In 1958, Miles Davis was at the forefront of jazz, and one of the most recognizable and lauded musicians at the time. The decade prior, Davis had established himself as a jazz musician by playing with Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker. He gained significant notoriety after recording with Parker in the 40’s. Through his early career, Davis played Bebop, making strides in the genre with Gillespie and Parker, but he was always working towards something new. Towards the end of the 1950’s, Miles started forming a modal approach to popular songs of the time, ultimately culminating in Kind of Blue, in 1959. The development of his modal sound in Kind of Blue can be traced directly back to his prior work, 1958 Miles. It was here, that miles and his sextet found their voice in modal jazz. Because of the innovative modal approach taken in 1958 Miles, Miles and the sextet cemented themselves as leaders in the new modal jazz movement, and later developed that sound further with the masterwork, Kind of Blue.
Miles Dewey Davis III was born in Alton Illinois, on May 26, 1926. He started to study jazz trumpet in his early teens, where he developed a style of playing with little vibrato. Davis played in jazz big bands throughout St. Louis, and went on to study at The Julliard School, dropping out to play in Charlie Parker’s quintet in 1944. At the time, Davis’ playing was not always in tune, and he often had trouble keeping up with Charlie Parker. As rumor has it, Bird recommended that Miles play with a harmon mute to better keep up. If that is true, it’s certainly something that stuck with Davis, becoming a signature of his style. He compensated for these technical issues with his tone and improvisation. During the bebop era, speed and range were the markers of a “quality” trumpet player. Davis took a different approach, focusing on lyrical improvisation, often utilizing the mid-range of the trumpet. This style of his bebop playing can be heard throughout his career, but The Birth of Cool comes to mind, specifically. It was in 1958 when Miles assembled the sextet heard on 1958 Miles.
The sextet consisted of Davis, Cannonball Adderly, John Coltrane, Bill Evans, Paul Chambers, and Jimmy Cobb. Cobb replaced Philly Joe Jones, and 1958 Miles was Davis’ first session with Cobb. Miles chose Bill Evans specifically because of his penchant for modal music, and his classical background. Miles was aiming to create music with less harmony driven lines, and play more modally driven instead. In traditional bebop or hard bop, the popular jazz styles at the time, an improviser would craft lines with a balance of chord tones and non chord tones, often outlining the harmony with their lines throughout the progression. The concept of modal music allowed the improviser to play with only a mode in mind, creating melodically driven lines that float over the modal harmony, rather than outline it. This change in approach allowed for a much different listening experience for the audience.
1958 Miles contains two distinct groups of tracks: the A-Side, which features modal music from a studio session on May 28 1958, and the B-Side, featuring bebop and hard bop performances recorded live at the Plaza Hotel in New York City. The A side session was recorded at Columbia’s 30th Street Studio, a converted church, well known for classical, jazz, and pop recordings at the time. Because of the dynamic between the musicians and each of their caliber, the session recording the A side tracks was largely casual. Ira Gitler, Jazz Historian and Journalist wrote, “The entire session has an informal feel that is unusual for a studio date. Upon hearing it again I immediately knew why I was so taken with it those many years ago.” The informal nature of the session can be heard through the music; every member of the sextet has a place in the orchestration, and no one is stepping on the others’ toes. Given that the tunes were already a part of their repertoire, aside from Fran Dance, a Davis composition, the sextet was really only responsible for providing a new aesthetic to this music, by playing off of each other.
The B-Side recordings from the Plaza Hotel were recorded in the Persian room of the Plaza, during a September jazz party hosted by Columbia recorded. Opening with Thelonius Monk’s composition, “Straight, No Chaser”, the sextet set the tone with a blues infused bebop performance, lying in stark contrast to the modal interpretations shown at the studio. Following “Straight, No Chaser” was “Oleo” another bebop standard, then “My Funny Valentine”. It is in the final tune of the set that the listener can hear the modal impressions made on the music. By no means is it a modal interpretation of the famous ballad, but their performance of Valentine ties the live set in with the rest of the studio set.
From the start of 1958 Miles, there is a distinct modal character. Bill Evan’s introduction on “On Green Dolphin Street” immediately immerses the listener into his modal world, playing over an E-flat pedal. The introduction starts in ionian, then dorian, then lydian, phrygian, and back to ionian, all over the E-flat pedal. This is the approach the whole band takes in the A section of the tune, as well, later moving to a “swing” or bebop feel in the B. Starting the album this way, with a mix of bebop and modal styling, eases the listener into the modal world. The solo’s, however, take on a completely modal character. Each solo taken on the first tune stays away from bebop cliche’s, even when there is clear functional harmony happening in the tune. Rather than outlining the harmony, or using the typical tendency tones to transition from one chord to the next, each of the performers choose to prioritize a singable, melodic approach throughout. That’s not to say that there isn’t fast playing, there certainly is—but the nature of these licks are textural, and are there to add to the modal color, not to arpeggiate the harmony and keep up with the changes.
Another stand-out on the A-Side supporting this style is Victor Young’s composition “Stella By Starlight”. A standard at the time (and still today), “Stella” uses functional harmony, but in a different way than many other tunes in the repertoire. Each section of the tune, or every four bars or so, Young tonicizes different key centers. In the bridge, young expands the harmonic rhythm to two bars per chord, rather than the (generally) one chord per bar harmonic rhythm in the A section. This contrast allows for a similar approach and diversity as “Dolphin Street”. The compositional style overall allows the performers to treat each sub-section, or different “tonic”, as one mode. This is evident by the whole performance, but particularly Bill Evan’s solo. He plays to a resolution at the end of each phrase, rather than playing the changes, like one typically would if playing in the bebop style.
On the B-Side, “My Funny Valentine” sets itself apart in style from the other live performances, and ties itself most closely to the studio session. Again, Bill Evans sets the stage with a modal portrait in the introduction, accompanied by melodic fragments and modal flourishes by Miles Davis. This performance is in stark contrast to his earlier interpretations of “Valentine”, and Davis himself said to Nate Hentoff, noted jazz critic and contributor to The Village Voice, “We Play ‘My Funny Valentine’ like with a scale all the way through”. This is a perfectly apt description for the sextet’s modal approach overall—it’s akin to an aerial view of the music, compared to a microscopic one. Their collective modal playing treats the tune (and the others on 1958 Miles) as a collective harmonic landscape with colors in between, compared to a functional approach of reaching harmonic resolution points every two or four bars. This sentiment holds up and shows itself throughout the 1958 Miles recordings, and has had a huge approach on jazz composition, arranging, and improvisation ever since.
1958 Miles was tremendously important to Miles Davis developing his next sound, breaking away from his bebop and hard bop roots. It was this stylistic exploration that fostered the seed for Kind of Blue in 1959, the highest grossing, and often considered the greatest, jazz album of all time. The public wouldn’t see it this way, though. 1958 Miles wasn’t released until 1974, and has changed names many times and been released by numerous labels, often with different track listings. The edition of 1958 Miles out today doesn’t even include the live performance from the Plaza, that was released as Jazz Live at the Plaza, originally in 1973. One can’t help but wonder: if the public had heard Miles’ modal approach in 1958 before Kind of Blue, would they have reacted to it as fondly? Kind of Blue was lauded upon release, particularly because of its groundbreaking approach to modal jazz, a much more strictly-modal approach than on 1958 Miles. It begs the question that if the public had heard the fusion apparent on tunes like “On Green Dolphin Street” or “Stella by Starlight”, would they have reacted as strongly to Kind of Blue’s innovation? It’s impossible to say. Retroactively listening, though, it is apparent that the sextet’s modal approach in 1959 could not have been possible without their experimentation and evolution in 1958.
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