Miles Davis with Michel Legrand- The Legrand Jazz Recordings (June 25, 1958 NYC)

June 25, 1958
Columbia 30th Street Studio, New York City, New York

MICHEL LEGRAND with MILES DAVIS
Miles Davis trumpet
Phil Woods alto saxophone
John Coltrane tenor saxophone
Jerome Richardson baritone saxophone
Herbie Mann flute
Barry Galbraith guitar
Betty Glamann harp
Eddie Costa vibrophone
Bill Evans piano
Paul Chambers bass
Kenny Dennis drums
Michel Legrand arranger, conductor

Wild Man Blues (Louis Armstrong-Jelly Roll Morton) 0:00
'Round Midnight (Bernie Hanighen-Cootie Williams-Thelonious Monk) 3:23
The Jitterbug Waltz (Fats Waller) 6:23
Django (John Lewis) 11:43
closing titles 15:54

From the album _Legrand Jazz_ [Columbia CL 1250, CS 8079 (1958)]

French pianist, composer and arranger Michel Legrand made a name for himself in the mid fifties with a string of easy listening mood music albums, with titles like _Bonjour Paris, Holiday in Rome, Castles in Spain,_ and the popular _I Love Paris._ But he was also a jazz fan and when a payment dispute arose with Columbia Records a deal was struck: he would be allowed to make a jazz album, on his own terms, with his pick of musicians.

_Legrand Jazz_ was the result, recorded at three sessions with an impressive cast of US jazz musicians, such as Ben Webster, Art Farmer, Donald Byrd, and Hank Jones, and including Columbia's new star Miles Davis, the only player whose name was featured on the LP front cover alongside Legrand's. This would be Miles' final appearance as a sideman until the comeback years of the 1980s.

The session with Miles and ten other players, including three members of his current band, Coltrane, Evans, and Chambers, consisted of four tunes, two by stalwarts of the classic jazz era, two by contemporaries of Davis.

Wild Man Blues was originally recorded in 1927 by clarinettist Johnny Dodds; versions by its composers, Louis Armstrong and Jelly Roll Morton, swiftly followed. 31 years later Legrand gives it a slightly dissonant, modern revamp, with intricate contrapuntal figures supporting the melody. Costa's vibes are a particularly attractive colouring in all these arrangements. John Coltrane, then on the verge of a hugely influential solo career, takes a couple of commanding spots on these pieces but Legrand recalled his uncertainty at the session: "I loved the way Miles Davis and John Coltrane played but I was also a bit afraid. I wondered how they would react to my arrangements. Miles didn't say anything but John asked me 'How do you want me to play my solo?' I was amazed. All I could say was 'John, play exactly the way you feel after you listen to what's happening around you.' When it came time for him to solo, he integrated himself thoroughly into my arrangements without sacrificing one note of his own conception."

Monk's 'Round Midnight was synonymous with Miles by this point- this is his third studio recording of the piece since his career reviving performance at the 1955 Newport Jazz Festival. The sumptuous arrangement smooths out some of Monk's astringency and comes closest to Legrand's easy listening style. Miles gives a masterful, evocative, Harmon muted statement of the theme, apart from Mann taking the bridge, and then it's over.

Fats Waller composed The Jitterbug Waltz in 1942, the year before 'Round Midnight, but stylistically it seems to belong to a different age. The careful, complex arrangement almost seems too mannered, although the stop-start rhythm section suggests Legrand may have been listening to Charles Mingus. The solo sections are more spacious and the horns and Evans get to blow a chorus.

The highlight of the session is an arrangement of Django, pianist John Lewis' beautiful theme, recorded in 1954 by his group The Modern Jazz Quartet in dedication to Belgian guitarist Django Reinhardt, who had died the previous year. Miles had cited the piece as one of the greatest compositions ever, and he fully does it justice. The woodwinds lay out, and Miles takes it all the way, over a shifting bed of dream-like textures from the vibes, harp, and guitar. Lewis had of course been part of the _Birth Of The Cool_ project, and while the similarly sized group on these recordings is very different in instrumentation it evokes a similar impression of urbane, sophisticated, thoughtfully arranged jazz.

Columbia's engineers captured the sound beautifully on this session- I gave the recordings a couple of tweaks at the top end and around Chambers' bass.

Legrand would go on to have a prolific Oscar and Grammy winning career, composing for over 200 movies, including the hit song Windmills Of Your Mind from _The Thomas Crown Affair._ He also made occasional returns to jazz- his 1982 album _After The Rain_ (Pablo) is particularly fine- and he would collaborate again with Miles on the soundtrack to Rolf de Heer's 1991 film _Dingo._

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