| Summary: | This second volume of the series, dedicated to East Coast jazz and to all the musicians who lived and recorded there, opens with "So What" by Miles Davis, with John Coltrane (who gives an explosive solo), Wynton Kelly, Paul Chambers, Jimmy Cobb and the Gil Evans Orchestra; Miles takes two solos, the second replacing the one that Cannonball Adderley would have provided if he had not been bedridden. And it is pure enchantment. These images come from the cult program The Sound of Miles Davis, recorded in April 1959. As it is heartbreaking not to be able to view the entire 26 minutes recorded at the time, it would be unforgivable to miss this version of "So What," how ridiculous it would be to deprive oneself of looking at the black and white archives of Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie in "Hot House," of Art Tatum, of the Modern Jazz Quartet, of Ben Webster, or of the Art Farmer/Jim Hall quartet. The unbridled version of "Dickie's Dream" by Count Basie and his orchestra probably comes from the film The Sound Of Jazz; Billie Holiday, who is on the set without participating, is very enthusiastic, and rightly so. More recent are appearances by Louis Armstrong, Bobby Hackett, and Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers. Happy and almost hilarious, Art Blakey, being the true living conservatory that he always has been, pushes the latest generation of his protégés, including a certain Wynton Marsalis. Philippe Lesage.
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