Garland complied with Miles’ request to “give me Ahmad’s sound, because Red played his best when he played like that.” The experience of playing some of Jamal’s repertoire and applying his style had an important influence on Garland, who later got a trio feature on one of his sessions with Miles Davis and played Jamal’s composition Ahmad’s Blues. Miles was a big fan of Jamal, and the session included two tracks that were favorites in Jamal’s repertoire: Will You Still Be Mine and A Gal In Galico. More importantly, Miles saw in Garland someone who could bring into his band the style of Ahmad Jamal, what Miles called that ‘melodic understatement and lightness’. The two shared a love for boxing, Garland being a former professional boxer who went eight rounds against Sugar Ray Robinson in 1942. Miles knew Garland for a couple of years, after the pianist moved to New York City from his home state of Texas. This was a quartet date, significant for being the first session with pianist Red Garland. On JMiles Davis went into Rudy van Gelder’s Studio in Hackensack, NJ to record a session for Prestige. This is the story of his first classic quintet and the recordings they made in 19, including some of the most revered albums in jazz history.
But starting in June 1955 events started unfolding at an accelerated pace for Miles. Two factors in his professional life were lacking and prevented him from reaching his goals – a bigger, nationwide record label, and a stable working band of excellent musicians. He was ready to move on to the next stage of his career, gain wider recognition and prestige than what his current label (Prestige, ironically) could give him and no less important – make more money. The quality of his 1954 studio output for Prestige exceeded most of his early 1950s recordings and yielded some of the best records in his career thus far: Walkin’, Bag’s Groove and Miles Davis and the Modern Jazz Giants. His tone on the trumpet improved and so his ability to lead groups of musicians at recording sessions and in clubs. After kicking his heroin habit at his father’s house in 1953, he came back to New York City a more complete musician.
In the first half of 1955 Miles Davis was in a much better shape than he was in a long time.
14 The Miles Davis Quintet Recordings, 1955-1956.
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