Round About Midnight Meridian MS

Round About Midnight

Miles Davis Quintet

Columbia Records, 1955

REVIEW BY: Christopher Thelen

ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED: 01/14/2003

Jazz is sometimes a foreign language to me. I'm not necessarilyreferring to the music; rather, the way that many other writers canbreak down a song or arrangement into such minute details that italmost feels like I'm reading Scientific American rather than amusic review. Nevertheless, I find myself in awe of these writers,for they seem to hear more than I can. They break down the nuances;all I can do is go with my gut instinct.

When it comes to Round About Midnight, the debut release on Columbia for jazzlegend Miles Davis, that gut instinct tells me that I'm listeningto something that's magical, yet still somewhat in development.(Note: Since I first got my copy of this disc, it has beenre-issued with bonus tracks originally included on The Complete Miles Davis/John Coltrane Sessions, a set in my"someday I'll get to it" pile.)

If anything, this disc is less of a showcase for Davis (whoknows when to take the forefront in the music and when to let hissidemen take the spotlight) than it is for saxophonist JohnColtrane, who gets what turns out to be his big break on this disc.Without upstaging his boss, Coltrane delivers some powerfulsaxophone work that quickly cements his place as a legend in theworld of jazz. Where Davis seemed to play things low-key in hissolos for the most part, Coltrane wasn't afraid to turn the burnersup and let things start cooking.

Take the title track, "'Round Midnight," for starters. A slowbuild on Davis's muted trumpet leads to a transitional chorus andthe more powerful showcase of Coltrane's solo. That statement seemsto bolster the performances of pianist Red Garland, bassist PaulChambers and drummer Philly Joe Jones, as the energy level israised by more than a few degrees. Yet this isn't all due simply toColtrane's performance; rather, it is the wisdom of Davis tocontrol how the energy built in the performance that is just asimportant.