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Some jazz records sound like a performance. Relaxin' with the Miles Davis Quintet sounds like a band at ease, playing the tunes they know best and enjoying it. That relaxed confidence is why it has stayed a favorite for decades, and why it makes such a good first Miles Davis record on vinyl. Here is what it is, who plays on it and where to buy a copy.
What it is
Relaxin' with the Miles Davis Quintet was released on Prestige Records in 1958. Craft Recordings, which looks after the Prestige catalog today, says it is one of the four albums that came out of the two legendary 1956 sessions held at the Rudy Van Gelder Studio in Hackensack, New Jersey.
The lineup is the group often called the First Great Quintet:
- Miles Davis, trumpet
- John Coltrane, tenor saxophone
- Red Garland, piano
- Paul Chambers, bass
- Philly Joe Jones, drums
Craft quotes Davis himself, writing in 1989 about those sessions: "That was some great music we made at both those sessions and I'm really proud of it today."
The marathon sessions
Concord's announcement of the Original Jazz Classics relaunch tells the background. Davis assembled the quintet in 1955, with Garland, Chambers, Jones and Coltrane, who replaced Sonny Rollins. Concord calls it the defining hard bop group, with a standing engagement at New York's Café Bohemia. Between November 1955 and October 1956, the quintet recorded three marathon sessions that produced five albums for Prestige: Miles: The New Miles Davis Quintet (1956), Cookin' (1957), Relaxin' (1958), Workin' (1960) and Steamin' (1961). To our ears, that pace is part of why these records feel so natural.
What is on it
Side A
- If I Were a Bell
- You're My Everything
- I Could Write a Book
Side B
- Oleo
- It Could Happen to You
- Woody'n You
It is a set of standards and jazz tunes, played with a light touch. If I Were a Bell opens the record and is a great place to start, and Oleo on side B shows how hard this band could swing.
Why it is cool
This is the sound of a classic band at full strength. Davis and Coltrane are two of the most important voices in jazz, and hearing them side by side in this setting is a treat. The rhythm section of Garland, Chambers and Jones is as solid as it gets. The record is also short and easy to play front to back, two sides of six tunes.
The Craft LP linked below is a standard weight pressing with a Rudy Van Gelder remaster, which makes it an easy way to own the record.
How to listen
Relaxin' sounds like five musicians playing in a room together, so treat it that way. Play a full side at a time at a natural volume, and let the tracks run into each other the way an evening set would.
On a second listen, follow a single player. Track Miles on trumpet through a tune, then go back and follow Coltrane on tenor saxophone, then the rhythm section underneath. The contrast between the two horns is one of the great pleasures of this band, and hearing each voice on its own makes the whole make more sense.
Keep the record clean and store it upright in its sleeve. A well kept LP will play quietly for years, which matters on a record with this much space in it.
Who should buy it
Anyone starting a jazz collection, any Coltrane fan and anyone who wants to hear Miles at ease. It belongs on the shelf beside the Bill Evans Trio's Waltz for Debby and Vince Guaraldi's A Charlie Brown Christmas. To go deeper into the labels behind it, read our Original Jazz Classics starter guide and our Blue Note starter guide.
Once the jazz shelf starts growing, our guide to record storage and display will help.
Where to buy
Craft sells the LP directly, and record shops and online retailers carry it on vinyl and CD.
For more records worth owning, browse our vinyl guides.
