''Walkin'' (PRLP 7076) is a

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 ...

compilation album released in March 1957 by

Prestige Records Prestige Records is a jazz record company and label founded in 1949 by Bob Weinstock in New York City which issued recordings in the mainstream, bop, and cool jazz idioms. The company recorded hundreds of albums by many of the leading jazz music ...

. The album compiles material previously released on two 10 inch LPs in 1954 (''Miles Davis All-Star Sextet'' and Side One of ''Miles Davis Quintet'', dropping "I'll Remember April" from Side Two (which had been on the 12" LP ''

Blue Haze ''Blue Haze'' is a compilation album of tracks recorded in 1953 and 1954 by Miles Davis for Prestige Records. Overview The album is a reissue in 12" format of the 10" LP ''Miles Davis Quartet'' (PRLP 161), with " I'll Remember April" added. Tr ...

'', released the previous year, itself a collection of tunes from previous 10" LPs) and replacing it with the previously unreleased "Love Me or Leave Me" recorded at the same session. Here credited to the "Miles Davis All-Stars", the songs were recorded on 3 April and 29 April 1954 by two slightly different groups led by Davis. Both sessions were recorded at Rudy Van Gelder's home studio. The earlier session was a quintet with David Schildkraut on

alto saxophone The alto saxophone is a member of the saxophone family of woodwind instruments. Saxophones were invented by Belgian instrument designer Adolphe Sax in the 1840s and patented in 1846. The alto saxophone is pitched in E, smaller than the B t ...

, and produced the three tracks on side two. Schildkraut is the only musician not credited on the cover, and is otherwise almost unknown. Two of these tracks were originally released on the 10" LP ''

Miles Davis Quintet The Miles Davis Quintet was an American jazz band from 1955 to early 1969 led by Miles Davis. The quintet underwent frequent personnel changes toward its metamorphosis into a different ensemble in 1969. Most references pertain to two distinct and ...

'', Prestige PRLP 185. The earlier release also included " I'll Remember April", recorded at the same time, now found on the Prestige album ''

'' (PRLP 7054). Another tune from this session, "Love Me or Leave Me", was previously unreleased and substituted here for "I'll Remember April". The second session, which makes up all of side one, was a sextet with

J. J. Johnson J.J. Johnson (January 22, 1924 – February 4, 2001), born James Louis Johnson and also known as Jay Jay Johnson, was an American jazz trombonist, composer and arranger. Johnson was one of the earliest trombonists to embrace bebop. Biograph ...

on trombone and

Lucky Thompson Eli "Lucky" Thompson (June 16, 1924 – July 30, 2005) was an American jazz tenor and soprano saxophonist whose playing combined elements of swing and bebop. Although John Coltrane usually receives the most credit for bringing the soprano sa ...

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 ...

. The rhythm section was the same as the earlier session. These two tracks were originally issued on the 10" LP '' Miles Davis All-Star Sextet'' PRLP 182. The album's title track, a staple of Davis's live set for many years, was key to the emerging

hard bop Hard bop is a subgenre of jazz that is an extension of bebop (or "bop") music. Journalists and record companies began using the term in the mid-1950s to describe a new current within jazz that incorporated influences from rhythm and blues, gospe ...

approach developed in the mid-1950s, Davis providing it with an anthem. The composition has been attributed by various sources to

Jimmy Mundy James Mundy (June 28, 1907 – April 24, 1983) was an American jazz tenor saxophonist, arranger, and composer, best known for his arrangements for Benny Goodman, Count Basie, and Earl Hines. Mundy died of cancer in New York City at the age of 75 ...

, Miles Davis, and

Gene Ammons Eugene "Jug" Ammons (April 14, 1925 – August 6, 1974), also known as "The Boss", was an American jazz tenor saxophonist. The son of boogie-woogie pianist Albert Ammons, Gene Ammons is remembered for his accessible music, steeped in soul and ...

. The copyright registration listed the composer as Richard E. Carpenter, a businessman and artist manager who had professional relationships with Mundy and Tadd Dameron, and was not known to be a musician or composer. " Solar" was attributed to Davis and copyrighted in his name in 1963. Evidence revealed in 2012 showed that it is nearly identical to "Sonny", a piece written by guitarist Chuck Wayne in the 1940s, so Wayne is regarded as the composer of "Solar".

Track listing

Side one

Side two

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 ...

–

on side one *

–

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 ...

on side one * David Schildkraut –

on side two *

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 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 keyboa ...

* Percy Heath –

bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in the bass range: ** Bass (instrument), including: ** Acoustic bass gui ...

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 A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair of matching drumsticks ...

References

1957 compilation albums Miles Davis albums Prestige Records compilation albums Albums produced by Bob Weinstock Albums recorded at Van Gelder Studio Instrumental albums {{1950s-jazz-album-stub