Milestones

From 1955–60, ColtraneJohn Coltraneジョン・コルトレーン played with MilesMiles Davisマイルス・デイヴィス while searching for his own voice. The 'sheets of sound' style emerged in this period. MilesMiles Davisマイルス・デイヴィス criticized him but never fired him.

Cannonball AdderleyCannonball Adderleyキャノンボール・アダレイ joined Miles DavisMiles Davisマイルス・デイヴィス's band in October 1957, forming a twin front line with Coltrane. The 1958 album MilestonesMilestonesMiles Davis · 1958 was the first studio statement from this sextet and signaled the imminent move toward modal jazz.

Red GarlandRed Garlandレッド・ガーランド's piano was distinguished by his trademark shift from right-hand single-note lines to two-handed block chords. His solos on 'Round About Midnight'Round About MidnightMiles Davis · 1957 and MilestonesMilestonesMiles Davis · 1958 showcase that formal beauty at its best.

ChambersPaul Chambersポール・チェンバース appears on 14 albums — from 'Round About Midnight'Round About MidnightMiles Davis · 1957 through MilestonesMilestonesMiles Davis · 1958 to Kind of BlueKind of BlueMiles Davis · 1959, the bassist who anchored Miles's late-1950s era.

Coltrane is remembered as a giant, but on this 1959 date he was only a participant on someone else's session. Once his fame grew, the record was reissued as 'Coltrane Time' — a name that had sat in the small print, suddenly promoted to the marquee.

Hard-bop drummer Philly Joe Jones opens his own 1958 leader date Blues for Dracula not with a drum solo but with a spoken Dracula routine done like an old horror-movie star. The sideman's sideman fronts an entire record built on a monster-movie gag.

In 1955, Cannonball Adderley moved to New York only to start a graduate program in music education, not a music career. He sat in at a club one night, the room lit up, and within weeks he had a record deal — cutting his debut album, Julian 'Cannonball' Adderley, before he'd even settled into school.

Before he settled on the piano, Red Garland fought as a welterweight boxer in the early 1940s. The famously light block chords on 'Round About Midnight (1957) and Milestones (1958) belong to a man who had once earned money with his fists.