Clear vinyl vs. regular black vinyl

Re “Somethin’ Else”:

There’s always been a lot of speculation and myth surrounding the question of who the leader of the date was with little definitive proof one way or another. IMO, the most plausible reasons for Miles’ prominence on the recording are that Cannonball, being a sideman in Miles’ Quintet at the time as well as a newcomer on the scene, and Miles already an established giant with a huge ego caused “leader” Cannonball to defer to Miles on matters like tune choices and amount of solo space. A correction: the personnel on the record is not at all the same as in KOB. Only Cannonball appears on KOB. Great records both.

Well, to expound on my previous comments and to address your question “why would Miles play on a newcomer’s record?”:

Not uncommon at all. Cannonball was a rising star, not to mention member of Miles’ own band and was being heavily promoted. By some accounts it was Cannonball who received the invitation from Bluenote to record an album and that it was Cannon who then picked the band. It is not unusual for a high profile leader to play on a solo effort by one of his sidemen. Moreover, Miles was under contract with Columbia and Cannon was not under contract with any label. Why wouldn’t Columbia simply release another Miles record? Why wouldn’t Miles use his working sextet and why would he record with a different rhythm section and ask only one member of his band to play? Seems like bad politics. Leonard Feather points out that the title tune “Somethin Else” which was written by Miles is an expression of praise for Cannonball.

“He didn’t play on any of Trane’a records”

Probably because, unlike Cannonball, Trane didn’t ask him. Trane and Miles didn’t have a great personal relationship. In fact. Miles fired Trane at one point.

Lastly and probably most importantly and telling, to me, SE sounds nothing like KOB. Constantly changing musical chameleon that he was, Miles had moved to a modal style by then. KOB is the groundbreaking and best example of modal Jazz, while the material on SE is much more traditional with most of the tunes being standards which is a style much closer to home for Cannonball.

I guess we’ll never know for sure, but interesting to speculate; but that is where I put my money.  No matter how the record really came about, we’re lucky that it did.  

Regards.

Btw. in my previous post I mistakenly referred to Miles’ band as a quintet. Obviously, it was a sextet.

Sokogear, always good to trade thoughts and opinions with another lover of the music. You make a great point when you say it sounds like a Miles record. I think that’s a testament to the greatness of Miles and what an incredibly powerful and individualistic voice he was. One of those players that after only a couple of notes, sometimes just one, we know its Miles. 

Some interesting reading:

http://www.thevinyldistrict.com/tvd-celebrates-blue-note-records-at-75/2014/05/graded-on-a-curve-can...

A couple more favorite Cannonball records.

https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL0q2VleZJVEn_kkOwG3C-ycoanfhFPuA1

https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL7gp579CMkT8mSJYYyH9pVeXTS3h01Q2p