Personnel includes: Miles Davis (trumpet); George Coleman, Hank Mobley (tenor saxophone); Victor Feldman, Wynton Kelly (piano); Ron Carter, Paul Chambers (bass); Frank Butler, Jimmy Cobb (drums); Gil Evans and His Orchestra.

Producers: Teo Macero, Irving Townshend.

Compilation producer: Mike Berniker.

Recorded in Hollywood, California on April 16, 1963; New York, New York on July 27, August 13 & November 6, 1962; live at the Blackhawk, San Francisco, California on April 21, 1961. Includes liner notes by Jeff Rosen.

This album was assembled by drawing from three of Miles' early-'60s releases, SEVEN STEPS TO HEAVEN, QUIET NIGHTS, and IN PERSON FRIDAY NIGHT AT THE BLACKHAWK VOLUME ONE. By design, this collection is meant to display Davis' facility with the ballad form, and its emphasis is on an emotional connection with the listener, made personal again in every relationship established. At one end of the spectrum there's "Bye Bye Blackbird" with its breezy casualness, and at the other there's "Song #2," with its gorgeous, impressionistic orchestral setting arranged by Gil Evans. These ballads are so riveting in large part because of everything else Davis did. His relentless explorations (which would open whole new chapters again by the late '60s) always brought innovation and clarity back to simpler source points.