miles davis "someday my prince will come"

[Soul Stream]

an album not much talked about. almost always grazed over in books, ect. However, it's one of my top few miles desert island albums. his tone and approach are above average, even for him. and the whole band just grooves. mobley and coltrane together on the title cut elevate it to sheer heaven for me.

anybody else care to say anything about this very un-talked about, fell-between-the-cracks album. one of my favorites.

plus, kudos to columbia, the studio and the engineering staff. wonderful sound.

[Claude]

"Teo" is one of my favourite Miles tunes, although I prefer the live versions from the Blackhawk and Carnegie Hall concerts.

But I agree that this album is underrated, just as "Seven steps to heaven". When exactly was it originally issued? Maybe this could have something to do with this.

[Soul Stream]

I know part of the problem is it doesn't "fit" into any of his "great bands" eras. The lineup is a one-offer pretty much and there's nothing "new" here so to speak. That said, it's some simple tunes played simply beautifully. Over the years, this one's stayed in the player longer and more consistently that any other miles for me. I'm not sure why myself. It's got a very elusive quality that's very appealing to me. Plus, it seems that it's an effortless record almost. Nobody's trying to prove anything on this one. Coltrane's appearance is just gravy, his and Hank's solos on Prince are two of the best, briefest statements either made on record imho.

[king ubu]

I marvelled about this one on the BNBB (shortly before its decline and fall). It was one of the very last Miles recordings I got, having never heard anything particularly recommending about it - and it was a very pleasant surprise! I too love this record. Dig Mobley's solo on Old Folks, dig Teo, Trane's and Philly Joe's cameos, and then there's Miles with his other-worldly sound...

[Harold_Z]

I think some of us who were around as the recordings were released may have a little different view in that EVERY Miles release was an event. I know I bought them as soon as they appeared, and actually I look back on this one as one of my favorites. Certainly one I revisited often. If I remember correctly, PRINCE came out right after the BLACKHAWK stuff. Great album.

[A Lark Ascending]

This is one of my favourites too. The opening of SDMPWC and Coltrane's entry are wonderful moments. Also the gorgeous 'I Thought About You.'

I suspect the fact that it does not have a consistent line-up across the discs makes it harder to pigeon-hole. The Miles discs that get frequently raved over tend to be those where a fixed body of musicians are in for the whole disc...well, until the electric period!

[CJ Shearn]

this is a great, underrated gem. I remember when I was little my dad had a tape with this backed w/ "She Was To Good to Me" by Chet Baker and I wanted the tape cuz of the Miles' portion. The way Jimmy Cobb switches from brushes to sticks is one of the most hard swinging transitions I've ever heard, and his drumming throughout, tasteful, adding accents perfectly where they need to be and never overplaying is one of the things that makes this record. Mobley is great on "No Blues", as is the guest spot by Philly Joe. Damn do Kelly-Chambers-Jones take it into a new zone behind Hank on "Blues No. 2" the whole groove changes and clamps down tighter when Hank is cookin. Love "I Thought About You" also. I think that much of the criticism of this edition of Miles' group is unwarranted. It may be so that Hank wasn't as trailblazing as Trane or Wayne, but this band, transitional between the additions of Coleman, Hancock, Tony, and a short time later the second Quintet, hit an in the pocket groove IMO like no other in Davis' acoustic years. The other great thing about SDMPWC is Kevin's favorite: the chair squeek on "Old Folks"

Edited March 31, 2003 by CJ Shearn

[Late]

Just listened to this album straight through. Miles' playing is near perfect, and he seems to know it — listen to how many long notes he holds, almost for the sheer pleasure of hearing them come out of his horn. Many years ago (1995, I think), I attended a Wynton Marsalis concert that had a Q & A before the show. One of the questions fielded to Wynton (Stanley Crouch was also there; he talked about four times as much as Wynton) was what did he like about Miles Davis. Wynton said, "I love the way Miles plays long notes." Whenever I listen to Someday My Prince Will Come, I always recall that answer. Miles had great control of his breathing, at least during this period.

Is it true (or just urban myth) that Coltrane's solo on "Teo" was dubbed in? The solo is spectacular of course, but when I listen to it closely, the rhythm section doesn't seem to be responding in any particular way to what Coltrane is playing. Kelly's comping is unobtrusive and light, but it doesn't seem to react to the saxophone.

One thing that struck me as kind of funny when I listened to this track ("Teo") this time around — when Coltrane plays his signature false-fingered five-note clusters, Miles plays his own version (but doesn't quite nail it) in triplets for his own (later) solo, almost as if to say: "Let me try that. How does he do that?" At least, that's how it struck me this time. Coltrane also (attractively) bends some notes in his "Teo" solo, something I don't normally hear him do that conspicuously.

Last note/question — isn't this the first album where Miles got his wish to have no liner notes?

[jazzbo]

I don't know whether that solo is dubbed or not, I never heard that rumor and I've never thought that it might have been.

The thing that gets me about this one is the variety, you have ballads and burners, comfortable listens and challenging ones. Just another album for Miles, yeah right.

[Hot Ptah]

_{I have noticed that some writers on Miles tend to pigeonhole his music into "great eras", as if it was the history of a nation. Recordings which do not fit the storyline of this version of history tend to be overlooked or even written about negatively. So some writers see the 1950s quintet/sextet as a "great era" and the Shorter/Hancock/Carter/Williams group as a "great era". If two eras are "great", something else needs to be not so great, or the writing will not be as dramatic. So some writers have written of his period of dissolution, then his kicking heroin, then his first great era with the Coltrane groups, then a period of being uninspired by a lackluster group with changing personnel, then a second great era with Shorter et al. But just because they write it that way does not mean that it is true.}

_{Actually, it may be that Miles was just playing what he wanted, as he felt like it. An album such as "Someday My Prince Will Come" is great by any objective standard I think, and would be a career highlight for many musicians.}

[JSngry]

To me, Someday My Prince Will Come & Seven Steps To Heaven are perfect compliments, the one making it perfectly clear why Miles couldn't keep making those types of of records, the other showing why the new records were going to have to be really new. The "narrative" gets complicated, perhaps, by all the live albums that were released during those years, but perhaps it actually gets uncomplicated because of them. All depends on how you frame the "narrative", if indeed you have to have one of those around to tell you to think what you think you're hearing.

I have no problem whatsoever with considering Someday My Prince Will Come at once a great album and a lesser one. Because it is. Both.

Oh, and the Trane thing, what I've always heard was that it was the title tune that had the Trane solo added on, that Trane showed up and Miles said, hey, let's get this going, so, title tune add-on end solo & Teo, then Trane split.

[medjuck]

I have a vague recollection that the record got a lukewarm critical reception when it was first released and the tracks without Trane are the only tracks from Miles on Columbia 1955-75 that are not in a box set which makes it sort of an orphan Lp. It's a great record and Trane's solo on the title track is a monster. It also has some of Wynton Kelly's best playing. In his Miles bio Jack Chambers is sort of dismissive of the record but I've always liked his description of "Teo": "Teo catches Davis playing with a Spanish tinge much in the manner of 'Sketches of Spain', and Coltrane follows him with a tinge that drifts eastward toward, say, Lebanon...."

Chambers thinks some of the pieces were edited by Macero but I don't think I agree. Until I heard the alternate take of "Prince" I thought the piano solo ending seemed like Kelly just stopped playing as if it were a rehearsal but both takes have the same structure.

[Cali]

I think some of us who were around as the recordings were released may have a little different view in that EVERY Miles release was an event. I know I bought them as soon as they appeared, and actually I look back on this one as one of my favorites. Certainly one I revisited often. If I remember correctly, PRINCE came out right after the BLACKHAWK stuff. Great album.

One of Miles' best and "Teo" is on of his best performances on record. When the album was released it was tremendously popular on L.A. jazz radio. Even today, every first sime listener I've observed has a stunned reaction to Coltrane's solo on "Teo". It still has that "WOW" factor.

Edited October 24, 2014 by Cali

[Shawn]

I think it's one of the most enjoyable Miles albums, it hit me immediately and I've never grown tired of it. Such a beautiful, relaxed vibe. One of the Miles albums I play most frequently.

[paul secor]

Oh, and the Trane thing, what I've always heard was that it was the title tune that had the Trane solo added on, that Trane showed up and Miles said, hey, let's get this going, so, title tune add-on end solo & Teo, then Trane split.

I agree with you, Jim. Trane's solo on "Someday" sounds to me as if it were spliced in. Two takes of "Teo" were recorded the day after "Someday", although there was an incomplete take of "Teo" recorded the same day as "Someday", so who knows about that one. Bob Blumenthal's notes for the Mosaic Miles/Trane box state that Coltrane was playing the Apollo with his group and came to the studio in between shows on both days. He also mentions the possibility of a splice on "Teo".

Edited October 25, 2014 by paul secor