Studio session
The entire session has an informal feel that is unusual for a studio date. Upon hearing it again I immediately knew why I was so taken with it those many years ago.
Ira Gitler, on the recording session, June 1979[2]
Featured as the first side of 1958 Miles, the May 26 session took place at Columbia’s 30th Street Studio in New York City.[16] The songs recorded were previously issued on the second side of Jazz Track, an LP that consisted mostly of songs composed by Davis for the soundtrack to the 1958 French film Ascenseur pour l’échafaud.[3] In contrast to the mood pieces composed for the film, the May session featured Davis’ growing curiosity in modal jazz and the relationship of fewer chords and variations with melody. This was the first studio session to feature Bill Evans and Jimmy Cobb in the new sextet, recording on Davis’ thirty-second birthday.[17]
A different aesthetic was in place during the session, as Bill Evans’ first rhapsodic, impressionistic chords on “On Green Dolphin Street” highlighted the mid-tempo track, while Jimmy Cobb’s brush technique grooved behind Davis’ trumpet solo. John Coltrane and “Cannonball” Adderley doubled and tripled-up their syncopations over Paul Chambers’ transparent counterpoint, as Cobb and Evans pealed away on their instruments, sharing solos with Davis, Addeley and Coltrane.[7] The contrast between hot melodic variations and cool, laid back swing gave the whimsical “Fran Dance” (according to Ira Gitler’s liner notes, the song was named after Davis’ wife Francis),[2] the romantic “Stella by Starlight”, and the jumping “Love for Sale” their elemental tension. This contrast represented Davis’ transitional stage between bebop and modality; standard chords and musical variety.[8] The sessions were also notable for featuring Coltrane’s unique improvisational style, known as the sheets of sound. Coltrane employed extreme and dense improvisational, yet patterned, lines that consisted of high speed arpeggios and scale patterns played in rapid succession; hundreds of notes running from the lowest to highest registers.[18] “Stella by Starlight” featured Evans’ delicate and sparse introduction, which made Coltrane’s early solo seem startling. Evans’ lush and laconic solo suggested the bittersweet spell he would cast over the Kind of Blue sessions the following year.[17]
Recorded at Columbia’s 30th Street Studio, New York, New York on May 26, 1958.[16]
“On Green Dolphin Street” (Kaper, Washington) 9:48
“Fran Dance” (Davis) 5:48
“Stella by Starlight” (Young, Washington) 4:41
“Love for Sale” (Porter) 11:43
Bonus track
2006 Sony Japan release featured only side one and a bonus cut.[26]
“Little Melonae” (McLean) 7:22
Musicians
Miles Davis trumpet, leader
Julian “Cannonball” Adderley alto saxophone
John Coltrane tenor saxophone
Bill Evans piano
Paul Chambers bass
Jimmy Cobb drums
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1958_Miles