Birth of the Blue

Columbia’s repackaging of loosies recorded by Miles Davis’s then-new sextet, referencing not just one but two legendary Davis titles into its own (maybe to assist the uncle trying to remember the name of that one jazz album his niece put on her Christmas list), Birth of the Blue echoes Birth of the Cool and predates the historic Kind of Blue date by 11 months. It’s a brief but fascinating glimpse into a group just starting to congeal. Cannonball Adderley’s alto was already the perfect blend of blues shout and tender purr. Tenor saxophonist John Coltrane was about to make his presence known in a big way, but was still relaxed, offering up a gentle stream — soon to be a gushing torrent — of ideas on the three standards here. Bill Evans’s left hand already knows how to carve out space, and Miles takes a leisurely yet bittersweet muted solo on “Stella By Starlight.” Promising as that date was, it never quite fit in anywhere. And 11 minutes of “Love for Sale” isn’t quite as laser-focused as the sextet would soon get. It got tacked onto the legendary French soundtrack Ascenseur Pour L’Échafaud as 1959’s grab bag Jazz Track, was also bundled as a Japanese release, 1958 Miles, and other subsequent back catalog repackagings. Smooth, but not transcendent, these 31 minutes are finally together in its most coherent package yet. Just don’t look for overt hints as to what Miles and band were about to give birth to.