The gist of tonight's Jazz Feature is not only to present one of the greatest and most influential bands in Jazz history but to present rare and previously unissued performances. The Quintet was of course Miles Davis on trumpet, John Coltrane on tenor saxophone, William "Red" Garland on piano, Paul Chambers on bass and Philly Joe Jones on drums. When Miles formed this permanent band in September of 1955, he signed with Columbia Records and began recording for them. As Davis was under contract with the independent Jazz label, Prestige, until the end of 1956, Columbia couldn't issue anything until 1957. These are mostly with one or two exceptions rare and unissued alternate takes of many of the tunes were put out on Miles Davis' first Columbia recording, the best selling "Round About Midnight". These are all complete takes and all are stellar performances and worthy of hearing a few are even better than the originally issued versions. That is tonight's Jazz Feature and worthy of your ears!
