‘Kind of Blue’ was the second jazz album I bought, and it is still one of my favorites. And both of the stints that John Coltrane had with Miles Davis produced some stunning work. The two contrasted each other in some very nice ways – the lyricism of Miles’ trumpet against the much more rapid and harmonic playing of Coltrane. The ‘Complete Columbia Recordings from 1955 to 1961’ captures this second time the two men played together (and also sees Cannonball Adderley, Red Garland, Bill Evans, Wynton Kelley and others during this time span). It leaves the cool jazz of the Prestige years behind and forges ahead with hard-bop, then into the modal experiments of ‘Kind of Blue’, wrapping up with a beautiful recording of ‘Someday My Prince WIll Come’. There are also a few live recordings on the box set, and the energy of Coltrane live (and his endurance) certainly drove Miles Davis creatively, though it also drove him mad. In a book of jazz anecdotes that I have, someone asked Coltrane (with Miles sitting next to him) how his solos get to be so long, and Coltrane stets to the point of saying that he just doesn’t know how to stop them. Miles leans forewarned and sees ‘you take the fucking horn out of your mouth!’. Strangely enough, after hearing this quote I began to hear that this is exactly what Miles Davis would do at times.

I can’t possibly write about how brilliant these recordings are. And there is something very special about the relationship you hear between Davis and Coltrane, undeniably two of the greatest jazz artists of the 20th century. The partnership basically ends with Miles Davis kicking Coltrane out of the band a second time, reportedly for drug use. Some stories I’ve heard had Miles doing this in hopes of getting Coltrane to kick his habits. And others talk about the deep regret Miles Davis had after Coltrane’s departure. While I can’t find the actual quote, one that was told to me by a friend sticks in my mind. While hearing Roland Kirk play 4 horns at the same time and make beautiful contrapuntal melodies, someone supposedly leans over to Miles and says ‘man – could you imagine having someone that can play like that?’ and Miles replies ‘I did once… I did’.