''Bags' Groove'' (PRLP 7109) is a

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a m ...

album by

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 musi ...

, released in 1957 by Prestige Records, compiling material from two 10" LPs recorded in 1954, plus two alternative takes.

Recording

Both takes of the title track come from a session on December 24, 1954, the first version having been previously released on '' Miles Davis All Stars, Volume 1'' (PRLP 196). ("Bags" was

vibraphonist The vibraphone is a percussion instrument in the metallophone family. It consists of tuned metal bars and is typically played by using mallets to strike the bars. A person who plays the vibraphone is called a ''vibraphonist,'' ''vibraharpist,' ...

Milt Jackson's nickname.) The other tracks recorded during this session may be found on ''

Miles Davis and the Modern Jazz Giants ''Miles Davis and the Modern Jazz Giants'' (PRLP 7150) is an album by Miles Davis, released on Prestige Records in 1959. Most of the material comes from a session on December 24, 1954, featuring Thelonious Monk and Milt Jackson, and had been pr ...

'' (PRLP 7150), and all of them are also featured on the compilation album ''Thelonious Monk: The Complete Prestige Recordings''. The rest of the album was recorded earlier in the year, on June 29, and four of the tracks had already been released as '' Miles Davis with Sonny Rollins'' (PRLP 187), with the fifth being a previously unreleased alternative take.

Music

The title track was written by Milt Jackson (“Bags” is his nickname) and the three compositions written by the young Sonny Rollins all went on to become jazz standards. On "Oleo", Davis used the

Harmon mute A mute is a device attached to a musical instrument which changes the instrument's tone quality (timbre) or lowers its volume. Mutes are commonly used on string and brass instruments, especially the trumpet and trombone, and are occasionall ...

to obtain a peculiar sound, and it would become an important feature of his playing.

Track listing

Prestige – LP 7109:

Personnel

–

trumpet The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitched one octave below the standard ...

* Sonny Rollins –

tenor saxophone The tenor saxophone is a medium-sized member of the saxophone family, a group of instruments invented by Adolphe Sax in the 1840s. The tenor and the alto are the two most commonly used saxophones. The tenor is pitched in the key of B (while ...

Horace Silver Horace Ward Martin Tavares Silver (September 2, 1928 – June 18, 2014) was an American jazz pianist, composer, and arranger, particularly in the hard bop style that he helped pioneer in the 1950s. After playing tenor saxophone and piano at sc ...

– piano *

Percy Heath Percy Heath (April 30, 1923 – April 28, 2005) was an American jazz bassist, brother of saxophonist Jimmy Heath and drummer Albert Heath, with whom he formed the Heath Brothers in 1975. Heath played with the Modern Jazz Quartet throughout ...

– bass *

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 ...

– drums On "Bags' Groove": * Miles Davis – trumpet * Milt Jackson –

vibraphone The vibraphone is a percussion instrument in the metallophone family. It consists of tuned metal bars and is typically played by using mallets to strike the bars. A person who plays the vibraphone is called a ''vibraphonist,'' ''vibraharpist ...

Thelonious Monk Thelonious Sphere Monk (, October 10, 1917 – February 17, 1982) was an American jazz pianist and composer. He had a unique improvisational style and made numerous contributions to the standard jazz repertoire, including " 'Round Midnight", ...

– piano * Percy Heath – bass * Kenny Clarke – drums

References

{{Authority control 1957 compilation albums Miles Davis albums Prestige Records compilation albums Albums produced by Bob Weinstock Albums recorded at Van Gelder Studio