WIWS Banner

The Second Disc

Expanded and Remastered Music News

  • Home
  • Holiday Gift Guide
  • News
    • Classic Rock
    • Rock
    • Pop
    • Jazz
    • Popular Standards/Vocal
    • R&B/Soul
    • Country
    • Folk
    • Cast Recordings
    • Soundtracks
    • Everything Else
      • Classical/Opera
      • Disco/Dance
      • Funk
      • Gospel
      • Rap/Hip-Hop
  • Features
    • Release Round-Up
    • Giveaways!
    • Interviews
  • Reviews
    • Classic Rock
    • Rock
    • Pop
    • Jazz
    • Popular Standards/Vocal
    • R&B/Soul
    • Country
    • Folk
    • Cast Recordings
    • Soundtracks
    • Everything Else
      • Classical/Opera
      • Disco/Dance
      • Funk
      • Gospel
      • Rap/Hip-Hop
  • Release Calendar
    • Coming Soon
    • Now Available
  • About
  • Second Disc Records
    • Full Catalog
  • Contact

/ News

You're My Everything: Craft Recordings Reissues "Relaxin' with the Miles Davis Quintet" On Small Batch Audiophile Vinyl

April 14, 2022 By Joe Marchese Leave a Comment

Miles Davis Relaxin Packshot

AVAILABLE SOON FROM CRAFT RECORDINGS

Craft Recordings is continuing its Small Batch audiophile series with a 180-gram vinyl reissue of 1958's Prestige release Relaxin' with the Miles Davis Quintet, recorded in 1956 by the legendary trumpeter with John Coltrane on tenor saxophone, Red Garland on piano, Paul Chambers on bass, and Philly Joe Jones on drums.  The release - which becomes available tomorrow, Friday, April 15 at 2:00 pm PST / 5:00 pm EST through CraftRecordings.com - is limited to 5,000 copies worldwide.  It follows prior Small Batch releases of John Coltrane's Lush Life and Yusuf Lateef's Eastern Sounds, both of which sold out almost immediately.

Relaxin' with the Miles Davis Quintet was derived from two sessions in May and October 1956 in acclaimed engineer Rudy Van Gelder's Hackensack, New Jersey studio.  (Davis' entire Prestige output, 32 tracks recorded over these two sessions and one more, was issued on six albums between 1956 and 1961.)  A classic of bop, Relaxin' features the leader and his group tackling a number of classic Broadway and Hollywood standards from songwriters including Frank Loesser (Guys and Dolls' "If I Were a Bell"), Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart (Pal Joey's "I Could Write a Book"), Jimmy Van Heusen and Johnny Burke ("It Could Happen to You," from the film And the Angels Sing), and Harry Warren, Mort Dixon, and Joe Young's "You're My Everything" (from the Ed Wynn-headlined revue The Laugh Parade).  The album was rounded out with vibrant renditions of jazz standards from Dizzy Gillespie ("Woody 'n' You") and Sonny Rollins ("Oleo").  By the time of its release on Prestige, Davis had already begun his landmark run of albums on the Columbia label, but the Prestige material quickly assumed a venerated place within his discography.

While Relaxin' has been issued numerous times in the past on vinyl, CD, and SACD, Craft's Small Batch reissue aims to present it in the best sound yet.  It's been mastered from the original analog tapes by Bernie Grundman and pressed on 180-gram vinyl at RTI using Neotech's VR900 compound and a one-step lacquer process--instead of the standard three-step process--which Craft states "[allows] for the utmost level of musical detail, clarity, and dynamics while reducing the amount of surface noise on the record. The limited nature of these pressings guarantees that each record is a true representation of the original lacquer and is as close as the listener can get to the original recording."

Each pressing of Relaxin' is individually numbered and housed within a foil-stamped, linen-wrapped slipcase boasting an acrylic inset of the original artwork. The vinyl LP itself, stored within a tip-on jacket and protected by an anti-static, non-scratching inner sleeve, is extractable via a frictionless ribbon pull tab.  The deluxe package also features new liner notes by jazz historian Ashley Kahn.  He writes, in part, "The sidemen [Davis] had chosen emphasized rhythmic dexterity and strong, individual styles that sometimes complemented and--to some ears--seemed discordant and contradictory.  The lineup was a study in contrast--Miles' languid, sparse phrasing next to Coltrane's explosive, hard-edged verbosity, Garland's sophisticated voicings and Chamber's penchant for arco solos, alongside Jones' rootsy rhythmic propulsion.  When melodic lines were smartly shared or handed off between different players, disparate ideas would suddenly lock in together...It was about delicacy and muscle. It was about drops and shifts and surprises. Often the group reimagined song structures more as sectional exercises, one feel or groove morphing into another."

The hard-bop treatment by Davis' First Great Quintet of these ballad standards set a high-water mark for the genre.  Craft's Small Batch reexamination opens for pre-orders tomorrow, Friday, April 15 at 2:00 pm PST / 5:00 pm EST through CraftRecordings.com.  You'll find the track listing below.  Get more details on the Small Batch series here.

Miles Davis, Relaxin' with the Miles Davis Quintet (Prestige 7129, 1958 - reissued Craft Recordings, 2022)

Side A

  1. If I Were a Bell
  2. You're My Everything
  3. I Could Write a Book

Side B

  1. Oleo
  2. It Could Happen to You
  3. Woody'n You

Categories: News Formats: Vinyl Genre: Jazz Tags: John Coltrane, Miles Davis, Paul Chambers, Philly Joe Jones, Red Garland

Avatar photo

Joe Marchese

JOE MARCHESE (Editor) joined The Second Disc shortly after its launch in early 2010, and has since penned daily news and reviews about classic music of all genres. In 2015, Joe formed the Second Disc Records label. Celebrating the great songwriters, producers and artists who created the sound of American popular song, Second Disc Records, in conjunction with Real Gone Music, has released newly-curated collections produced by Joe from iconic artists such as Johnny Mathis, Bobby Darin, Laura Nyro, Melissa Manchester, Chet Atkins, and many others. He has contributed liner notes to reissues from a diverse array of artists, among them Nat "King" Cole, Paul Williams, Lesley Gore, Dusty Springfield, B.J. Thomas, The 5th Dimension, Burt Bacharach, The Mamas and the Papas, Carpenters, Perry Como, Rod McKuen, Doris Day, Jackie DeShannon, and Andy Williams, and has compiled releases for talents including Robert Goulet and Keith Allison of Paul Revere and the Raiders. Over the past two decades, Joe has also worked in a variety of capacities on and off Broadway as well as at some of the premier theatres in the U.S., including Lincoln Center Theater, George Street Playhouse, Paper Mill Playhouse, Long Wharf Theatre, and the York Theatre Company. He has felt privileged to work on productions alongside artists such as the late Jack Klugman, Eli Wallach, Arthur Laurents, Betty Comden and Adolph Green. In 2009, Joe began contributing theatre and music reviews to the print publication The Sondheim Review, and in 2012, he joined the staff of The Digital Bits as a regular contributor writing about film and television on DVD and Blu-ray. Joe currently resides in the suburbs of New York City.

Connect With Joe: FacebookTwitter

You Might Also Like

  • Rhino Start Your Ear Off Right 2023Give It Up: Rhino Announces This Year's "Start Your Ear Off Right" Releases
  • Pink Floyd Animals CDRelease Round-Up: Week of September 16
  • John Coltrane Blue Train Complete MastersMoment's Notice: John Coltrane's "Blue Train: The Complete Masters" Due in September
  • StreamThe Weekend Stream: June 18, 2022

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Upcoming Releases

  • Carole Bayer Sager Sometimes Late at Night
    Sometimes Late at Night: Expanded Edition
    Carole Bayer Sager
    February 03, 2023
  • Carole King Home Again
    Home Again: Live in Central Park
    Carole King
    February 10, 2023
  • Robert Palmer Island Years
    The Island Records Years
    Robert Palmer
    February 17, 2023
See Full Calendar

Connect

  • Facebook
  • RSS
  • Twitter

Subscribe to Blog via Email

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 4,538 other subscribers

Popular

  • headquarters
    Review: The Monkees, "Headquarters: Super Deluxe Edition" posted on January 24, 2023 | under Reviews
  • Bob Dylan Fragments Bootleg 17 Cover
    Release Round-Up: Week of January 27 posted on January 27, 2023 | under Release Round-Up
  • Marshall Crenshaw 40
    Something's Gonna Happen: Marshall Crenshaw's Expanded Debut Coming Back to CD posted on January 26, 2023 | under News

Comments

  • small faces here come the nice2
    Return To Itchycoo Park: Small Faces' "Here Come The Nice" Deluxe Box Set Arrives In January [UPDATED 12/3] 84 comments | by Joe Marchese | posted on December 3, 2013 | under News
  • the beatles u s albums box2
    British Invasion! The Beatles Unveil "The U.S. Albums" Box Set in January 69 comments | by Joe Marchese | posted on December 12, 2013 | under News
  • Rolling Stones in Mono
    Out of Their Heads: Stones Plan Mono Box Set 47 comments | by Mike Duquette | posted on August 10, 2016 | under News

Music Resources

  • Addicted to Vinyl
  • Crap from the Past
  • Discogs
  • Film Score Monthly
  • IMWAN Forum – From the Vaults
  • MusicTAP
  • Musoscribe
  • Pause & Play
  • Popblerd
  • Popdose
  • Record Racks
  • Slicing Up Eyeballs
  • Steve Hoffman Music Forums
  • Ultimate Classic Rock
  • Vintage Vinyl News
  • Viva La Mainstream
  • Wolfgang's Vault

Labels of Note

  • Ace Records
  • Analog Spark
  • Bear Family
  • BGO Records
  • Big Break Records
  • Blixa Sounds
  • Cherry Red Label Group
  • Craft Recordings
  • Demon Music Group
  • Friday Music
  • Funky Town Grooves
  • Iconoclassic Records
  • Intervention Records
  • Intrada
  • Kritzerland
  • La La Land Records
  • Legacy Recordings
  • Light in the Attic
  • Masterworks Broadway
  • Now Sounds
  • Omnivore Recordings
  • Real Gone Music
  • Resonance Records
  • Rhino Entertainment
  • Rock Candy Records
  • SoulMusic Records
  • Sunset Blvd. Records
  • Supermegabot
  • Varese Sarabande
  • Vinyl Me, Please
  • Wounded Bird
Copyright © 2023 The Second Disc. All rights reserved. · Site by Metaglyphics

The Second Disc is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com, amazon.ca and amazon.co.uk.

Terms and Conditions - Privacy Policy