Miles Davis All Stars – Walkin'

Walkin' was not wirrten by Richard Carpenter. There is this description of the man in James Gavin's book on Chet Baker 'Deep In a Dream':

'A month earlier (in 1964), Baker had made what he would come to regard as the biggest mistake of his life. At (Tadd) Dameron's urging, he had signed with the arranger's manager, Richard Carpenter, an ex-ant known for taking out strung-our black musicians and getting them to surrender their record royalties and the rights to their compositions. A grossly fat man from Chicago with cafe au lait skin, a huge bull neck, and a round, double-chinned face, Carpenter spouted stree-hipster double-talk and exuded menace - especially toward whites, whom he hated'. "He had the air of a gangster, like he'd kill you in a second," said Hal Galper, a young pianist from Salem, Massachusetts, who ed Baker in April. Indeed, stories were told of Carpenter threatening to break people's legs - and worse - if they didn't give him what he wanted'.

Then:

' He owned several publishing firms - Richcar Music, Charrich Music Mabreeze Music, Music Royalty Corp - and would pay needy musicians 25 or 5O dollars for their compositions which he then owned outright. Often Carpenter who couldn't read a note of music, claimed authorship. The best-known case involved his client Jimmy Mundy, a once renowned arranger-composer for Benny Goodman and Count Basie. After Mundy's death in 1983, Don Sickler, a trumpeter and music publisher who handled Dameron's catalogue, found the copyright certificate at the Library of Congress for a tune originally called 'Gravey'. Mundy was believed to be the composer, although some argued that it was Gene Ammons or Miles Davis. The title had been partly erased; 'Walkin'' was written over it and Carpenter's name inserted as composer.' and so forth...

WOW. An absolute 10 through and through. So powerful yet so detailed. Thank you, Kevin Gray, for all that you do for the history of jazz music :)

Absolutely great cut by KG and the jacket is beautiful. Thanks Craft for reissuing these excellent and rare albums for the world to enjoy.

Killer. Flat silent and clean pressing. Clear and deep mastering, one of those mono recordings that somehow has depth and separation of instruments. Maybe could wish for more from the drums, but horns and piano are great and bass is not lost.

My G copy has been beat all to heck, but when played back with a mono cart (A-T 33), this repress really shines and sparkles, even at high volume. Way, way less surface noise than you'd visually expect, thanks to that miracle cart.

If ever you're not sure, this pressing sounds incredible. Don't hesitate.

Great sounding record bought from an online auction, directly from Japan!

this Artone pressing also came with a flip back cover. Same matrix numbers.

I've got a still sealed White Stripes White Blood Cells ERC I'm looking to trade for this. If you're interested, please message me

This is a great re-issue. I was hesitant to buy it knowing how bad modern re-issues can be if they're not from a high profile label, but it was cheap and decided to take a chance on it. I'm very happy with it especially knowing how much original fetch these days.