Miles Davis, Bags Groove

Bags’ Groove is a 1952 composition by Milt Jackson that quickly became a jazz standard. Bags was Jackson’s nickname, supposedly due to the bags under his eyes.

Jackson recorded the title on April 7, 1952 with his quintet, which also included saxophonist Lou Donaldson in addition to his colleagues from the Modern Jazz Quartet. Bags’ Groove was initially released as a single. With the Modern Jazz Quartet he recorded the piece in 1956 for the Atlantic album of the same name. The title had been part of the group’s repertoire for several years; for decades it served as an encore in the concerts of this ensemble.

Already in 1953 Bud Powell covered Bags’ Groove, which was also recorded by Howard Rumsey in 1954. “In these first recordings, the main theme with the parallel thirds is still in the foreground,” which played no role in later interpretations. The best-known recording is by Miles Davis. The track is on the album Bags’ Groove released by Prestige. In doing so, Davis reduced the theme by intoning the first motif only in a simpler variation and created a solo of great “openness in which sound, form and expression form a new dimension. Monk’s solo is also considered a “brilliant example of the rare art of creating a great arc of suspense with simple means (motif cores, pauses, rhythmic shifts).

Bass – Percy Heath

Cover – Reid Miles

Drums – Kenny Clarke

Liner Notes – Ira Gitler

Piano – Horace Silver (Titel: B1 to B5), Thelonious Monk (Titel: A1, A2)

Recorded By – Van Gelder*

Supervised By – Bob Weinstock

Tenor Saxophone – Sonny Rollins (Titel: B1 to B5)

Trumpet – Miles Davis

Vibraphone – Milt Jackson (Titel: A1, A2)

Purple labels w black print and SABA Prestige logo. “PRST 7109” on labels, “Prestige 7109” on spine, “7109 Stereo” lower left corner of front cover and top right on back cover. Cover is black w “Bags’ Groove” in red lettering, “Miles Davis” in white lettering, “Sonny Rollins Thelonius Monk” in blue lettering and “Prestige 7109”, “Stereo” in white lettering. Also B/W photos of all three, one each. Monk wears a funny top, and looks a little out place staring into the camera. Photos are most certainly unrelated to the recording.