''Jazz Track'' is a

compilation album A compilation album comprises Album#Tracks, tracks, which may be previously released or unreleased, usually from several separate recordings by either one or several Performing arts#Performers, performers. If by one artist, then generally the tr ...

Miles Davis Miles Dewey Davis III (May 26, 1926September 28, 1991) was an American trumpeter, bandleader, and composer. He is among the most influential and acclaimed figures in the history of jazz and 20th-century music. Davis adopted a variety of music ...

, released in November 1959 by

Columbia Records Columbia Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music, Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the North American division of Japanese Conglomerate (company), conglomerate Sony. It was founded on Janua ...

, catalogue CL 1268. It compiles sessions by the most recent edition of the Davis Sextet which were insufficient to compose an entire LP, with music previously released in France as a soundtrack. This album was made available on CD for the first time as part of Miles Davis' 'The Original Mono Recordings' box set.

Content

Side one is the American issue of material recorded on December 4, 1957, for the

soundtrack A soundtrack is recorded music accompanying and synchronised to the images of a motion picture, drama, book, television program, radio program, or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack o ...

of the 1958

Louis Malle Louis Marie Malle (; 30 October 1932 – 23 November 1995) was a French film director, screenwriter, and producer who worked in both Cinema of France, French cinema and Cinema of the United States, Hollywood. Described as "eclectic" and "a fi ...

film ''

Ascenseur pour l'échafaud ''Elevator to the Gallows'' (french: Ascenseur pour l'échafaud), also known as ''Frantic'' in the U.S. and ''Lift to the Scaffold'' in the U.K., is a 1958 French crime thriller film directed by Louis Malle, starring Jeanne Moreau and Maurice Ro ...

'', and previously released in Europe as a 10 inch LP on the Fontana label. The soundtrack was recorded in Paris, December 4, 1957, using local musicians, including American expatriate drummer

Kenny Clarke Kenneth Clarke Spearman (January 9, 1914January 26, 1985), nicknamed Klook, was an American jazz drummer and bandleader. A major innovator of the bebop style of drumming, he pioneered the use of the ride cymbal to keep time rather than the hi-ha ...

. Side two consists of newly released material recorded by his sextet on May 26, 1958. These were the same musicians who would soon record ''

Kind of Blue ''Kind of Blue'' is a studio album by American jazz trumpeter, composer, and bandleader Miles Davis. It was recorded on March 2 and April 22, 1959, at Columbia's 30th Street Studio in New York City, and released on August 17 of that year by Co ...

'', excluding pianist

Wynton Kelly Wynton Charles Kelly (December 2, 1931 – April 12, 1971) was an American jazz pianist and composer. He is known for his lively, blues-based playing and as one of the finest accompanists in jazz. He began playing professionally at the age of ...

. The composition "Fran Dance" is named for Davis' wife, Frances Taylor. The complete Fontana soundtrack was issued on compact disc in the 1980s, using the original title and Fontana artwork, expanded with all studio takes from the session.The October 25, 1990 date for issue on the Amazon website is given to all compact discs which pre-date their indexing system for release dates; this compact disc appeared in the American marketplace some time in the 1980s. The sextet material was later rereleased in 1974 under the title '' 1958 Miles'', with live recordings from the same year replacing the soundtrack material. This album, and not ''Jazz Track'', survived into the compact disc era. The sextet material, with additional tracks, appeared again in 2008 as part of the '' Kind of Blue 40th Anniversary Edition'' on

Legacy Records In law, a legacy is something held and transferred to someone as their inheritance, as by will and testament. Personal effects, family property, marriage property or collective property gained by will of real property. Legacy or legacies may refer ...

Track listing

''All tracks written by

except as indicated.''

Side one

Side two

Personnel

;Side one *

– trumpet * Barney Wilen – tenor saxophone *

René Urtreger René Urtreger (born July 6, 1934) is a French bebop pianist. Early life Urtreger was born in Paris and began his piano studies at the age of four, studying privately first, and then at the Conservatory. He studied with an orientation toward jaz ...

– piano *

Pierre Michelot Pierre Michelot (3 March 1928 – 3 July 2005) was a French jazz double bass player and arranger. Early life Michelot was born in Saint-Denis, Seine-Saint-Denis, Paris on 3 March 1928. He studied piano from 1936 until 1938. He switched to playi ...

– double bass *

– drums ;Side two * Miles Davis – trumpet *

Julian "Cannonball" Adderley Julian Edwin "Cannonball" Adderley (September 15, 1928August 8, 1975) was an American jazz alto saxophonist of the hard bop era of the 1950s and 1960s. Adderley is perhaps best remembered for the 1966 soul jazz single "Mercy, Mercy, Mercy", whi ...

– alto saxophone *

John Coltrane John William Coltrane (September 23, 1926 – July 17, 1967) was an American jazz saxophonist The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of br ...

– tenor saxophone *

Bill Evans William John Evans (August 16, 1929 – September 15, 1980) was an American jazz pianist and composer who worked primarily as the leader of his trio. His use of impressionist harmony, interpretation of traditional jazz repertoire, block ch ...

– piano *

Paul Chambers Paul Laurence Dunbar Chambers Jr. (April 22, 1935 – January 4, 1969) was an American jazz double bassist. A fixture of rhythm sections during the 1950s and 1960s, he has become one of the most widely-known jazz bassists of the hard bop era. ...

– bass *

Jimmy Cobb Wilbur James "Jimmy" Cobb (January 20, 1929May 24, 2020) was an American jazz drummer. He was part of Miles Davis's First Great Sextet. At the time of his death, he had been the band's last surviving member for nearly thirty years. He was a ...

– drums

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jazz Track 1959 compilation albums Miles Davis albums Columbia Records albums Albums produced by Teo Macero