Miles Davis – Volume 1 [Mono] (UHQCD)

Legendary trumpeter Miles Davis was still at the beginning of his illustrious career when he entered a studio to record tracks that would be released on Blue Note between 1952 and 1954. These tracks, first released on three 10-inch LPs titled “Young Man With A Horn”, “Vol. 2” and “Vol. 3” showcase all the essential characteristics of Miles Davis’ early style, from rousing bebop influences to intense, melancholic ballads. When Blue Note began producing 12-inch LPs in 1955, Lion compiled these tracks into just two “volumes,” which marked the beginning of the 1500 series. “Volume 1” contains a series of tracks recorded between 1952 and 1953, showcasing Miles’ sextet in two truly stellar line-ups, including trombonist J.J. Johnson, saxophonists Jackie McLean and Jimmy Heath, pianists Gil Coggins and Horace Silver, double bassists Oscar Pettiford and Percy Heath, and drummers Kenny Clarke and Art Blakey.

In the late 1940s, Miles was a member of both the Charlie Parker Quintet and Dizzy Gillespie’s big band. Despite these prestigious and demanding commitments, he also found time to record as a bandleader, including the groundbreaking session “Birth Of The Cool”, released by Capitol Records. When he came into contact with Alfred Lion and Blue Note, Miles was still far from being considered a jazz legend, but he was clearly on his way to becoming one of the greatest jazz bandleaders of all time.

As part of the extremely popular “Blue Note 85th Anniversary Reissue Series” Universal Music Japan presents the sonically impressive remastering of this jazz classic by the legendary Kevin Gray, who is also responsible for Blue Note US’s analog reissues such as “Tone Poet” and “Classic Vinyl” – as a limited Japan only UHQCD with OBI stripe. The original recording session for “Volume 1” took place on May 9, 1952 and April 20, 1953 in WOR Studios, New York.

UHQCD stands for Ultimate High Quality Compact Disc and is a joint development of the Japanese CD replication company Memory-Tech and the Audio Quality CD Company from Hong Kong. Unlike conventional CDs, UHQCDs are not pressed from polycarbonate, but cast from a photopolymer and cured with UV light. Another layer of high-purity polycarbonate is applied to the softer photopolymer for scratch protection. The combination results in significantly reduced reflection of laser light inside the CD and an unmatched precise edge transition between pits and lands of the CD. UHQCDs are 100% compatible with standard CD players. Musically, the result is a sound image strongly reminiscent of analog master tapes.

While Universal Music Japan’s first UHQCD series relied on the DSD data of previous SHM-SACD releases, with increasing popularity, albums that had not previously been released as SHM-SACD are now appearing. Typically, the Universal Archive master tapes are re-converted to DSD for this purpose. UHQCDs are ideal for music lovers who want to get as close as possible to the sound of the recording, but do not own an SACD player.

Lista pieselor

1.    Tempus Fugit
2.    Kelo
3.    Enigma
4.    Ray’s Idea
5.    How Deep Is The Ocean
6.    C.T.A. (Alternate Master)
7.    Dear Old Stockholm
8.    Chance It
9.    Yesterdays
10.    Donna
11.    C.T.A.
12.    Would’n You