AR: Walkin'

Miles Davis - Walkin' (1954)

A screaming pre-theme horn line over a th-thump drumline and piano frills kicks off this album and gives way to the melody of one of my favorite 12-bar blues numbers of the Davis catalog. It's the title track, and it's worth the price of admission by itself. "Walkin'" slays me every time with its cool-as-hell take-your-time stroll. Davis's cool bop solos are typically killer, but here have an edge of baddest mofo in the room. The song is thirteen and a half minutes of liquid classic jazz: multibar, taking turns, playing around-the-theme solos over piano vamps and a walking bassline. It's impossibly hip: Davis has, for me anyways, crafted an archetypal mid '50s jazz cool blues tune. His and the other band member's solos are just buttery, as the All-Stars, too, rip this one up. Miles takes a long turn, a J.J. Johnson follows on trombone, and Lucky Thompson crushes his sax solo for the middle section. Keep an ear out for a couple of Moments - at 8:07, things hit sort of a perfect "hose" (to put it in Carlos Santana terms) between the sax and piano, creating a little mini-slice of divinity. At 8:30, Davis comes back in over the top, haunting backup for the sax - it's the tune's melody! - accenting things with a thin strand of memory. It's not a typical move, as far as I know - it's almost sacrilegious to jump in on someone's solo territory like that, but here it gives the song a middle anchor that works wonders. The sax wails on, Horace Silver follows on piano, and then Miles steps back in, trumpet echoing all over the place, to close things out. At 11:30, the horns all jump in together over a new riff before returning to the tune's theme. Again, sort of a wacky move, but another touch that keeps the song fresh. After the theme, they reprise the pre-theme from the song's opening and let things collapse. Just an impeccable, five star song.

The rest of Walkin' is strong, too."Blue n' Boogie" is a breakneck-paced virtuosity showcase that centers on a memorable melody, "Solar" is a subdued, quick paced number that emits a mature dignity in its restraint, and "You Don't Know What Love Is" is, unsurprisingly, a somber muted-trumpet ballad. The album closer, "Love Me or Leave Me," is a return to whiplash bop tendencies, flying through its seven minutes with staccato precision. All of these songs sit in a long shadow cast by the opener, but they're very, very tasty stuff. And generally speaking, in addition to the playing brilliance, this album sounds great - it has that typical mid-'50s, recorded in the same room open space vibe that I favor.

This is Miles after the cool has been born but before he's gone modal with Kind of Blue; in the transition, he was doing just fine, thanks. Expert stuff, and while it doesn't sit in the pantheon that some other Davis albums do - those discs, and you probably know the ones I'm talking about, maintain that "Walkin'" peak for the full LP - it's a great disc AND it has one of my favorite Miles Davis songs. Granted, I've got lots (30?) of Miles Davis albums, and there are others I would grab before this one - but that says more about the quality of his output than of this disc. So we've got a top-to-bottom spinner with an all-timer on it, and one that's a little well less known at that - all the more reason to make it one that I recommend sans reservation.

Status: Recommended
Nyet's Fave: "Walkin'"