The Prosecution OF Professor Chandler Davis

"Workin’ with the Miles Davis Quintet (Prestige LP7166) showcases the Miles Davis Quintet with John Coltrane & Red Garland in top form. Upon his unexpected success at the 1955 Newport Jazz Festival, Miles received a tempting offer to join the major label Columbia Records. In order to move to that label, he had to fulfill his previous contract with Prestige producing a couple of marathon sessions that resulted various LPs. Among the best of them is"Workin’" with the Miles Davis Quintet. Also included here in its entirety is the quartet album "The Musings of Miles" (Prestige LP7007). It was recorded the previous year with Garland again on piano.

We all know that beneath the surface of music, beyond the joy or excitement or even heartache that this beautiful language of sound can stir within us, lies the often mysterious realm of music theory—a complex syntax of structural and instrumental resources that composers may draw on. No matter what kind of music we listen to—symphony or string quartet, saxophone solo or vocal ballad, hip hop or Gregorian chant—we feel the impact of that music and have done so all our lives, even though we may not know how such impact is achieved, or understand the fundamental processes of musical composition. But what if we did understand how certain musical effects were achieved? What if we could learn to follow the often-intimidating language of key signatures, pitch, mode, melody, meter, and other parts of musical structure used by composers? What if we could recognize these various components at work as we listened to our favorite music? What if we could "speak" the language of Western music?