The Miles Davis Quartet - Miles Davis Quartet 1953 / 1954 (Vinyl, LP, Compilation) Very Good (VG) / Very Good (VG)

Notes

This album is composed of three different sessions. The first session (Side A) was recorded at WOR Studios in NYC in May of 1953 and features Miles Davis on trumpet, John Lewis on piano, Charlie Mingus on bass and piano, Percy Heath on bass, and Max Roach on drums, while the second session (all of side B, except for “I’ll Remember April”) was recorded at NYC’s Beltone studios in March 1954 and features Miles Davis on trumpet, Horace Silver on piano, Percy Heath on bass and Art Blakey on drums. “I’ll Remember April” was recorded on a third session the following month at Rudy Van Gelder Studio in Hackensack, NJ, and features Miles Davis on trumpet, Dave Schildkraut on alto saxophone, Horace Silver on piano, Percy Heath on bass and Kenny Clarke on drums. All three sessions hail from Davis’ “Prestige period” which stretched from 1951-1955 and during which time Davis had developed an addiction to heroin. However, according to some sources it was precisely between the recording of the first two sessions that appear here that Davis went back home to St. Louis to get clean, and so this album marks a major turning point in Davis’ career.