''Walkin'' (PRLP 7076) is a

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

compilation album released in March 1957 by Prestige Records. The album compiles material previously released on two 10 inch LPs in 1954, including all of '' Miles Davis All-Star Sextet'' and most of '' Miles Davis Quintet''. Here credited to the "Miles Davis All-Stars", the songs were recorded on April 3 and 29, 1954, by two slightly different groups led by Davis. Both sessions were recorded at Rudy Van Gelder's home studio.

History

The April 3 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 Belgians, Belgian instrument designer Adolphe Sax in the 1840s and patented in 1846. The alto saxophone is pitched in the key of E♭ ( ...

, which produced the three tracks on side two. Schildkraut, the only musician not credited on the cover, was a frequent sideman and soloist with the bands of Stan Kenton, Pete Rugulo, Johnny Richards, and Ralph Burns. Two of these tracks were originally released on the 10" LP '' Miles Davis Quintet'', Prestige PRLP 185. The earlier release also included " I'll Remember April", recorded at the same time, now found on the Prestige album '' Blue Haze'' (PRLP 7054). Another tune from this session, "Love Me or Leave Me", was previously unreleased and substituted here for "I'll Remember April". In the 2001 documentary ''The Miles Davis Story'', Weinstock stated that ''Walkin was his favorite record that he produced. The April 29 session, which makes up all of side one, was a sextet with J. J. Johnson on trombone and Lucky Thompson on

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 (whi ...

. The rhythm section was identical to 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 approach developed in the mid-1950s, Davis providing it with an anthem. The composition has been attributed by various sources to Jimmy Mundy, Gene Ammons and Davis himself. The copyright registration lists businessman and artist manager Richard Carpenter as the composer. Carpenter had professional relationships with Mundy and Tadd Dameron, but 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 musical ensemble, ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest Register (music), register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitche ...

* Lucky Thompson –

on side one * J. J. Johnson – trombone on side one * David Schildkraut –

on side two * Horace Silver –

piano A piano is a keyboard instrument that produces sound when its keys are depressed, activating an Action (music), action mechanism where hammers strike String (music), strings. Modern pianos have a row of 88 black and white keys, tuned to a c ...

* Percy Heath – bass * Kenny Clarke –

drums The drum is a member of the percussion instrument, percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophones, membranophone. Drums consist of at least one Acoustic membrane, membrane, c ...

Charts

References

{{Authority control 1957 compilation albums Miles Davis albums Prestige Records compilation albums Albums produced by Bob Weinstock Albums recorded at Van Gelder Studio 1950s instrumental albums Albums recorded in a home studio