"Blues No. 2" is a Miles Davis composition from his 1961 album Someday My Prince Will Come, a straightforward 12-bar blues in F performed at a medium-up tempo of approximately 191 beats per minute. The track opens immediately with Davis's trumpet solo, a rare arrangement choice that dispenses with a melody statement and plunges directly into improvisation. Davis delivers eight commanding choruses that showcase his distinctive approach to blues playing, combining sparse, perfectly placed phrases with sudden bursts of rhythmic activity. Hank Mobley contributes five energetic choruses on tenor saxophone, and drummer Philly Joe Jones, returning to Davis's band for this session, adds nearly three choruses of dynamic drum solo work. Jones's explosive, interactive drumming style had been a defining element of Davis's classic 1950s quintet, and his presence on this track brings a special intensity to the proceedings. The straight-ahead blues format strips away all pretense and puts each musician's fundamental swing feeling and blues conception on full display. This previously unreleased performance was added to later editions of the album, and its raw, unbridled energy offers a valuable complement to the more polished and conceptually ambitious tracks on the original release.
