This week's musical treat is a Miles Davis album that I had never heard until recently. Bag's Groove is the recording of a stellar session featuring not just Miles but Thelonious Monk, Sony Rollins, Milt Jackson, Horace Silver, Percy Heath, and Kenny Clarke. I found out about it from the Everything Jazz newsletter.
But the second recording session for “Bags Groove” has gained a reputation as one of jazz’s most notorious. Weinstock claims he only brought Miles and piano pioneer Thelonious Monk together on Christmas Eve 1954 because they had separately complained to him of being in urgent need of some holiday money. The result was two takes of the title track, named for its composer Milt Jackson, both of which feature what many commentators cite as some of the best solos Miles ever committed to vinyl.
Still, everyone from Ira Gitler to Charles Mingus has claimed that Monk and Miles nearly came to fisticuffs when Miles asked Monk to “lay out” (not play) underneath his solo. But Miles confirms in his autobiography that he was just looking for more space in his music, and that Monk would have played that way anyway.
The result is simply one of jazz’s key compositions, as singular and memorable as “Stolen Moments”, “Blue Train” or “Song For My Father”. On take one, Miles’s sublime solo stops time, though he’s not afraid of “out” notes and includes a famous, much-imitated lick at 10:00 (repeated during the second take). Meanwhile Monk’s solo is audacious in its minimalism and obtuseness. Take two has noticeably better sound quality, Clarke’s cymbals brighter and Heath’s bass with more low-end, while Monk plays twice as many notes as he did on take one.
I've probably heard some of Bag's Groove before this but it never registered. It has now. It's definitely a classic of 1950's jazz and some of the best music that Miles recorded. Enjoy.
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