Stablemates is an instrumental jazz standard by Benny Golson, the tenor saxophonist and arranger, composed in 1955 in the key of D flat. Its form is a complex ABCAB song form with irregular phrase lengths: the A section runs ten bars, the B section four and the C section eight. The ballad melody is noted for lacking a striking core motif. The tune was first recorded by the Miles Davis Quintet in November 1955 for Prestige Records and released in 1956 on the album Miles. Davis learned of it through John Coltrane, who had received the piece from his childhood friend Golson shortly after joining Davis's group. Paul Chambers recorded it in March 1956 with Coltrane and Philly Joe Jones, and Mal Waldron followed later that year. Later versions include recordings by Dizzy Gillespie's big band, Art Farmer, Milt Jackson and Wes Montgomery, and Stan Getz, who played it with Chet Baker in 1983 and recorded it as a duo with Kenny Barron shortly before his death in 1991.
