Porgy And Bess is the second of Miles Davis and Gil Evans’ orchestral collaborations, and in some important ways it’s the weakest of the three, but a few of the tunes are strong enough that it’s worth hearing nonetheless. It’s based on a musical by George and Ira Gershwin that’s basically a folk opera dealing with a stereotypical view of African-American street life, which might strike modern listeners as “problematic.” But since this, obviously, is an instrumental version, which allows Davis to basically “sing” the songs with his horn, some of that can be overlooked. And given that the songs often take bluesy or modal forms, they’re very much in his wheelhouse, so he pretty much knocks it out of the park. Behind him, the orchestra masses like a Greek chorus, providing both a foundation and a sounding board.

This isn’t an album that’s got to be heard all the way through. A lot of the material just sort of slides past. But its high points, “Summertime” and “My Man’s Gone Now” (a tune Davis revisited in a 20-minute version on 1982’s live We Want Miles), are definitely worth a listen.