Miles Davis Quintet - Steamin' with the Miles Davis Quintet LP

Contract obligations are not supposed to produce great records, but Miles Davis owed Prestige enough material to get out of his deal, so he brought in John Coltrane, Red Garland, Paul Chambers, and Philly Joe Jones for four albums' worth of marathon sessions at Rudy Van Gelder's studio in 1956. Steamin' is one quarter of that haul, cut during marathon dates squeezed in to satisfy the Prestige contract, and DownBeat called it required listening for jazz fans. This Original Jazz Classics pressing sounds sharper than most bands trying hard.