THE MILES DAVIS QUINTET: COOKIN'

The first of the "....in' with the Miles Davis Quintet" albums to emerge from a very successful brace of 1956 sessions, Cookin' enjoys a deservedly high reputation in Miles' early discography. Of course, with John Coltrane involved in the session you have not one but two masters of brass in the mix, which is a big help, plus Red Garland chips in with some truly charming piano solos here and there which offer a solid justification for his place in the Quintet. It's not one of Miles' more radically experimental works, existing solidly within the tradition of hard bop as it existed at the time, but it's damn good bop for all that.