''Miles Davis Volume 2'' is the fifth studio album by musician

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 ...

. It refers to two separate but related entities. The first is a

studio album released by Blue Note Records as a 10-inch LP, as BLP 5022 in 1953. The six tracks from this LP plus five alternate takes were released on CD in 1990 and remastered with restored artwork in 2001. The second ''Miles Davis Volume 2'' is a compilation of tracks from all three of his sessions with the label, released (with different cover art) in 1956 as BLP 1502. The original 10-inch LP (BLP 5022) contained music from Davis' second session for Blue Note, recorded April 20, 1953. The recording was made at a point in Davis' life when he was struggling with heroin addiction, and in his autobiography Davis remembers that he,

Jimmy Heath James Edward Heath (October 25, 1926 – January 19, 2020), nicknamed Little Bird, was an American jazz saxophonist, composer, arranger, and big band leader. He was the brother of bassist Percy Heath and drummer Albert Heath. Biography Heath w ...

, and Art Blakey were all very high in the studio. Davis also states that the song title "C.T.A." was named after Heath's girlfriend Connie Theresa Ann. The 1990 CD (Blue Note CDP 7 81502 2) contained the music recorded at the April 20, 1953, session, including all of the original 10"LP, along with alternate takes from the same session, but using the cover art from the 1956 compilation LP. The 2001 CD (Blue Note 7243 5 32611 2 2), remastered by

Rudy Van Gelder Rudolph Van Gelder (November 2, 1924 – August 25, 2016) was an American recording engineer who specialized in jazz. Over more than half a century, he recorded several thousand sessions, with musicians including John Coltrane, Miles Davis, Theloni ...

, restored the artwork from BLP 5022 with the same track list. Davis' other recordings for Blue Note (in 1952 and 1954) are collected on the RVG CD edition of '' Miles Davis Volume 1''. The 12-inch LP (BLP 1502) was originally released in 1956 (following '' Miles Davis Volume 1'' (BLP 1501)) after Davis won the ''

Down Beat ' (styled in all caps) is an American music magazine devoted to "jazz, blues and beyond", the last word indicating its expansion beyond the jazz realm which it covered exclusively in previous years. The publication was established in 1934 in Chi ...

'' readers poll as best trumpeter. The two volumes of repackaged Miles Davis material were the first releases in Blue Note's new 1500 series of 12"LPs. The music compiled on the two volumes was from three separate recording sessions made over 1952–54, some of which had been previously issued as singles, and as three now discontinued 10" LPs. ''Volume 2'' contained material from all three sessions, and some previously unreleased alternate takes. The master takes of the March 6, 1954 session, which made up the bulk of the 12"LP, had originally been issued in 10"LP format under the title '' Miles Davis, Volume 3'' (BLP 5040), and the May 9, 1952 material had been previously released the 10" LP '' Young Man with a Horn'' (BLP 5013). Some Japanese CD versions reproduce the original 12"LP running order.

Track listing

10" LP

BLP 5022, all tracks recorded April 20, 1953:

CD

RVG Edition released 2001, all tracks recorded April 20, 1953:

12" LP

BLP 1502:

Personnel

May 9, 1952 *

–

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 ...

* J. J. Johnson –

trombone The trombone (german: Posaune, Italian, French: ''trombone'') is a musical instrument in the brass family. As with all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player's vibrating lips cause the air column inside the instrument to vibrate ...

Jackie McLean John Lenwood "Jackie" McLean (May 17, 1931 – March 31, 2006) was an American jazz alto saxophonist, composer, bandleader, and educator, and is one of the few musicians to be elected to the ''DownBeat'' Hall of Fame in the year of their deat ...

– alto saxophone *

Gil Coggins Gilbert Lloyd "Gil" Coggins (August 23, 1924 – February 15, 2004) was an American jazz pianist. Coggins was born to parents of West Indian heritage.

–

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keybo ...

Oscar Pettiford Oscar Pettiford (September 30, 1922 – September 8, 1960) was an American jazz double bassist, cellist and composer. He was one of the earliest musicians to work in the bebop idiom. Biography Pettiford was born in Okmulgee, Oklahoma, United ...

– 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 April 20, 1953 * Miles Davis – trumpet * J. J. Johnson – trombone *

–

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 ...

* Gil Coggins – 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 * Art Blakey – drums March 6, 1954March 6, 1954 Session Details
Miles Ahead: A Miles Davis Website, accessed July 14, 2014 * Miles Davis – trumpet *

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 – bass * Art Blakey – drums

References

{{Authority control 1956 compilation albums Albums produced by Michael Cuscuna Blue Note Records compilation albums Miles Davis compilation albums de:Miles Davis Volume 2