The Sextet’s Personnel
Miles Davis, trumpet; John Coltrane, tenor sax; Cannonball Adderley, alto sax; Red Garland, piano; Paul Chambers, bass; Philly Joe Jones, drums
Dave recalls...
This sextet ranks as one of my two favorite jazz small groups. The other is the Miles Davis Quintet made up of Wayne Shorter on tenor sax, Herbie Hancock on piano, Ron Carter on bass and Tony Williams on drums.
The Miles Davis Sextet of 1958 caused an uproar in the jazz community when many artists and educators had to go back to their theory drawing boards to determine just what type of structural forms and harmonic sequences they were hearing. On top of that, John Coltrane, and then Cannonball Adderley, constructed saxophone solos of such daring complexity that being able to understand what was going on was no longer a foregone conclusion.
On this night, as unlikely as it may seem, Adderley demonstrated his virtuosity by actually upstaging Trane several times, ultimately adapting elements of the innovative tenor’s harmonic language in his own explorations.
Aloof from the evening’s saxophone challenges of Trane and Adderley, Davis elevated his own creative simplicity with an air of uniqueness that is his usual artistic stance. How do those ideas originate in such melodic splendor through so few notes?
Even more amazing is that Miles didn’t retire to the wings after he finished his solo—as he usually did. There was so much stimulating interplay between the other artists that he had to stick around for fear of missing something astounding—and there were more than a few instances of that.
Red Garland, Paul Chambers and Philly Joe Jones mesmerized everyone with their collective and individual creativity.
Point of interest: The Howard Theater in the 1950s often staged movie and live music extravaganzas. In addition to the Miles Davis Sextet, this particular super-extravaganza featured the Horace Silver Quintet (with Blue Mitchell and Junior Cook), the Jimmy Smith Trio (with Eddie McFadden and Donald Bailey), the Count Basie Band (with Frank Foster, Frank Wess, Thad Jones, and Joe Newman), and a winner of a movie double feature. Is it any wonder that I have absolutely no recollection of what the movies were?