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One of the great draws of jazz music is how its greatest players all tended to collaborate with each other, and the combination of Miles Davis and Sonny Rollins on Dig is no exception. These sessions, recorded in 1951 for the Prestige label, feel like a playful and inventive introduction between Davis and Rollins. We can hear them getting to know each other, falling in rhythm with one another. Of course, on top of that, we also get to see two young men just beginning to realize their powers.

Davis was just starting to pull away from his work with Charlie Parker and to make his own way. By 1951, he had already recorded the material that would become Birth of the Cool (which didn't see release until 1956), and he was just a few years away from a string of unforgettable Prestige releases with his first quintet. Rollins too was quietly making a name for himself. He was just a few years away from creating a classic run of hiw own albums for Prestige, including 1956's Saxophone Collosus. The impending freedom for both players to create, and the recognition that came along with it, informs at least part of these recordings. These tracks stretch out and jam in a way that was innovative for the time. Gone were the tight, bebop tunes of Parker, replaced with extended takes on some jazz standards that got bigger without losing the tense energy of Parker's sound. – Pop Matters