Someday My Prince Will Come (Miles Davis album)

Someday My Prince Will Come is a studio album by American jazz musician Miles Davis, released on December 11, 1961, by Columbia Records. 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.

Background

In 1959, Cannonball Adderley left to form his own group with his brother, reducing the sextet to a quintet. Drummer Jimmy Cobb and pianist Wynton Kelly had been hired in 1958. John Coltrane stayed in the group for a spring tour of Europe, but left to form his own quartet in the summer of 1960. In 1960, Davis went through saxophonists Jimmy Heath and Sonny Stitt before settling on Hank Mobley in December, the band re-stabilizing for the next two years.

Composition

Unlike 1959's Kind of Blue, which featured nothing but group originals, this album paired equal numbers of Miles Davis tunes and pop standards, including the title song, originally from the 1937 Disney film Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. The titles of all three Davis originals refer to specific individuals: "Pfrancing" to his wife Frances, featured on the album cover; "Teo" to his producer Teo Macero; and "Drad Dog" (Goddard reversed) to Columbia Records president Goddard Lieberson. While the cover credits the Miles Davis Sextet, only the title track featured six players, Coltrane making two cameo appearances on the album, taking solos on the title track and "Teo", playing instead of Mobley on the latter. On March 21, ex-Davis drummer Philly Joe Jones made his final contribution to a Davis session, replacing Cobb for the original "Blues No. 2" (which was not used on the album).

Re-issue

On June 8, 1999, Legacy Recordings reissued the album on compact disc with two bonus tracks: the unused "Blues No. 2" and an alternative take of "Someday My Prince Will Come".

Critical reception

In a contemporary review for DownBeat magazine, Ira Gitler praised Coltrane's solo on the title track while finding Kelly equally exceptional as both a soloist and comping musician. "His single-lines are simultaneously hard and soft. Cobb and Chambers groove perfectly together and with Kelly", Gitler wrote. "The rhythm section, individually and as a whole, is very well-recorded."

Track listing

Sides one and two were combined as tracks 1–6 on CD reissues.

Personnel

Musicians

Miles Davis – trumpet
Hank Mobley – tenor saxophone on all tracks except "Teo"
John Coltrane – tenor saxophone on "Someday My Prince Will Come" (master) and "Teo"
Wynton Kelly – piano
Paul Chambers – bass
Jimmy Cobb – drums all tracks except "Blues No. 2"
Philly Joe Jones – drums on "Blues No. 2"

Production

Teo Macero – producer
Fred Plaut, Frank Laico – engineers
Bob Cato – album cover design
Frances Davis – cover model
Michael Cuscuna, Bob Belden – reissue producers
Mark Wilder – digital remastering engineer
Seth Rothstein – reissue project coordinator
Howard Fritzson – reissue art direction
Eddie Henderson – reissue liner notes

References

External links

Brian Priestley, "Miles Davis: Someday My Prince Will Come", Jazzwise.