"My Funny Valentine" from Cookin' with the Miles Davis Quintet, recorded in 1956, features a one-chorus piano solo from Red Garland that exemplifies his signature block chord style. Performed in C minor with a 36-bar AABA' form at a tender 69 BPM, this rendition of the Richard Rodgers ballad is one of the earliest in what would become a long association between Miles Davis and this song. Garland's solo is a study in understated elegance, his block chords ringing with bell-like clarity over Paul Chambers's walking bass. The Cookin' album was part of a legendary marathon recording session held at Rudy Van Gelder's studio on October 26, 1956, which also produced the material for Relaxin', Workin', and Steamin'. The quintet of Davis, John Coltrane, Garland, Chambers, and Philly Joe Jones is widely regarded as one of the greatest small groups in jazz history. Their approach to standards like "My Funny Valentine" combined bebop sophistication with a more relaxed, lyrical sensibility that helped define the cool side of hard bop. Davis would return to this ballad throughout his career, most famously in a celebrated 1964 live version, but this studio recording captures the quintet's intimate chemistry at its most refined.
