With a Miles Davis live box set recently back in print to celebrate his centennial, another label, Craft Recordings, is preparing a new compilation to mark the same occasion this spring. The Best of Miles Davis, to be released on vinyl March 13, is a simple eight-track compilation drawing from Miles’ mid-’50s sessions with his “first great quintet,” released through the rest of that decade on the Prestige label. Primarily comprised of pop and jazz standards (Rodgers and Hart’s “My Funny Valentine,” Thelonious Monk’s “‘Round Midnight” and “Well, You Needn’t,” Sonny Rollins’…

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…