Cookin' with the Miles Davis Quintet

{{Infobox album

| name = Cookin' with the Miles Davis Quintet

| type = studio

| artist = Miles Davis

| cover = Miles Davis - Cookin' with the Miles Davis Quintet.jpg

| alt =

| released = {{start date|1957|7}}

| recorded = October 26, 1956

| venue =

| studio = Van Gelder Studio, Hackensack, New Jersey

| genre = Jazz

| length = 34:02

| label = Prestige

| producer = Bob Weinstock

| prev_title = Walkin'

| prev_year = 1957

| next_title = Miles Ahead

| next_year = 1957

}}

Cookin' with the Miles Davis Quintet is a studio album by the Miles Davis Quintet which was released in July 1957 through Prestige Records.{{Cite book |last=DeVito |first=Chris |title=The John Coltrane Reference |last2=Fujioka |first2=Yasuhiro |last3=Schmaler |first3=Wolf |last4=Wild |first4=David |date=2013 |publisher=Routledge |url=https://www.routledge.com/The-John-Coltrane-Reference/Porter-DeVito-Wild-Fujioka-Schmaler/p/book/9780415634632 |access-date=2 January 2020 |isbn=9780415634632 |editor-last=Porter |editor-first=Lewis |editor-link=Lewis Porter |location=New York/Abingdon |page=447}}{{cite news |title=July Album Releases|editor-last=Parnes|editor-first=Sid|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220512140340/https://www.worldradiohistory.com/hd2/IDX-Business/Music/Archive-Cash-Box-IDX/50s/1957/CB-1957-07-20-OCR-Page-0052.pdf|archive-date=May 12, 2022|url-status=live|page=52|location=New York|url=https://www.worldradiohistory.com/hd2/IDX-Business/Music/Archive-Cash-Box-IDX/50s/1957/CB-1957-07-20-OCR-Page-0052.pdf|work=The Cash Box|publisher=The Cash Box Publishing Co.|date=July 20, 1957}} The recording sessions were at Rudy Van Gelder's studio in Hackensack, New Jersey in 1956. As the musicians had to pay for the studio time (a result of a rather modest contract with Prestige), their recordings are practically live.{{Citation needed|date=November 2022}} Two sessions on 11 May and 26 October 1956 resulted in four albums — this one, Relaxin' with the Miles Davis Quintet, Steamin' with the Miles Davis Quintet and Workin' with the Miles Davis Quintet.

It was the first of the four LPs to be released. In response to the album title, Davis said, "After all, that's what we did—came in and cooked."{{cite web |url=http://www.plosin.com/milesAhead/prlp/prlp7094.html |title=PRESTIGE LP 7094: Cookin' with The Miles Davis Quintet |author=Peter Losin |archiveurl=https://archive.today/20130411155345/www.plosin.com/milesahead/prlp/prlp7094.html |archivedate=2013-04-11 |accessdate=8 February 2023}} Reid Miles designed the album's cover and Phil Hays provided the illustration.{{cite web |url=http://www.jazzanddraw.com/miles-davis-lp-cover/ |title=Miles Davis LP cover |website=Jazz and Draw |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190719215411/http://www.jazzanddraw.com/miles-davis-lp-cover/ |archive-date=2019-07-19}}

Reception

{{Album ratings

| rev1 = AllMusic

| rev1score = {{Rating|4.5|5}}[{{AllMusic|class=album|id=r189102|pure_url=yes}} AllMusic review]

| rev2 = Disc

| rev2score = {{rating|5|5}}{{cite magazine |title=Reviews |last=Hall |first=Tony |author-link=Tony Hall (music executive) |magazine=Disc |date=12 July 1958 |issue=23 |page=19}}

| rev3 = The Encyclopedia of Popular Music

| rev3Score = {{Rating|4|5}}{{cite book|last=Larkin|first=Colin|author-link=Colin Larkin|title=The Encyclopedia of Popular Music|year=2007|publisher=Oxford University Press|edition=4th|isbn=978-0195313734|title-link=The Encyclopedia of Popular Music}}

| rev4 = Music Box

| rev4score = {{Rating|5|5}}[http://www.musicbox-online.com/reviews-2007/miles-davis-cookin.html Music Box review]

| rev5 = The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings

| rev5score = {{Rating|4|4}}{{cite book |last1=Cook |first1=Richard |authorlink1=Richard Cook (journalist) |last2=Morton |first2=Brian |authorlink2=Brian Morton (Scottish writer) |title=The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings |year=2008 |edition=9th |publisher=Penguin |isbn=978-0-141-03401-0 |page=342}}

| rev6 = The Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide

| rev6Score = {{rating|5|5}}{{Cite book|editor-last=Swenson|editor-first=J. |year=1985|title=The Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide|publisher=Random House/Rolling Stone|location=USA|isbn=0-394-72643-X|pages=57}}

| rev7 = Tom Hull

| rev7Score = A−{{cite web|last=Hull|first=Tom|author-link=Tom Hull (critic)|date=n.d.|url=http://www.tomhull.com/ocston/nm/jazz-40s.html|title=Jazz (1940s-50s)|website= Tom Hull - on the Web |access-date=March 3, 2020}}

| rev8 = All About Jazz

| rev8score = {{Rating|4|5}}{{cite web |url=https://www.allaboutjazz.com/cookin-miles-davis-prestige-records-review-by-chris-may |title=Miles Davis Quintet: Cookin' |first=Chris |last=May |date=February 26, 2007 |website=All About Jazz |access-date=February 28, 2023}}

}}

In a review for AllMusic, Lindsay Planer wrote: "As these recordings demonstrate, there is an undeniable telepathic cohesion that allows this band... to work so efficiently both on the stage and the studio... The immediate yet somewhat understated ability of each musician to react with ingenuity and precision is expressed in the consistency and singularity of each solo as it is maintained from one musician to the next without the slightest deviation."

Chris May of All About Jazz commented: "Cookin' may not have had the big budget and glossy marketing CBS brought to Davis' subsequent releases, but... it contains some of the most alive and moving music he ever recorded... His lyricism remains dark and brooding, but it's so rich it sings."

Writing for The Music Box, John Metzger called the album "essential," stating that it "precisely showcased the ensemble's full range and potential," and praising the "absolutely extraordinary" communication amongst the musicians.