Classic Ballads CD

Personnel includes: Miles Davis (trumpet); Cannonball Adderley (alto saxophone); John Coltrane, Wayne Shorter (tenor saxophone); Bill Evans, Herbie Hancock (piano).
On the face of it, this collection might seem an impromptu hodgepodge, with no liner notes or recording information. Ultimately it makes sense, though. These mid-period Miles recordings catch the trumpeter in his prime, doing what he often loved to do--dig into a juicy ballad. Accompanied by the likes of Coltrane, Bill Evans, Wayne Shorter and Cannonball Adderly, Miles weaves thoughtful, lyrical lines in and out of these tunes. He's equally effective at finding the heart of his own compositions ("Blue in Green," "Circle") and those of others ("Stella by Starlight," Shorter's "Fall"). As always, it's his taste and restraint as much as his inventiveness that makes Davis' approach work, and never more so than on ballads like the ones contained in this solid collection.