This week I’m reviewing an all-time great jazz album: ‘Round About Midnight by Miles Davis. Much like Daft Punk’s Discovery, RAM was met with ‘meh’ reviews then later critics realized its greatness.
Artist: Miles Davis {Miles Davis (trumpet), John Coltrane (saxophone), Red Garland (piano), Paul Chambers (bass), Philly Joe Jones (drums)}
Album: ‘Round About Midnight
Year: 1957
Genre: Jazz (Hard Bop)
Rating: 5/5 Stars
Worth Your Time? Absolutely
Twitter Review: RAM is a wonderful album that is quite accessible to listeners thanks to the inclusion of the jazz standards Bye Bye Blackbird and All of You.
Top 3 Tracks:
Things to Look For:
- John Coltrane’s gorgeous soloing on ‘Round Midnight (and elsewhere) got me hooked on this album.
- Philly JJ’s drumming on Ah-Leu-Cha (a Charlie Parker song). The drum breaks are perfection.
- Miles Davis’ use of the horn mute throughout the album. Exactly what you need when your looking to just chill and relax.
Low Points: There really isn’t anything negative to say about this album though it’s kind of short by today’s standards at 39 minutes.
Anything Else: I really dislike hate avant-garde jazz. To me, it brutally murdered jazz in the shower ala Psycho from which, like most murders, it never recovered. It’s so nice to listen to Coltrane before he went way out there. Yeah I know people worship Coltrane’s later stuff and literally worship Coltrane (not kidding) but for me his early work is what I love most. I’m nowhere near a jazz expert so feel free to disagree with me or start your own Project Lt. Morning equivalent blog and show me what’s for.
Additional Links:
Project Lt. Morning 
‘Round Midnight is one of my favorite jazz songs. This is a beautiful version.