| Circle in the Round | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Compilation album by | ||||
| Released | November 1979 | |||
| Recorded | October 26, 1955 – January 27, 1970 | |||
| Genre | ||||
| Length | 98:25 | |||
| Label | Columbia | |||
| Producer | Joe McEwen and Jim Fishel | |||
| Miles Davis chronology | ||||
| ||||
Circle in the Round is a 1979 compilation album by jazz musician Miles Davis. It compiled outtakes from sessions across fifteen years of Davis's career that, with one exception, had been previously unreleased. All of its tracks have since been made available on album reissues and box sets.
"Two Bass Hit" is from a 1955 session. A 1958 re-recording was released on Milestones . "Love for Sale", previously released on a 1974 Japanese compilation, features the same lineup that would play on most of Kind of Blue . "Blues No. 2" comes from the last session that Davis and John Coltrane would record together in 1961, although Coltrane does not play on the track.
The title track, recorded in late 1967, is the first Davis recording to depart from strictly acoustic instrumentation, featuring Joe Beck on electric guitar. Edited here by seven minutes, the full track was later released on the 1998 box set The Complete Studio Recordings of The Miles Davis Quintet 1965–1968 . The first officially released Davis track with electric guitar was "Paraphernalia", from 1968's Miles in the Sky , [2] with George Benson contributing. Benson appears here on the second take of "Side Car" and "Sanctuary".
"Teo's Bag", [3] both versions of "Side Car", "Splash", and "Sanctuary" come from two sessions in early 1968; Wayne Shorter had recorded a version of "Teo's Bag" in 1966 as "The Collector", which would appear on the 1987 CD reissue of his album Adam's Apple. "Splash" was later released unedited on The Complete In a Silent Way Sessions and the 2002 reissue of Water Babies, while a 1969 re-recording of "Sanctuary" had appeared on Bitches Brew in 1970.
The Crosby, Stills & Nash cover "Guinnevere" is taken from the same sessions in early 1970 which yielded "Great Expectations", "Orange Lady" and the Big Fun track "Lonely Fire". Like the title track, the version on Circle in the Round is edited; the complete take as it appears on The Complete Bitches Brew Sessions is three minutes longer.
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [4] |
| Christgau's Record Guide | B+ [5] |
| Down Beat (1982) | [6] |
| Down Beat (1991) |  [6] |
| Encyclopedia of Popular Music | [7] |
| The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings | [8] |
| Q | [9] |
| The Rolling Stone Album Guide | [10] |
| Tom Hull – on the Web | B+ (  ) [11] |
In Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies (1981), Robert Christgau deemed the recordings on Circle in the Round "damaged goods", even though "Miles tastes better out of the can than fresh watermelon or even V.S.O.P." [5] Lester Bangs voted it one of 1979's ten best records in his ballot for The Village Voice 's annual Pazz & Jop poll. [12] "Although seemingly hodgepodge in arrangement, Circle in the Round is a brilliant examination of the depth of scope and range possessed by Miles Davis", Lindsay Planer later wrote in AllMusic. [4]
All tracks by Miles Davis, except where noted.
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Recording date | Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Two Bass Hit" | Dizzy Gillespie, John Lewis | 10/26/1955 | 3:43 |
| 2. | "Love for Sale" | Cole Porter | 5/26/1958 | 11:52 |
| 3. | "Blues No. 2" | 3/21/1961 | 6:51 |
| No. | Title | Recording date | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Circle in the Round" | 12/4/1967 | 26:17 |
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Recording date | Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Teo's Bag" | Herbie Hancock | 1/16/1968 | 5:58 |
| 2. | "Side Car I" | 2/13/1968 | 5:00 | |
| 3. | "Side Car II" | 2/13/1968 | 3:37 | |
| 4. | "Splash" | 11/12/1968 | 8:33 |
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Recording date | Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Sanctuary" | Wayne Shorter | 5/2/1968 | 8:52 |
| 2. | "Guinnevere" | David Crosby | 1/27/1970 | 18:06 |
Recorded between October 26, 1955 and January 27, 1970.
'Round About Midnight is a studio album by the jazz trumpeter and composer Miles Davis with his quintet. It was released through Columbia Records in March 1957, and is Davis's first record on the label. The recording took place at Columbia's New York studio in three sessions between October 1955 and September 1956.
Someday My Prince Will Come is the seventh studio album by Miles Davis for Columbia Records, catalogue CL 1656 and CS 8456 in stereo, released in 1961. Recorded at Columbia's 30th Street Studio in Manhattan, New York City, it marked the only Miles Davis Quintet studio recording session to feature saxophonist Hank Mobley.
Miles in the Sky is a studio album by the jazz trumpeter and composer Miles Davis. It was released on July 22, 1968, through Columbia Records. It was the last full album recorded by Davis' "Second Great Quintet" and marked the beginning of his foray into jazz fusion, with Herbie Hancock playing electric piano and Ron Carter playing electric bass guitar on opening track “Stuff”. Additionally, electric guitarist George Benson features on “Paraphernalia”.
My Favorite Things is a studio album by the jazz musician John Coltrane. It was released in March 1961 on Atlantic Records. It was the first album to feature Coltrane playing soprano saxophone. An edited version of the title track became a hit single that gained popularity in 1961 on radio. The record became a major commercial success.
The Complete Bitches Brew Sessions is a four-disc box set by jazz trumpeter Miles Davis compiling recordings between August 19, 1969, and February 6, 1970—including the 1970 double album Bitches Brew in its entirety—and released on Columbia/Legacy on November 24, 1998.
Star People is a 1983 album recorded by Miles Davis and issued by Columbia Records. It is the second studio recording released after the trumpeter's six-year hiatus, the first to feature electric guitarist John Scofield, who was recommended by saxophonist Bill Evans, and the last to be produced by long-standing collaborator Teo Macero.
The Complete In a Silent Way Sessions is a three-disc box set by trumpeter Miles Davis released by Columbia/Legacy, featuring recordings from the sessions that would produce his 1969 album In a Silent Way as well as transitional pieces from the era. Beside two tracks previously released on the 1968 album Filles de Kilimanjaro, the set also includes material for the Columbia outtake compilations Water Babies, Circle in the Round, and Directions. The box set features previously unreleased music, mostly from the In a Silent Way sessions proper. The set includes essays by Michael Cuscuna and Bob Belden, along with details of the recording sessions. It is number five in the Legacy series of Miles Davis's Complete Sessions box sets.
Pangaea is a live album by American jazz trumpeter, composer, and bandleader Miles Davis. It was originally released as a double album in 1976 by CBS/Sony in Japan.
The Complete Jack Johnson Sessions were recorded in April 1970 by Miles Davis, and released in September 2003. These sessions formed the basis for the 1971 album Jack Johnson, as well as some of the studio portions of Live-Evil.
Trane's Blues is a compact disc credited to the jazz musician John Coltrane, released in 1999 on Blue Note Records, catalogue 98240. It comprises recordings from sessions for Blue Note and United Artists Records with Coltrane as a sideman for Paul Chambers, Sonny Clark, Johnny Griffin, and Cecil Taylor. These recordings were issued respectively on their Whims of Chambers, Sonny's Crib, A Blowin' Session, and Hard Driving Jazz albums. Two selections are from Coltrane's own 1957 Blue Train, and "One for Four" had been previously unissued. "Trane's Blues" had been issued on the compilation High Step in 1975, previously known as "John Paul Jones" and named after himself, the bass player Chambers, and the drummer Philly Joe Jones. Like Prestige Records before them, as Coltrane's fame grew long after he had stopped recording for the label, Blue Note used varied recordings, often those where Coltrane had been merely a sideman, and reissued them as a new album with Coltrane's name prominently displayed. In this case, the Big Four conglomerate EMI continued that earlier practice.
Lanquidity is a 1978 studio album by American jazz musician Sun Ra.
The Miles Davis Quintet was an American jazz band from 1955 to early 1969 led by Miles Davis. The quintet underwent frequent personnel changes toward its metamorphosis into a different ensemble in 1969. Most references pertain to two distinct and relatively stable bands: the First Great Quintet from 1955 to 1958, and the Second Great Quintet from late 1964 to early 1969, Davis being the only constant throughout.
The Complete On the Corner Sessions is a posthumous box set by American jazz musician Miles Davis, released in the US on September 25, 2007, by Columbia Records and in the UK on September 29 on Legacy Recordings. Like other Davis box sets, the included material is taken from a wider chronology of sessions than the dates which actually produced the titular album. The Complete On the Corner Sessions compiles material from 1972 through 1975 which, due to lineup changes Davis made throughout the era, features over two dozen musicians.
Water Babies is a compilation album by American jazz trumpeter Miles Davis. It compiled music Davis recorded in studio sessions with his quintet in 1967 and 1968, including outtakes from his 1968 album Nefertiti and recordings that foreshadowed his direction on In a Silent Way (1969), while covering styles such as jazz fusion and post-bop. Water Babies was released by Columbia Records in 1976 after Davis had (temporarily) retired.
The Complete Studio Recordings of The Miles Davis Quintet 1965–1968 is a box set of six CDs covering the work of Miles Davis and his critically acclaimed second great quintet which featured Wayne Shorter, Herbie Hancock, Ron Carter and Tony Williams.
Miles Davis' Greatest Hits is a compilation album by Miles Davis originally released in 1969 and re-released in 1997 on CD with different recordings of tracks 3, 4 and 8.
Directions is a compilation album by American jazz musician Miles Davis, released in 1981 by Columbia Records. It collects previously unreleased outtakes that Davis recorded between 1960 and 1970. Directions was the last of a series of compilation albums—mostly consisting of, at that time, previously unreleased music—that Columbia released to bridge Davis' recording hiatus that ended with the Man with the Horn in July 1981.
Miles & Coltrane is a live album by American jazz musician Miles Davis, released in 1988 by Columbia Records. The music was recorded at two different shows—one on July 4, 1958, at the Newport Jazz Festival, and one from October 27, 1955, in New York. The tracks have been digitally remastered directly from the original analog tapes.
Basic Miles: The Classic Performances of Miles Davis is a compilation album by American jazz musician Miles Davis, released in 1973 by Columbia Records and recorded from 1955 through 1962.
Miles Davis at Newport 1955–1975: The Bootleg Series Vol. 4 is a four-CD album compiling five of Miles Davis's performances at the Newport Jazz Festival in Newport, Rhode Island and two European concerts branded under the Festival moniker with one additional track recorded in New York City.
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