Miles Davis All Stars - Walkin'

My sophomore year of college I lived in a small 3rd floor apartment on Brighton Ave in Allston, MA. Brighton was a nice street - it had Diskovery Books, Harper's Ferry, The Silhouette and most importantly, a nice grassy median down the center splitting the traffic lanes in two. One night, my roommates and our across the hall neighbors decided to throw a fancy dinner party in the median. We got all dressed up. We brought down our kitchen table, our chairs, our plates, silverware, elegant dinner napkins and our battery powered boombox. We dined on the fanciest thing we made in those days - baked ziti. When dessert was finally served - a chocolate eclair cake - the sun had set and the cars zooming by on both sides now had their headlights on. My roommate Winston said, "How about if we listen to some jazz?" and he popped in a tape. This was funny to us because none of us ever listened to jazz, but since this was such a high brow affair - what with the baked ziti and all - we found it fitting. "Jazz! Perfect!" The tape was Miles Davis' Walkin'. My seat at the table was right next to the boombox which made it possible for me to hear it well enough over the din of the traffic. Thank goodness for that for the impression it made on me is indelible and obvious for here I am 19 years later blurbing about it and sending it out to you fine folks as an essential album. Now go put on some jazz! - Will Pratt 3/31/2020