'Round About Midnight

June 2025 'Round About Midnight studio Miles Davis RoundAboutMidnightMilesDavis.jpg 1957 3 4 October 26, 1955; June 5 and September 10, 1956 Columbia 30th St (New York City) Jazz 38:47 Columbia George Avakian Birth of the Cool 1957 Walkin' 1957 Round About Midnight is a studio album by the jazz trumpeter and composer Miles Davis with his quintet. It was released by Columbia Records in March 1957, and is Davis's first record on the label.Round About Midnight http://www.milesdavis.com/albums/round-about-midnight/ Miles Davis Sony Music 20 May 2018Porter Lewis The John Coltrane Reference 2013 Routledge New York/Abingdon 978-1135112578 417 The recording took place at Columbia's New York studio in three sessions between October 1955 and September 1956. Background At the Newport Jazz Festival in 1955, Davis performed the song "'Round Midnight" as part of an all-star jam session, with the song's composer Thelonious Monk, along with Connie Kay and Percy Heath of the Modern Jazz Quartet, Zoot Sims, and Gerry Mulligan. Davis's solo received a positive reception from many jazz fans and critics.Chambers Jack Milestones: The Music and Times of Miles Davis 1998 Da Capo Press 0-306-80849-8 205–206 1st Da Capo Press His response to this performance was typically laconic: "What are they talking about? I just played the way I always play."Morgenstern Dan Living with Jazz 2004 Pantheon Books 0-375-42072-X 1st https://archive.org/details/livingwithjazz00morg George Avakian of Columbia Records was in the audience, and his brother Aram persuaded him that he ought to sign Davis to the label.Carr Ian Miles Davis: The Definitive Biography 1999 Thunder's Mouth Press 1-56025-241-3 88 https://archive.org/details/milesdavisdefini0000carr/page/88 Davis signed with Columbia and formed his "first great quintet" with John Coltrane on saxophone. Round About Midnight was his first album for the label. He was still under contract to Prestige, but he had an agreement that he could record material for Columbia to release after the expiration of his Prestige contract. Recording took place at Columbia studios; the first session was on October 26, 1955 at Studio D, during which the track "Ah-Leu-Cha" was recorded with three numbers that did not appear on the album. This is the first studio recording of the quintet. The remainder of the album was recorded during sessions on June 5, 1956 ("Dear Old Stockholm", "Bye Bye Blackbird" and "Tadd's Delight") and September 10, 1956 ("All of You" and the titular "'Round Midnight") at Columbia's 30th Street Studio. During the same period, the Miles Davis Quintet was also recording sessions to fulfill its contract with Prestige. Reissues On April 17, 2001, Sony reissued the album on compact disc for its Columbia/Legacy label with 24-bit audio remastering and four previously released bonus tracks from the initial sessions. "Budo" had been released as part of the 1957 anthology album on Columbia, Jazz Omnibus, and "Sweet Sue, Just You" had appeared on the 1956 album by Leonard Bernstein explaining jazz to the classical audience, What Is Jazz. A two-disc reissue of June 14, 2005, included the 2001 reissue with a second disc containing Davis' 1955 Newport Jazz Festival performance of "'Round Midnight", along with a recording of the quintet's set from the 1956 Pacific Jazz Festival. The Newport track had been released for the first time the previous year on the Legacy compilation Happy Birthday Newport: 50 Swinging Years! Reception DownBeat 5 5"Down Beat" May 16, 1957, Vol. 24, No. 10 All About Jazz (favorable)Kelman John Miles Davis: 'Round About Midnight (Legacy Edition) https://www.allaboutjazz.com/round-about-midnight-legacy-edition-miles-davis-sony-bmg-legacy-review-by-john-kelman.php All About Jazz 7 November 2018 1 August 2005 AllMusic 5 5Jurek Thom Round About Midnight https://www.allmusic.com/album/round-about-midnight-mw0000649471 AllMusic 7 November 2018 The Encyclopedia of Popular Music 4 5Larkin Colin Colin Larkin The Encyclopedia of Popular Music 2007 Oxford University Press 4th 978-0195313734 The Encyclopedia of Popular Music The Guardian 4 5Fordham John Miles Davis, Round About Midnight https://www.theguardian.com/music/2005/jul/01/jazz.shopping1 the Guardian 7 November 2018 1 July 2005 MusicHound Jazz 5 5 The Penguin Guide to Jazz 3 4 PopMatters (favorable) Rolling Stone 5 5Brackett Nathan Hoard Christian David The New Rolling Stone Album Guide https://archive.org/details/newrollingstonea00brac registration 1 January 2019 2004 Simon and Schuster 978-0-7432-0169-8 214– In his five-star review in the May 16, 1957, issue of DownBeat, Ralph J. Gleason called the album "modern jazz conceived and executed in the very best style."Alkyer Frank Enright Ed Koransky Jason The Miles Davis Reader https://archive.org/details/downbeathalloffa00fran registration 1 January 2019 2007 Hal Leonard Books 978-1-4234-3076-6 201– Ralph Berton of The Record Changer called the album "orthodox, middle-of-the-road conservative progressive jazz." The Penguin Guide to Jazz said it "sounds like a footnote" to the Prestige contractual obligation sessions (Miles, Relaxin', Workin', Steamin', and Cookin') and that "the material is fine but somehow fails to cast quite the consistent spell which the Prestige recordings do."Cook Richard Morton Brian The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings 2006 Penguin New York 0-14-102327-9 321 8th https://archive.org/details/penguinguidetoja00cook_1/page/321 Bob Rusch of Cadence wrote, "everything about this date, from the black-and-white cover photo, washed in red, of Miles Davis, removed in thought behind dark glasses, to the performances, is classic. Not surprisingly, careful packaging and exquisite artistry have created a legend and, in this case, one of the essential recordings in the history of recorded music."Rusch Bob Wynn Ron Erlewine Michael Bogdanov Vladimir Woodstra Chris All music Guide to Jazz 1994 Miller Freeman San Francisco 0-87930-308-5 194 https://archive.org/details/allmusicguidetoj00wynn/page/194 Track listing Original release Side one 'Round Midnight Thelonious Monk Bernie Hanighen Cootie Williams 5:58 Ah-Leu-Cha Charlie Parker 5:53 All of You Cole Porter 7:03 Side two Bye Bye Blackbird Mort Dixon Ray Henderson 7:57 Tadd's Delight Tadd Dameron 4:29 Dear Old Stockholm Traditional Stan Getz (Arr.) 7:52 2001 bonus tracks Two Bass Hit previously issued on Circle in the Round John Lewis, Dizzy Gillespie 3:45 Little Melonae previously issued on Basic Miles Jackie McLean 7:22 Budo previously issued on Jazz Omnibus Bud Powell, Miles Davis 4:17 Sweet Sue, Just You previously issued on What Is Jazz Will J. Harris, Victor Young 3:40 2005 anniversary edition bonus disc All tracks were recorded live at the Pacific Jazz Festival, Pasadena Civic Auditorium, February 18, 1956, except where indicated. 'Round Midnight live at the Newport Jazz Festival, July 17, 1955 Thelonious Monk, Bernie Hanighen, Cootie Williams 6:00 Introduction by Gene Norman 1:36 Chance It (aka Max Making Wax) Oscar Pettiford 4:33 Walkin Richard Carpenter 10:02 Dialogue by Gene Norman and Miles Davis 0:27 It Never Entered My Mind Richard Rodgers, Lorenz Hart 5:18 Woody 'n' You Dizzy Gillespie 5:46 Salt Peanuts Dizzy Gillespie, Kenny Clarke 4:33 Closing Theme Miles Davis 0:28 Personnel The Miles Davis Quintet Miles Davis – trumpet John Coltrane – tenor saxophone Red Garland – piano Paul Chambers – double bass Philly Joe Jones – drums Newport personnel bonus disc track one Miles Davis – trumpet Zoot Sims – tenor saxophone Gerry Mulligan – baritone saxophone Thelonious Monk – piano Percy Heath – double bass Connie Kay – drums Production George Avakian – producer, liner notes Frank Laico – engineer Teo Macero – mastering Aram Avakian, Don Hunstein, Dennis Stock – photography Seth Rothstein – reissue project director Bob Belden, Michael Cuscuna – reissue producers Ray Moore – reissue engineer Mark Wilder – reissue engineering and mastering Randall Martin – reissue design Howard Fritzson – reissue art director Bob Blumenthal – reissue liner notes Charts Chart (2026) Peakposition Greek Albums (IFPI)https://www.ifpi.gr/charts_el.html Official IFPI Charts Top-100 Albums Sales Chart (Combined) – Εβδομάδα: 07/2026 IFPI Greece February 25, 2026 el https://archive.today/20121128084355/http://www.ifpi.gr/charts_el.html November 28, 2012 dead 60 Notes References Nisenson, E. Round About Midnight – A Portrait Of Miles Davis. Da Capo Press, 2nd ed., 1996. collapsed collapsed Category:1957 albums Category:Miles Davis albums Category:Columbia Records albums Category:Albums produced by George Avakian Category:Albums recorded at CBS 30th Street Studio Category:Albums produced by Michael Cuscuna Category:Album covers by S. Neil Fujita Category:1950s instrumental albums