'Round About Midnight
Studio album by  Miles Davis
Released	March 4, 1957[1][2]
Recorded	October 26, 1955; June 5 and September 10, 1956
Studio	Columbia studios, New York City
Genre	Jazz
Length	38:47
Label	Columbia
Producer	George Avakian
Miles Davis chronology
Workin' with The Miles Davis Quintet (1960) 'Round About Midnight (1957) Miles Ahead (1957)

'Round About Midnight is an album by jazz composer and trumpet player Miles Davis that was released by Columbia Records in March 1957.

Background

At the Newport Jazz Festival in 1955, Davis performed the song "'Round Midnight" as part of an all-star jam session, with the song's composer Thelonious Monk, along with Connie Kay and Percy Heath of the Modern Jazz Quartet, Zoot Sims, and Gerry Mulligan. Davis's solo received a positive reception from many jazz fans and critics. His response to this performance was typically laconic: "What are they talking about? I just played the way I always play."  George Avakian of Columbia Records was in the audience, and his brother Aram persuaded him that he ought to sign Davis to the label.

Davis signed with Columbia and formed his "first great quintet" with John Coltrane on saxophone. 'Round About Midnight was his first album for the label. He was still under contract to Prestige, but he had an agreement that he could record material for Columbia to release after the expiration of his Prestige contract. Recording took place at Columbia studios; the first session was on October 26, 1955 at Studio D, during which the track "Ah-Leu-Cha" was recorded with three numbers that did not appear on the album. This is the first studio recording of the quintet. The remainder of the album was recorded during sessions on June 5, 1956 ("Dear Old Stockholm", "Bye Bye Blackbird" and "Tadd's Delight") and September 10, 1956 ("All of You" and the titular "'Round Midnight") at Columbia's 30th Street Studio. During the same period, the Miles Davis Quintet was also recording sessions to fulfill its contract with Prestige.

Reception

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
Down Beat (Original LP release)
All About Jazz	(favorable)
Allmusic
The Guardian
MusicHound
Penguin Guide to Jazz
PopMatters	(favorable)
Rolling Stone
Tom Hull – on the Web	A+

In his five-star review in the May 16, 1957 issue of Down Beat magazine, Ralph J. Gleason called the album "modern jazz conceived and executed in the very best style." Ralph Berton of The Record Changer called the album "orthodox, middle-of-the-road conservative progressive jazz." The Penguin Guide to Jazz said it "sounds like a footnote" to the Prestige contractual obligation sessions (Miles, Relaxin', Workin', Steamin', and Cookin') and that "the material is fine but somehow fails to cast quite the consistent spell which the Prestige recordings do." Bob Rusch of Cadence wrote, "everything about this date, from the black-and-white cover photo, washed in red, of Miles Davis, removed in thought behind dark glasses, to the performances, is classic. Not surprisingly, careful packaging and exquisite artistry have created a legend and, in this case, one of the essential recordings in the history of recorded music."

Track listing

Side one

Side two