Miles Davis – Woodyn' You (1958) (recorded May 11, 1956)
A cover of a Dizzy Gillespie composition, it was recorded in one take at Van Gelder Studio and released on the Relaxin' With The Miles Davis Quintet LP.
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On May 11, 1956, Miles Davis and the rest of his First Great Quintet including John Coltrane were at Rudy Van Gelder’s original studio location at 25 Prospect Avenue in Hackensack, NJ, recording Dizzy Gillespie’s superb composition “Woodyn' You.”
Davis’ quintet at that time also featured Paul Chambers on bass, Red Garland on piano, and Philly Joe Jones holding it down on the drums. The group was amidst a heavy touring schedule that year and this date was one of the rare recording sessions they managed to squeeze in.
His contract with Prestige was modest enough that Davis had to pay for the studio time, so most tracks were recorded in one take. This included “Woodyn' You,” which was originally written by Gillespie for Woody Herman, and was released two yeas later in 1958 on the Relaxin’ with the Miles Davis Quintet LP.
On that day, thirteen songs were recorded in fourteen takes. Songs from this session and another held later that year on October 26, 1956 would eventually be released as four seminal Miles Davis Quintet albums.
The first was Cookin’ with the Miles Davis Quintet, released in July, 1957. As Davis explained the title, “After all, that’s what we did—came in and cooked.” Relaxin’ came next, in March, 1958. Bits of conversation were recorded during the sessions, and Prestige Records manager Bob Weinstock decided to include some of it on the albums. At the end of “Woody’n You,” Weinstock says jokingly, “Do that one over.” Miles sounds fed up as he replies, “Why?” and Coltrane asks, “Could I have the beer opener?”
In January, 1960 came Workin’ with the Miles Davis Quintet, which was recorded almost entirely on May 11, 1956, including the early Coltrane-written track “Trane’s Blues.” Finally, Steamin’ with the Miles Davis Quintet completed the set when it dropped in July or August of 1961.
Another song featured on Relaxin’ that was also recorded on May 11, 1956 was the Quintet’s take on the pop standard “It Could Happen To You,” written by Jimmy Van Heusen.
Jazz lovers agree these four albums contain some of the finest performances in the entire hard bop canon.
More info:
“The Miles Davis Quintet Recordings, 1955-1956,” The Music Aficionado, March 20, 2018
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