AMG Review of Chronicle: The Complete Prestige Recordings (1951-1956)

Scott Yanow
All Music Guide

This eight-CD set does indeed have all 17 of trumpeter Miles Davis' Prestige sessions. The music is also available in separate CDs in the Original Jazz Classics series. Most significant are the many performances by Davis' classic quintet of 1955-1956 with tenor saxophonist John Coltrane, pianist Red Garland, bassist Paul Chambers, and drummer Philly Joe Jones but there are also dates featuring Sonny Rollins, Charlie Parker (on tenor), Thelonious Monk, Milt Jackson, Jackie McLean, Lee Konitz, Lucky Thompson, and J.J. Johnson among others. Much of this music is classic and dates from the period when Miles Davis was really beginning to emerge as an innovator.