A CD Review of Bluing: Miles Davis Plays the Blues
             Miles Davis, from his beginnings as a nineteen-year-old kid in 1945 New
             York City, to his final days in the early 1990's, is to be considers one of the jazz's
             best. The 1996 album entitled, Bluing: Miles Davis Plays the Blues, the engineers at
             Prestige Records bring Miles Davis back to life. Packed with over 73 minutes and
             12 bar blues, Bluing brings nine great tunes of Davis' together on one disk. Having
             been originally recorded in the 1950's, these nine cuts take the listener through a
             decade of music and a decade of Davis' life. On the opening track, entitled "Bluing",
             we hear nearly ten minutes of Davis on trumpet, Jackie McLean on alto sax, Sonny
             Rollins on tenor, Walter Bishop, Jr. on piano, Tommy Porter on bass, and Art
             Blakey playing the drums. Bishop provides the intro of the song on the piano, with
             Blakey coming in soon after. Nearly a minute in, Davis begins and is soon softly
             accompanied by the saxes. Through the first five or so minutes of the tune, Davis
             enjoys a solo. He is then followed by the tenor and alto sax, respectively. I enjoy this
             track mostly for the tone Davis achieves and the moderate tempo. However, during
             Rollins' tenor solo and then again for the last minute or so of the song, Davis and
             the rest of the group pick up the pace and begin double-timing.
             In the end, for me, this track is made classic by a botched ending on the part
             of Art Blakey. If you listen closely you can hear Davis' instant reaction: "We'll have
             to play it again then, man. You know the arrangement." Obviously enough, Blakey
             doesn't contribute to any of the other songs on the album. Another cut that I enjoyed on
             this album is "Bags' Groove".
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