This album is the final collaboration between Miles Davis and Gil Evans. Released in 1964, the majority of the material was recorded at Columbia's 30th Street Studios in Manhattan during the second half of 1962. The sessions followed Davis' usual pattern of of alternating small group records and big band studio projects with Gil Evans while he was under contract with Columbia. This time around proved to be far more difficult than past sessions. Brazil's bossa nova was starting to find commercial success in the jazz world and it appears the Columbia executives may have pressured Davis and Evans to take a stab at it. After a series of protracted recording sessions producer Teo Macero was able to deliver only 20 minutes of usable music. In order to provide enough material for an album Macero tacked on a quartet track from an April 1963 session. This ended up infuriating Davis, who would not work with Macero until the October 1966 sessions for Miles Smiles. This pressing gets the Doxy Audiophile Clear Vinyl treatment in an edition of 500 numbered copies.

• pressed on Doxy's Audiophile Clear Vinyl
• numbered, limited edition of 500
• music label: Columbia 1964 / Doxy 2015

reviewed by Cool Hand 03/2015