On a jazz note, today I have been mostly listening to... Miles Davis' 'The Complete Blackhawk Sessions', an outstanding live recording from 1961 featuring his 'transitional' quintet on smokin' form. It stretches over 4 CDs and comprises 4 sets - 2 from each night of the engagement. On stage with Miles for these Friday & Saturday night San Francisco dates are Hank Mobley on tenor, Wynton Kelly on piano, Paul Chambers on bass and Jimmy Cobb on drums. No Coltrane - so what! Mobley is more than up to the job and matches Miles note for note on his solos. He has a lovely fluid style, too, with none of the abrasive textures that sometimes made 'Trane hard work. Kelly, Chambers and Cobb had of course played with Miles on previous dates, and are made to work hard by the furious tempos of some of the pieces played here (especially the opening 'Oleo' and Saturday night's 'So What'). Monk's 'Well, You Needn't' is given a thorough going over late on in Saturday's first set, and very good it is too.
This is Miles at his best, and well worth 4 hours of anyone's time to listen to.
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