Miles Davis Plays The Compositions of Al Cohn, from early 1953, was another album unified by idea and intent. The music is intelligent and spry, with sly references to other tunes, one that would lodge itself in Miles’ memory; “Willie The Wailer,” for example, opens as “Soft Winds,” a number popularized by Benny Goodman in 1941, and which in 1959 Miles would morph into “Freddie The Freeloader” for Kind of Blue. The performances are strong, the harmony lines benefitting from a three-horn frontline with Zoot Sims and Cohn the relaxed foils to Miles’ brashness.