Walkin' - Miles Davis

Walkin' compiles material from two sessions recorded at Rudy Van Gelder's studio in April 1954, produced by Bob Weinstock for Prestige Records. The first side features a sextet with trombonist J.J. Johnson and tenor saxophonist Lucky Thompson alongside Davis, pianist Horace Silver, bassist Percy Heath, and drummer Kenny Clarke on the extended title track and Dizzy Gillespie's "Blue 'n' Boogie." The second side shifts to a quintet with alto saxophonist David Schildkraut for "Solar," "You Don't Know What Love Is," and "Love Me or Leave Me." Originally issued on two 10-inch LPs, the material was collected on this 12-inch release in 1957. The thirteen-minute title track is a landmark: a blues-based jam whose funky, rhythmically grounded approach helped define the hard bop movement emerging in the mid-1950s as a reaction to the cool jazz that Davis himself had helped establish. "Solar," a concise melody over moving harmony, became a widely performed jazz standard. The sessions captured Davis at a turning point — he had recently overcome personal struggles and was moving toward the first great quintet with John Coltrane that would produce the celebrated Prestige marathon sessions later that year. Producer Weinstock called Walkin' his favorite Davis production.