Live At the 1963 Monterey Jazz Festival

The Monterey Jazz Festival has done fans a big favor by digging this well recorded live set out of their vaults. The band — Davis, tenor saxophonist George Coleman, pianist Herbie Hancock, and the rhythm section of Ron Carter and Tony Williams — is clearly fired up. They all appear on the 1963 Davis studio classic, Seven Steps to Heaven, and it’s a joy to hear them stretch out here. No one player stands out; everyone is on, and among other things, the album provides another chance to appreciate just how good Coleman is. Some people have overlooked the Memphis native’s excellent work because he played in Davis’s band between stints by two saxophone giants — John Coltrane and Wayne Shorter — but Coleman’s appealingly husky tone and spot-on sense of structure are a pleasure to hear. Hancock and Williams are intensely swinging accompanists and their solos dazzle. (Hancock’s solo on the uptempo “So What’” is a high point.) Listeners can also find payoffs following Carter’s engaging bass lines, and his arco solos on “Autumn Leaves” and “Walkin’” add another dimension to the group’s sound. And then, of course, there is Davis himself: playing in hushed, lyrical tones and burning lines that glow like hot coals.