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Miles/Sonny: Classic Prestige Sessions 1951-56


CJ Shearn

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I guess all of it... too lazy to look it up, but go to Losin's Miles Ahead site...

roughly: an early date, the "Dig" album (w/McLean, Walter Bishop etc), the great session with Horace Silver/Percy Heath/Art Blakey that yielded "Oleo", "Airegin" etc, and both dates from that Prestige compilation album (one with a transitional post/pre-Trane quintet w/Rollins, the other one with Rollins and Charlie Parker on tenors).

I think I'll stick to my old Rollins Prestige 7CD set...

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Sorry, this is lame. They've reissued these very albums within the last two years!

And how often before? ;) Seems like Prestige runs a very close second to BN in the number of times the same stuff has been rehashed in (allegedly) different packaging and mastering that might actually (lo and behold!) be FRACTIONALLY different ("better" or not seems to be a matter of taste and ears anyway ;)).

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Sorry, this is lame. They've reissued these very albums within the last two years!

Actually I'm encouraged by this. I've hoped they'd go back to some of the late Fantasy ideas on intelligent assembling of reissue material as opposed to just the straight reissues. This is a much more cost-effective and cohesive presentation of the material than the splintered "originals".

Still waiting for that last Trane box. Grrrrr...

Me too! And maybe this means we're more likely to eventually get it.

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Sorry, this is lame. They've reissued these very albums within the last two years!

Actually I'm encouraged by this. I've hoped they'd go back to some of the late Fantasy ideas on intelligent assembling of reissue material as opposed to just the straight reissues. This is a much more cost-effective and cohesive presentation of the material than the splintered "originals".

Yeah, but I think it depends. I would love to see more box sets like the late Fantasys, but not like this. It overblows the Miles/Sonny "partnership" into something that it's not and rehashes well-worn material that is best served by the "originals". What I would like to see is something like a complete Dolphy Five Spot set, a Jaki Byard or Booker Ervin or Teddy Charles or Shelly Manne set. This suggests to me that they're only interested in rehashing the "hits" as opposed to digging deeper into the catalogue to collate worthy material intelligently.

But maybe you're right, maybe it's a good sign. Anything is better than more Essentials.

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Sorry, this is lame. They've reissued these very albums within the last two years!

Actually I'm encouraged by this. I've hoped they'd go back to some of the late Fantasy ideas on intelligent assembling of reissue material as opposed to just the straight reissues. This is a much more cost-effective and cohesive presentation of the material than the splintered "originals".

Yeah, but I think it depends. I would love to see more box sets like the late Fantasys, but not like this. It overblows the Miles/Sonny "partnership" into something that it's not and rehashes well-worn material that is best served by the "originals". What I would like to see is something like a complete Dolphy Five Spot set, a Jaki Byard or Booker Ervin or Teddy Charles or Shelly Manne set. This suggests to me that they're only interested in rehashing the "hits" as opposed to digging deeper into the catalogue to collate worthy material intelligently.

But maybe you're right, maybe it's a good sign. Anything is better than more Essentials.

I second the suggestions above, especially the Dolphy Five Spot and Booker Ervin sets. A set with the Red Garland quintet sessions that produced the individual albums All Mornin' Long, Dig It!, High Pressure and Soul Junction would also be nice.

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"Classic" I don't know about, but you got two future giants each well on their way to becoming exactly that playing side by side and mutually inspiring each other.

Plus you get the Miles/Newk/Bird-on-tenor session, and the Miles/Newk/McLean Blakey date each "classic" enough for me, anyway.

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I'd say the highlight is the session with Rollins (Oleo, Doxy etc).

Never warmed that much for the Dig album and the other two sessions, though obviously the Miles/Rollins/Bird session is very special.

I wonder, if they pack up this half of "Bags' Groove" onto this 2CD set, will there be a new edition of the x-mas session by Miles/Monk/Bags to complement it? Or will those who don't have it on CD3 of the Monk Prestige box have to buy the 2CD set plus "Bags' Groove" plus "Modern Jazz Giants" to have all of that date? And to have all of the "Jazz Giants" album of Miles', you also need the Miles Quintet box, since there's the Prestige version of "Round Midnight" there, which wasn't added to my knowledge to any of the more recent reissues of "Workin'", "Steamin'", "Relaxin'" or "Cookin'" (it was definitely not on the old OJCCDs which I had).

It's all a bit weird... I don't doubt that Fantasy had the best of intentions when they started doing these boxes, and I have the Miles and both the Coltrane longboxes, all three are well done. But with Concord having taken over, all these intentions have likely vanished, alas.

But yes: still waiting/hoping against all odds for the third Coltrane box, too!

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But yes: still waiting/hoping against all odds for the third Coltrane box, too!

guess the one positive aspect about the miles/rollins box is that it shows concord aren't through with fantasy-prepared box sets yet...

Yeah, but I have the impression that at the time of the release of "Interplay", that box was already announced as being such a pre-conceived set that Concord merely put out... I doubt that the third set was ready, but I don't know anything about it, of course.

Would definitely be nice, but on the other hand a bit of a nuisance as well, as the Garland albums and the Ammons albums contain various titles without Coltrane (same was the case with "Cattin'" and "The Cats" - both are not completely included in the box, hence you'll have to keep the OJCs).

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I'd say the highlight is the session with Rollins (Oleo, Doxy etc).

That one too, but the most "intriguing" one for me is the last..the one w/"In Your Own Sweet Way", "No Line", & "Vierd Blues". That's where you can hear that Miles has finally become MILES and Sonny has finally become SONNY, kinda like two brothers who grow up together real close and finally each go out on their own.

I really like the "Dig" session though...it's rough and tumble, poorly recorded, the "personal problems" of the era coming through every note but not at all taking over...it really is a rare moment in time captured here...one of those brightly dark "this is as good as THIS is gonna get...gonna have to move on at some point...once we get ourselves together" type things that the "East" was dealing with while the sunny "West Coast" was in the spotlight.

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I'd say the highlight is the session with Rollins (Oleo, Doxy etc).

That one too, but the most "intriguing" one for me is the last..the one w/"In Your Own Sweet Way", "No Line", & "Vierd Blues". That's where you can hear that Miles has finally become MILES and Sonny has finally become SONNY, kinda like two brothers who grow up together real close and finally each go out on their own.

Hm, I'll have to revisit that date then, sounds intriguing. I've never thought of it like that... I always thought Miles was quite MILES on those 1954 sessions w/Horace (Walkin', Bags' Groove, the Blue Note quartet date).

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I'd say the highlight is the session with Rollins (Oleo, Doxy etc).

That one too, but the most "intriguing" one for me is the last..the one w/"In Your Own Sweet Way", "No Line", & "Vierd Blues". That's where you can hear that Miles has finally become MILES and Sonny has finally become SONNY, kinda like two brothers who grow up together real close and finally each go out on their own.

Hm, I'll have to revisit that date then, sounds intriguing. I've never thought of it like that... I always thought Miles was quite MILES on those 1954 sessions w/Horace (Walkin', Bags' Groove, the Blue Note quartet date).

Yeah, pretty much so, but the one thing still not fully there was that absolute confidence to be wholly himself, w/no last vestiges of his earlier self. He's getting there, he's almost there, but still isn't all the way there.

That's just how I hear it.

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"Classic" I don't know about, but you got two future giants each well on their way to becoming exactly that playing side by side and mutually inspiring each other.

Plus you get the Miles/Newk/Bird-on-tenor session, and the Miles/Newk/McLean Blakey date each "classic" enough for me, anyway.

So I guess it's good that I have all this stuff on vinyl...or does that even count anymore?

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