Launched in 1954, the Newport jazz festival was the high spot of the jazz year for several decades. Broadcast worldwide by Voice of America, and later touring abroad, it virtually defined jazz for an international audience. These were also the years when Miles Davis did his best work, his style changing at bewildering speed as his stature grew. These four CDs of largely unreleased material, recorded live, catch him at seven points in this dynamic progress – beginning as one of an “all-star” jam session, through the classic quintets with John Coltrane, Wayne Shorter, Herbie Hancock etc, to later pieces such as Bitches Brewand Mtume. Summer is traditionally the season for unearthing treasures from the jazz archives, and this is a real prize.
