Five albums Miles Davis recorded for jazz label Prestige are to be collected in a new box set titled The Miles Davis Quintet: The Legendary Prestige Sessions.
The release will take in The New Miles Davis Quintet (1956), Cookin’ (1957), Relaxin’ (1958), Workin’ (1959) and Steamin’ (1961), as well as audio recordings from eight TV and radio performances by Davis and the quintet, which consisted of John Coltrane, Red Garland, Paul Chambers and Philly Joe Jones.
Davis assembled the quintet over the summer of 1955, soon getting to work on the six tracks that would make up The New Miles Davis Quintet. After that album’s success, he was offered the chance to sign a lucrative deal with Columbia Records but had a five-album deal to fulfil with Prestige. In order to meet the requirements of the contract, he and the quintet set about recording the remaining four albums over just two sessions.
Craft Records will release The Miles Davis Quintet: The Legendary Prestige Sessions with liner notes from jazz historian Bob Blumenthal on December 6. For more information, head here.