)

No matter how one meets trumpeter Davis his artistry soothes any “bruises” suffered from his bitter words and impolite manner.

New and old members of the Miles Davis cult will be interested in Prestige’s Miles Davis and the Modern Jazz Giants. It’s Davis and his men at their very best.

The album includes five tracks made Christmas eve 1954 and one from a 1956 session. Milton Jackson, vibes; Thelonious Monk, piano; Percy Heath, bass, and Kenny Clarke, drums, made the ’54 date. John Coltrane, tenor; Red Garland, piano; Paul Chambers, bass, and Philly Joe Jones are on the other track, ‘Round About Midnight.

All but the last are re-releases from tapes that were mastered for 10 inch LPs and 16 rpm disks.

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Pittsburgh Sun-Telegraph
Ralph J. Gleason : 05/29/1959
Album of the Week

This is an extraordinarily interesting collection of performances by Davis, recorded, with but one exception, at the 1954 session in which Milt Jackson and Thelonious Monk joined Miles.

There is one number from the 1956 sessions with John Coltrane and Red Garland (‘Round About Midnight) which never has been issued before.

The other numbers were originally available on 10-inch LP, but have been unobtainable for some time now.

They are first-rate examples of one of the most important of all jazz musicians and should not be missed.

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San Francisco Examiner
C.H. Garrigues : 07/12/1959

One of the tracks is with Coltrane, Garland, Chambers and Philly Joe; it is the sort of excellent jazz the Davis group was playing this season at the Blackhawk.

The other four tracks are a reissue of a part of the historic session at which Miles and Thelonious Monk almost came to blows over whether or not Monk should lay out during Miles’ solos. The most important part of this session was reissued a year or so ago as Bags Groove (Prestige 7109); these remaining tracks are exceedingly interesting for the musical drama involved – Miles going in one direction, Monk in another (or, sometimes sulking) and Milt Jackson trying vainly to pull them together. They are also valuable musically for individual solos and for the basic work of Percy Heath and Kenny Clarke. Though not as vital for jazz collectors as the Bags Groove album, this is still one which few real fans would want to be without.

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Down Beat : 10/01/1959
Richard B. Hadlock : 4.5 stars

There are few jazzmen whose creative resources are so great that any recorded example of their work is of interest. This reissue of 1954 and 1956 Davis sessions includes at least three such men: Milt Jackson, Thelonious Monk, and Davis himself.

The earlier date (all titles but Midnight), which also produced Bags’ Groove, reveals a somewhat uncomfortable Miles, blowing with and against a free-wheeling, but only half-sympathetic group. Davis’ approach to jazz, which leans heavily upon the sensitivity of his pianist, is left tattered by the jarring individualism of pianist Monk, whose playing is not designed to flatter or inspire Miles. In spite of all this, enough memorable moments came from the session to make this a very worthwhile LP.

Swing Spring, in particular, demonstrates that Davis was ready to lead the way out of the cliché-ridden I-can-blow-stronger-than-you arena into which many jazzmen had stampeded by the mid-50s.

Midnight, performed by the most esthetically pleasing of all Davis groups, is a musical essay on the virtues of lyricism and horizontal structure, combined with harmonic insight, a classic performance that should be in any thoughtful collector’s library.

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Liner Notes by Ira Gitler

Miles Davis and the Modern Jazz Giants make a formidable team, enjoyed by fans in New York and San Francisco as well as in countless places in between and beyond.

The team itself is a potent mixture of the top modern jazz veterans of the Forties and Fifties and more recently established stars of the Fifties.

Although modern jazz has only been with us since the early forties, the standouts of the era are already clearly indicted and I doubt whether further jazz history will dull their lustre. A great jazz performance is always within a certain tradition and a timeless thing regardless of the era in which it was played. Some critics of jazz say that it may well be a transient thing and that we must wait centuries to see if it survives with a validity like Bach and Beethoven have in their idiom. Without going into why I would disagree with this, I would say that the next two centuries are likely to move twice as quickly, in terms of cultural evolution, as the two centuries which proceeded them and the position of all music, as we know it, may be very different than its present one. All we can draw from in judging the relative merits of a jazz performance, is our listening experience within the idiom. Louis Armstrong‘s recorded solos of thirty years ago are pure and powerful statements today and, for the same reasons, Miles Davis’ of 1954 will be meaningful thirty years hence, barring a ban on jazz in an Orwellian actuality.

The majority of the material in this album was recorded in the already legendary session of December 24, 1954. Miles Davis, Milt Jackson, Thelonious Monk, Percy Heath and Kenny Clarke, in one group, certainly constitute a formidable array of talent. Only the most narrow-minded, unfeeling of the anti-modernists would question giving these men the title of “giants.” It would seem natural, and almost inevitable, that such a combination would produce jazz of memorable proportions. The results bear this out, but as one who audited the first half of the proceedings, I can report that, in this case, the course of “true jazz” did not run smoothly.

Legend had it, for a while, that Miles hit Monk during a disagreement over whether monk should “lay out” or not. (“Laying out” is the equivalent of “strolling” where the pianist refrains from chording and the soloist is backed only by bass and drums.) I know there was no fight during the time I was at the studio although there were verbal exchanges. (Listen to the dialogue at the beginning of take 1 of The Man I Love.) When I asked Monk about the alleged fisticuffs that some inside-hipster had confronted me with, he chuckled, “Miles’d got killed if he hit me.” In any event, things were not serene when I left towards the dinner hour (the session had started somewhere between two and three in the afternoon) and not much had been accomplished. I had my doubts as to whether anything would. Later that night, at Minton’s, I saw Kenny Clarke who answered my “How did it go?” with “Miles sure is a beautiful cat,” which was his way of saying that despite the obstacles, Miles had seen it through and produced something extraordinary and lasting.

The tunes do not necessarily appear in the order they were recorded. (Bags’ Groove, also done that day, can be heard in two takes in the album which bears its name, Prestige 7109.)

Take 2 of The Man I Love fins Miles interpreting the melody much more broadly in the first chorus than he does on take 1. It is a classic trumpet statement. Milt who splits the bridge with him, comes in for the first lengthy solo as the tempo goes to medium. His choruses His choruses are warm, flowing and typical of his excellent playing, so evident in this entire session. Monk’s opening statement is similar to his in take 1. On the bridge he stops playing and resumes only when Miles picks up the empty space. As Monk finishes with with a little call-like phrase, Miles comes riding in with a figure resembling “Horse, horses, horses” and continues to solo in the “strolling” manner. After eight bars, he hurriedly employs a mute. As in take 1, the tempo reverts to the original on the bridge. Miles and Milt combine to finish the number; Davis’ ending here is far more adventuresome than on take 1 and Monk adds some interesting tone clusters at the very end.

Davis’ Swing Spring features rhythmic suspensions and underpinnings in its theme and a trickly little introduction to the solos. Miles, in talking about it during the course of an interview in Jazz Review, said, “It was meant to be just like an exercise almost. It was based on that scale there (demonstrating at the piano) and when you blow, you play in that scale and you get an altogether different sound. I got that from Bud Powell; he used to play it all the time.”

Miles is heard with only bass and drums backing him. Monk “comps” for Milt and Percy is especially powerful here. Another Miles solo sans Monk follows and then Thelonious plays a stint that becomes very spirited after a tentative middle. Milt plays a final solo that can only be described as “wailing” and also takes care of the bridge in the last chorus.

Side B opens with a previously unreleased number from the famous 1956 sessions which, so far, have given Cookin’ and Relaxin’ to the jazz audience at large. Thelonious Monk’s ‘Round About Midnight is a jazz classic and a permanent part of the Davis repertoire. Miles opens and closes the piece with mute. The middle section is occupied with a stirring solo by the new tenor giant, John Coltrane, backed superbly by Red Garland, Paul Chambers and Philly Joe Jones.

The two remaining tracks are from the 1954 session.

Bemsha Swing is the result of a collaboration between Monk and Denzil Best. A simple but effective 16 bar pattern, it was first recorded by Monk in trio form (Prestige 7027). Solos here are by Miles, Milt and Monk. After a short statement by Miles, Milt and he engage in exchanges before the out chorus.

Take 1 of The Man I Love, previously issued only on 16 rpm, has Miles playing the opening melody chorus with open horn in ballad tempo. Milt steps in and the tempo goes to medium for an extended set of choruses. Monk comes in and states the melody in an off-hand, typically Monk-phrased manner. After his solo, Miles improvises for 16 bars. Then the tempo reverts to the original as Miles and Milt combine to take the tune out.

To those who didn’t have these tracks when they were on 10 inch LP (or have worn those original issues white) and don’t have a 16 rpm player, here they are on 12 inch, 33 1/3 rpm. Rejoice!