The funk of Horace Silver and several original compositions makes Miles Davis Volume 2 a great album.
Miles Davis Volume 2 (Blue Note, 2024)
The title of this album gets to the point. It is music by Miles Davis. He is pictured on the cover playing the trumpet with a lit cigarette in his hand. Trombonist J J Johnson stands behind him.
Miles Davis recorded three dates for Blue Note 1952-54 with various ensembles featuring many of the best musicians of their times. In 1956 they were collected on two long playing albums. Volume 1 features tracks from the first two sessions, while Volume 2 features all the 1954 tracks and some outtakes from the two previous dates.
The 1954 date features a glowing quartet with Horace Silver, bassist Percy Heath, and drummer Art Blakey. Silver and Blakey had already recorded live with a prototype Jazz Messenger band, and they bring the same kind of funky grove to this album. Davis thrives in it.
Four of the six songs they play are originals by Davis, which was rare at this point. “Weirdo” is the most recognizable as Davis rerecorded it with John Coltrane and Cannonball Adderley as “Sid’s Ahead” on Milestones (1958). It is slow and funky and Davis plays a poignant solo.
Miles plays Monk
The more light-hearted “Lazy Susan” by Davis is played more lyrical, and Davis’ solo sounds so logical and thought out that it almost sounds composed. Silver cannot help sounding funky as he solos. It has to do with the way he uses syncopation.
Davis plays so tenderly and melancholy on the Rodgers and Hart ballad “It Never Entered My Mind” that it rivals his playing on the more famous “Round Midnight” by Thelonious Monk. Silver shows his lyrical side as well in a parse solo and sensitive accompaniment.
Speaking of Monk, this quartet’s rendition of his “Well You Needn’t” is a gem and shows Davis’ understanding of Monk’s music as well as his capacity to popularize it. Heath and Blakey had both recorded with Monk which of course helps making this version successful.
The outtakes from 1952 and ‘53 are more bop oriented. The songs are written by Dizzy Gillespie, Bud Powell, and Jackie McLean. They sound a bit hurried besides the more solid 1954 recordings which are really reason for listening repeatedly to this album.
Jazz Desk 