Miles Davis – Enigma – 10 Inch Vinyl Record

Description

Miles Davis – Enigma – 10 Inch Vinyl Record

Enigma opens a small but revealing window onto Miles Davis’s early Blue Note sessions. This four-track 10 inch release draws on alternate performances recorded in 1952 and 1953, returning the music to a format closely associated with the original era. The program is brief enough to hear as a focused session document, with “Enigma,” “Kelo” and two takes of “Chance It” allowing attention to settle on differences of phrasing and group response. It captures Davis before the later ensembles that would define Kind of Blue, the Second Great Quintet and his electric work.

The early-1950s setting is important. Davis was developing a personal voice within a jazz language strongly shaped by bebop, and the Blue Note recordings bring together musicians working through related questions of melody, rhythm and arrangement. His trumpet already has a distinctive way of making a phrase count without filling every available space. On a short release like Enigma, those details become particularly easy to follow. The alternate takes are valuable because they preserve another set of choices within familiar material, showing how much can change without altering the composition itself.

“Enigma” and “Kelo” occupy the first side, offering two different melodic frameworks for the ensemble. The performances retain the energy and directness of small-group modern jazz, while Davis’s phrasing introduces a degree of restraint that helps separate his voice from the surrounding activity. An alternate performance is not merely an incomplete version of the one selected for an album. It can reveal a different balance among the players, a changed emphasis in a solo or another way of moving through the same structure. Those variations are the central interest of this release.

The second side places two takes of “Chance It” next to one another. That arrangement encourages a useful kind of listening: the theme remains recognizable, but the route through the performance changes. The music’s history becomes audible through the playing rather than through an explanation outside it. For listeners familiar mainly with Davis’s later albums, the concentrated setting provides a practical way into his earlier work. It also complements the more extensive Blue Note collections without attempting to replace them, keeping the focus on four particular performances and the musical decisions they preserve.

Originally issued as a Record Store Day Black Friday release, Enigma presents these alternate takes on black 10 inch vinyl. The modest scale suits its archival purpose, giving a short sequence a clear identity rather than surrounding it with unrelated recordings. The appeal lies in hearing an important musician at a formative point, working within a strong ensemble tradition while shaping an increasingly recognizable approach. The two sides offer a compact encounter with that process, rewarding listeners interested in the details of early Miles Davis and in the small differences that make one jazz performance distinct from another.

Brand new, never played and still sealed in the factory plastic

Track Listing

A1. Enigma (Alternate Take 1)
A2. Kelo (Alternate Take 1)
B1. Chance It (Alternate Take 3)
B2. Chance It (Alternate Take 4)