Miles Davis
Quiet nights

Given that nothing is wasted from the pig (even though Miles Davis's extensive discography undoubtedly contains much more superior cuts than this), Davis and Evans this time slightly miss the mark. In short, it's a strange case where both excellent and poor premises are found side by side for this work by the two buddies: a meeting between jazz and bossa nova that would leave one hopeful given the substantial miracle/masterpiece of "Sketches of Spain", but on the other hand, the long shadow of Columbia's bosses who, due to the success (also commercial) of the previous collaboration and seeing that bossa nova was all the rage, pressured the two for a new big record.
But these weren't easy years for the trumpeter from Alton: in other words, giving birth to "Kind of Blue" and "Sketches of Spain" in the same year, not to mention what preceded these two masterpieces, released with exceptional and savvy regularity, would leave anyone, even our Miles, short of breath and worn out: crisis? Probably, the chronicles say he was contemplating retirement, and in fact, apart from his actual retirement, this is the period where he released the least studio work.
Now, "Quiet Nights", regardless of what the notes accompanying the album's release at the time say, is a failed record: essentially, it seems like a cut-up of sessions that took place over two years, a period during which the two, Miles and Gil, matured just twenty minutes of music, slightly frayed, unfocused, uncertain music, where Evans for the first time seems in serious trouble, especially in conducting the rhythm section (you could imagine them, the drummer and conductor looking each other in the eyes, both waiting for directions, indeed, a desperate help); it sounds a bit like "Birth of the Cool" in "Song No.2", vaguely exotic and Latin American/Spanish/Westernish in the rest of the album; to make "Corcovado", perhaps because Evans really didn't know how to continue, after a minute they glue another take from another track of the album to the Brazilian classic.
Is nothing saved? Well... the scant twenty minutes of bossa nova that doesn’t quite know where it's headed still allow Miles to once again showcase an absolutely extraordinary lyricism and sensitivity that at times deeply touches the listener.
But twenty minutes were too few for an album, so Miles, who in '63 was still honoring some dates, decided to include a nice performance of "Summer Night", which, however, has nothing to do with the rest of the album as it seems to look back at "Kind of Blue".
After its release, Miles and Evans found it horrible, and the blame was given to producer Teo Macero (?); from their side, Columbia's top brass decided that Gil and Davis together was no longer a good thing; the latter had one last job to do, a soundtrack for a theatrical piece, "The Time of the Barracudas"; but it was also removed from performances shortly after, and only some fragments (nice, nothing special) remain published to bolster the already stretched 27 minutes, which this time were too few for a CD.

In short, a record recommended to Davis fans and completists, for the others, well... there is plenty to choose from.