Miles Davis
'Round About Midnight

Have you ever found yourself almost by chance in a place you had forgotten, relive the memory and suddenly discover a new beauty in what you had once loved passionately? It's a similar feeling, yet not entirely, to an intense déjà-vu, one so strong like a shock, so pleasant that you try to prolong it, but in vain, because it can last only a splendid moment. It has often happened to me, this time not in a particular place, but while listening again to this record.

I knew it was wonderful, I remembered the notes, the colors of the instruments, the improvisations and the melodic passages from the melancholic and eternal nocturnal delicacy of "'Round Midnight" to the almost metropolitan frenzy of "Ah-Leu-Cha", to the romanticism of "All Of You", up to the singability of "Bye Bye Blackbird" that I found myself whistling as if only a day had passed since the last listening. I knew... I remembered yes... but the picture in my memory was not enough, it was a faded photo, because in reality, I was no longer aware that it was so beautiful. Music cannot be lived only in memory, some sounds then demand more strongly to live in the present and jazz is among them. Here I am then rediscovering the perfection of the essential, lucid solos of Miles Davis and the full, vibrant ones of John Coltrane, marveling again at the refinement of the piano phrases of Red Garland, getting thrilled by the immense rhythm section of Paul Chambers (double bass) and Philly Joe Jones (drums), enjoying the ensemble of one of the most important quintets in jazz music. But I must confess that the perception of the current enchantment of the listening has even surpassed the memory. Especially for the nature of this music that doesn’t need dramatic effects to be fascinating, it flows clear, fluid, perfect, sometimes it is soft, warm, other times pressing, but one always feels that it was born freely thanks to a great harmony between the musicians. For this reason, time does not wear it out and it remains alive today as when it was born.

I must then be grateful to Columbia records which gave me the opportunity to get closer to this record again after such a long time, as I had the presumption of having immutably absorbed it within me. The occasion for the re-listening comes from a revised updated release of the album in the Legacy series. A very interesting operation because the reprint includes, alongside the six historic original tracks of the record, the addition of four splendid unreleased tracks. But that's not all because the record company has decided to also include a bonus CD containing a concert from 1956 and a jam session of the track "'Round Midnight" from the previous year. The latter in particular features a truly legendary live lineup: beyond the great Miles Davis on trumpet, indeed we find Gerry Mulligan and Zoot Sims respectively on baritone and tenor sax, Percy Heat and Connie Heat (both from the Modern Jazz Quartet) on bass and drums and, last but not least, Thelonious Monk on piano. Just reading these names gave me shivers, imagine listening. But after all, at that time the jazz scene was crowded with a large group of geniuses who, meeting on stages and in recording studios, would completely change the history of this boundless genre. Thinking about it today, it makes you want to jump into a time machine, but not being able to do so, one can be well compensated by listening to records like this which have the rare ability to be listened to hundreds and hundreds of times always giving us new sensations of freshness and discovery. And if that’s not enough for you...