Search - Various Artists :: Prestige Legacy: High Priests 1

Compared to other periods in the careers of Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Sonny Rollins, and Thelonious Monk, the music captured on The Prestige Legacy Volume 1 is by far less famous. That this is so makes this collection--subtitled "The High Priests" in reference to the near-saintly stature of the CD's four cornerstone artists--all the more valuable. Here you find Rollins playing liquidly around the melody of "Mambo Bounce" and Miles posing a challenge to bebop with his measured, midrange unflappability. Monk sounds unmistakable here, teetering, wobbling, swinging off-centeredly. Coltrane's a jazz surgeon in residence, delving to uncharted depths as he races through and around chords with steely aplomb. The music comes from Prestige Records's heyday, ranging from Miles's 1951 "Down" with John Lewis on piano to Coltrane's 1958 "You Say You Care" (from Soultrane). In between are pivotal Monk turnouts (particularly his self-titled 1952 album's "Bemsha Swing"), and Rollins slowing things down to pirouette around the melody on 1956's "Valse Hot" (from Sonny Rollins Plus 4). So if it's the more recognizable sessions from these "high priests" that you know best, dig into their history with this stellar anthology. --Andrew Bartlett