Miles Davis - Collectors' Items

Collectors' Items is a 1956 studio album by Miles Davis. There are two sessions collected on the album with largely different musicians. The first 1953 session is "Compulsion", "The Serpent's Tooth" (two takes) and "'Round About Midnight". The second 1956 session is "In Your Own Sweet Way", "Vierd Blues" and "No Line". The personnel for the first session were Davis, Sonny Rollins and Charlie Parker (credited under the pseudonym "Charlie Chan" due to contractual obligations) on tenor sax, Walter Bishop on piano, Percy Heath on bass and Philly Joe Jones on drums. For the second session, the tenor sax was Rollins alone, the piano was Tommy Flanagan, the bass Paul Chambers and Art Taylor on drums.

According to Ira Gitler's liner notes, the 1953 session was only the second time Parker had recorded on tenor saxophone. The CD edition's liner notes indicate the session was the only time Parker and Rollins recorded together.

Davis describes the session with Parker in his autobiography as having been very chaotic. It was Davis' first session of 1953 and his heroin habit had become very bad. Parker had quit his own heroin habit following the arrest of his trumpet player Red Rodney, instead drinking enormous quantities of alcohol. He consumed a quart of vodka at the rehearsal, then spoke condescendingly to Davis as if it were his session and Davis an employee or a child. After arguing, Parker fell asleep and Davis was so mad he played poorly, which in turn angered Gitler who was producing.

The 1953 session remained unreleased for several years, during which Parker died (in March 1955) and Davis left Prestige Records for Columbia Records (in 1956). Part of Davis' contractual obligation to Prestige was to record a second session to pair with the 1953 session that would give Prestige enough material for a full album. For the second session, only Rollins returned, and Davis's band included two relative newcomers to the New York jazz scene. Pianist Tommy Flanagan had just moved to New York City a few weeks prior to the Davis recording session, which was his third recording date in the city. Bassist Paul Chambers had moved to the city in 1955 and first recorded in New York in June at a session for Prestige led by trombonist Bennie Green. Chambers first recorded with Davis in October of 1955 for Columbia as part of Davis' regular performing group of the time, which included John Coltrane, Red Garland, and Philly Joe Jones. The Collectors' Items session was his third with Davis, and followed the November 1955 session for Miles: The New Miles Davis Quintet. *wikipedia.org*

The term "collectors item" seems to have died weeping on the grave of the 78 rpm record. No longer do legions of record hunters haunt musty shops on Saturday afternoons in hope of finding Pres playing clarinet on  Texas  Shuffle, Bird with McShann, old Louies or Beiderbeckes. They are all on LP.

It is true that many collectors lived up to the specific meaning of the word. It was the label and master number which interested them far beyond the music. To them records were like coins or postage stamps and this type of collector does not concern me. It is the other fellow who used to find a Jay Jay Johnson solo on a Savannah Churchill record, Milt Jackson with Dinah Washington, Lester Young with Glen Hardman or Wardell Gray with Earl Hines and rejoice in the little gems of music that he had found; he is the jazz lover who will want this LP.

As I said before, many of the old out of  print items have been re-issued on LP. Now we "collect" LPs. In addition to bringing back the obsolete 78s, the LP has enabled us to hear, for instance, many of Charlie Parker's great passages through the issuance of his rejected takes which, because of their abbreviated nature, never would have found their way on to a 78 rpm disc.

The sessions that went into the make-up of this LP were taped three years apart and in a way the second has a lot to do with the first being issued. 

I appreciate a well integrated performance but will always prefer moments of sincere-emotion jazz with mistakes to the slick product which is too often palmed off  as jazz today. Whether it be old jazz or new, I guess I'm kind of a purist. *Ira Gitler (liner notes)*

Collectors' Items is in two parts. The first side was cut in January 1953, and is released for the first time. It's the session with Charlie Parker on tenor that Sonny Rollins talked about in the November 28, 1956, DownBeat. Sonny is also present on tenor with a cooking rhythm section of Philly Joe Jones, Walter Bishop and Percy Heath. The most arresting track is the mournful "'Round About Midnight", which has Bird’s best tenor and Miles' best trumpet of the date.

For the rest, his tenor work is inevitably intriguing and forceful, and I wish there had been more recorded examples of his work on the horn after he had been playing it for some months (on this date, he has a new tenor that was christened on the date). Sonny also plays with heat. Miles is in good if not outstanding form, and Philly Joe is somewhat too loud in places. Bird is called Charlie Chan on the envelope.

The newer session (the last three tracks) has better Miles, considerably improved Rollins (with fuller, warmer tone and more cohesive idea structuring), and a superior rhythm section of Tommy Flanagan, Paul Chambers and Art Taylor. Flanagan also solos with flowing distinction. Miles wrote the first two, and the third is Dave Brubeck's. The improvement in Prestige's recorded sound in three years, incidentally, is illuminating.

"Vierd Blues" is a fine demonstration of the continuing, freshening, earthy validity of the blues in modern jazz, with Sonny blowing one of his most eloquent choruses on record. This track has superb Miles and another excellent Flanagan solo. Miles treats the Brubeck ballad with sensitive intentness. Sonny is less lyrical, but his solo is built interestingly. And Flanagan, one of the few younger pianists with a quality of touch and lyricism akin to Hank Jones, speaks briefly. An important record.

*Nat Hentoff (Downbeat, December 26, 1956)*

1 - The Serpent's Tooth (take 1)

(Miles Davis)

2 - The Serpent's Tooth (take 2)

(Miles Davis)

3 - 'Round Midnight

(Monk, Williams, Hanighen)

4 - Compulsion

(Miles Davis)

5 - No Line

(Miles Davis)

6 - Vierd Blues

(Miles Davis)

7 - In Your Own Sweet Way

(Dave Brubeck)

#1 to #4:

Miles Davis (trumpet); Sonny Rollins, Charlie Parker [as "Charlie Chan"] (tenor saxes); Walter Bishop (piano); Percy Heath (bass); Philly Joe Jones (drums).

Recorded at WOR Studios, New York City, January 30, 1953.

#5 to #7:

Miles Davis (trumpet), Sonny Rollins (tenor sax), Tommy Flanagan (piano), Paul Chambers (bass), Art Taylor (drums).

Recorded at Van Gelder Studio, Hackensack, New Jersey, March 16, 1956.