“Analogue Productions has continued to push its own already high bar higher still. Its Quality Record Pressings plant is delivering the best vinyl discs to be found, its jackets and cover reproduction quality have hit new levels, and it continues to have the best in the biz – such as Kevin Gray for this series (25 mono LPs from the Prestige label’s exceptional late-50s run) cut lacquers from original analog master tapes. … the sound has a great sense of ‘jump’ or energy, and it’s warmly textured yet precise and well detailed, with nice body. Coltrane’s sax was very nicely recorded, plus this was when he was really coming into his own as a player.” — Wayne Garcia, The Absolute Sound, December 2015

Relaxin’ with the Miles Davis Quintet is in every way a masterpiece. When Davis the trumpeter (1926-1991) had formed the band in 1955, his colleagues — tenor saxophonist John Coltrane, pianist Red Garland, bassist Paul Chambers, and drummer Philly Joe Jones — were not considered jazz-world A-listers. And before conquering his narcotics addiction earlier in the ’50s, Davis had seen his once-promising career go into eclipse. By 1956, however, his sound, especially when muted, was an achingly personal counterpart to the vocals of Billie Holiday and Frank Sinatra. Relaxin’ (plus its Prestige companions, Miles, Cookin’, Workin’, and Steamin’) reestablished Davis, and elevated his quintet as the gold standard of small groups.
This set is called Relaxin’ because of the ballad performances in several different bright tempos. From medium-bounce to crisply up, Relaxin’ remains one of Davis’s sunniest outings, a prime example of one of the outstanding ensembles of the 20th century reaching the summit of their artistry.