In 1955 Miles Davis played an all-star jam session at the Newport Jazz Festival with Thelonious Monk on piano, Gerry Mulligan on baritone sax and Zoot Sims on tenor sax.
This performance immediately drew the attention of Columbia Records' George Avakian, who was so impressed that he immediately offered Davis a contract if he could form a regular band.
The group he then assembled would go down in history as Davis' so-called "First Great Quintet", consisting of John Coltrane on tenor sax, Red Garland on piano, Philly Joe Jones on drums, Paul Chambers on bass and of course Miles himself on trumpet.

'Round Midnight is Miles Davis' first record for Columbia and also the first studio recording of the First Great Quintet.
The recording sessions began on October 26 1955 but the album wasn't released until 1957 as Davis was still under contract at Prestige at the time.
These respective sessions yielded Steamin', Workin', Cookin' and Relaxin'; albums that would go down in history as quintessential blueprints of late 1950s hard bop.
The record is made up of a collection of standards and one traditional song ("Dear Old Stockholm", from the 19th century).
Notably, it features what may be considered the most well-known versions of Thelonious Monk's "'Round Midnight" and "Bye Bye Blackbird".

That Avakian made a golden signing was sufficiently clear from the start, but no one could foresee that it would be this quintet on Columbia that would go on to change the course of modern jazz forever with Kind of Blue.

Miles Davis "Round About Midnight on Numbered Limited Edition 180g LP Hipness Personified: Davis' Columbia Records Debut Highlights His Diverse Palette and Famed QuintetMiles Davis' first album for Columbia, "Round About Midnight, represents both the beginning of a three-plus-decade relationship with the famed label as well as the start of an extended collaboration with then-unknown saxophonist John Coltrane.
As one of the era's only complete start-to-finish full-length LPs, the 1957 set stands as a hard-bop benchmark-a summation of the styles that came before its creation, an immersion into the period's cutting-edge strains, and a hint of the rivoluse modalism that would follow.

Part of our Miles Davis catalog restoration series, "Round About Midnight now resonates with a physical palpability and emotional heft never before experienced.
Mastered from the original master tapes and pressed at RTI, this unsurpassed 180g LP edition traces the individual paths each musician takes in contributing to the whole, whether it's pianist Red Garland's left hand spinning actinoid chords or Coltrane infusing a tune with harmony-defying fills that suggest arabesque patterns.
Recorded at three separate sessions, the music has never sounded so cohesive, immediate, or involving.

Historically, few jazz records claim the significance boasted by "Round About Midnight.
The album's creation-and the assembly of Davis' quintet, which also includes Paul Chambers and Philly Joe Jones-stems from the headliner's rousing rendition of the title-inspired track, "'Round Midnight," a Thelonious Monk standard, at the 1955 Newport Jazz Festival.
Stunning the audience with an interpretation that witnessed him personalize the composition with a brooding tone made possible via employment of his soon-to-be-trademark Harmon mute, Davis redefined perspective and possibility, taking ownership of the ballad as his own, and further improving upon its reach in the studio.
It wasn't the composer's only surprise.

'Round About Midnight thrives due to diversity and consistency, a rare combination epitomized by the first-rate selection and astonishing performance of pensive ballads, bebop classics, pop standards, and folk pieces.
Witness the counterpoint exchanges during "Ah-Leu-Cha" and its Dixieland shades.
Soak up the progressive drama and swinging tempos on "All of You" and "Bye Bye Blackbird." Delight in the melange of latticed textures and schematic moods throughout the sequence, here presented in gorgeous fidelity, zeroing in on Davis' warm, plush, rich, and close-up trumpet timbres and how, by playing his instrument right near the microphone, he infuses the arrangements with the sort of daring intimacy embraced by two lovers.

Tension, suggestiveness, calm, mystery, nostalgia: All here.
Gather now, "Round About Midnight.
Slip on a pair of shades, draw the curtains, slouch into a chair, and light a cigarette.
This is Miles and Co.
at their best.
Hipness personified.

"This is by far the best digital rendition of this music, and has a wonderful analogue sound found in the best of the Mobile Fidelity reissues.
Essential in both [SACD and LP] formats."
--Hi-Fi+, February 2013

Miles Davis "Round About Midnight