Channel Title: Milestones: A Miles Davis Archive Channel Description: Dedicated to the music of the great jazz trumpeter, composer, and bandleader Miles Davis (1926-1991). Miles was at the forefront of American music during six decades from bebop in the 1940s, through cool jazz, hard bop, orchestral jazz, modal jazz, avant garde, jazz rock, fusion, to hip hop. He led some of the greatest bands of all time, working with John Coltrane, Herbie Hancock, John McLaughlin, Bill Evans, Sonny Rollins, Marcus Miller, Horace Silver, Chick Corea, John Scofield, Keith Jarrett, Wayne Shorter, Joe Zawinul, Kenny Garrett, Cannonball Adderley, Jackie McLean, Hank Mobley, Sonny Stitt, Charlie Parker, Gil Evans, Mtume, Tony Williams, Ron Carter, Philly Joe Jones, Jimmy Cobb, Al Foster, Pete Cosey, Reggie Lucas, Michael Henderson, Daryl Jones, Marilyn Mazur, Robben Ford, and many others. This is the place to hear vintage Miles concert recordings, unreleased music, and hard to find rarities. MILES LIVES! <video> Tadd Dameron's Big Ten with Miles Davis- Royal Roost, NYC | February 19 & 26, 1949 | REMASTERED Description: Miles sitting in with bebop's great arranger February 19 & 26, 1949 Royal Roost, 1580 Broadway, New York City, New York TADD DAMERON'S BIG TEN: Miles Davis- trumpet Kai Winding- trombone Sahib Shihab- alto saxophone Benjamin Lundy- tenor saxophone Cecil Payne- baritone saxophone Tadd Dameron- piano John Collins- guitar Curley Russell- bass Kenny Clarke- drums Carlos Vidal Bolado- congas February 19, 1949: Focus (T. Dameron) 00:00 April in Paris (V. Duke-E.Y. Harburg) 04:00 Good Bait (T. Dameron-C. Basie) 07:00 Webb's Delight [aka Sid's Delight or Tadd's Delight] (T. Dameron) 10:27 February 26, 1949: Milé [aka Milano] (T. Dameron) 14:10 Casbah (T. Dameron) 17:48 closing credits 21:26 Broadcast on WMCA Radio's _All Night, All Frantic_ with Symphony Sid Torin- announcer The Royal Roost, a chicken restaurant in the basement of 1580 Broadway in Manhattan, started presenting modern jazz in early 1948 at the suggestion of WMCA DJ Symphony Sid Torin. The club was nicknamed 'the Metropolitan Bopera House', a pun on its near neighbour, and, despite a brief 11 month heyday, hosted a who's who of post war jazz- Dizzy Gillespie, Dexter Gordon, Bud Powell, Thelonious Monk, Ella Fitzgerald, Count Basie, Lester Young, and Woody Herman. Charlie Parker's quintet with Davis played there often, featuring in several broadcasts in late 1948. Miles also led a two week slot at the Roost with his innovative nonet, later known as the _Birth Of The Cool_ band, their only public appearance. The Parker quintet were appearing at the Roost shortly before Christmas when Miles and drummer Max Roach quit after a huge row, ending Bird and Davis' regular working relationship. Another regular at the Roost was pianist Tadd Dameron, an excellent composer and arranger, and a fine soloist, who had led a band at the club in the summer and autumn of 1948 that included the brilliant bebop trumpeter Fats Navarro. A number of radio broadcasts from the Roost are collected on _Fats Navarro Featured With The Tadd Dameron Band_ (Milestone, 1977). However, Navarro's heroin addiction and ill health made him frequently unavailable (he would eventually die of tuberculosis in 1950, aged just 26) and when Dameron led a ten piece band at the Roost from February 12, 1949 to March 16, opposite Parker's quintet, Navarro was temporarily replaced. There are four surviving Saturday night radio broadcasts from this engagement; the first, from the opening night, has Leonard Hawkins depping on trumpet, but from February 17th Davis took over and this post features music from the next two broadcasts (a final aircheck from March 5 often appears in Davis discographies but has no audible trumpet; the reason for Miles' absence is unknown). The Big Ten features a solid line-up of musicians that straddled swing and the newer sounds of bebop (only tenorist Lundy remains obscure). Miles sounds full-toned and confident (these broadcasts come a month after the first of the nonet's Capitol sessions) and Dameron's arrangements are colourful and detailed. Only Shihab's alto sounds dated, with a tremulous vibrato that sounds like a dance band player (it's perhaps no accident that, on joining Dizzy Gillespie's band, Shihab would concentrate on the more muscular sounding baritone). Vidal's congas are an interesting addition, achieving a more successful integration with the swung rhythms than was sometimes the case with Latin percussionists. Of particular note is the arrangement of Focus, where guitarist John Collins plays the melody; when Dameron recorded the piece for Capitol in 1949 the part was replaced with a wordless vocal by Rae Pearl making the piece sound hopelessly dated- this version is far preferable. Although the music feels quite different, Dameron's Big Ten and Miles' own nonet seem to have had common aims- to adapt the language of the angular and frenetic bebop and fashion it into something more melodic and urbane. Dameron and Davis would continue to work closely that year- the Big Ten recorded for Capitol Records on April 21, the day before the second _Birth Of The Cool_ session and, when Dameron was invited to play at the first Paris Jazz Festival in May, Davis was his choice for trumpet. It also appears there were rehearsals in August that year for an 18 piece band but it was abandoned after a lack of interest from clubs and record companies. A couple of appearances at Birdland the following year marked the end of their working relationship, although Miles continued to play Dameron's compositions including the piece here titled Webb's Delight, recorded by Miles as Tadd's Delight for Columbia in 1956. Dameron made a handful of classic albums, notably _Fontainebleau_ and _Mating Call_ (both Prestige, 1956) the latter with John Coltrane on tenor, and _The Magic Touch_ (Riverside, 1962). However, his activities were curtailed by addiction, incarceration, and ill health and he died from cancer in 1965, aged 48. The site of the Royal Roost is currently a bakery. </video> <video> Miles Davis- May 21, 1966 | Oriental Theatre, Portland, Oregon [REMASTERED] REPOST Description: A rare appearance with bassist Richard Davis May 21, 1966 Oriental Theatre 828 SE Grand Street Portland, Oregon MILES DAVIS QUINTET Miles Davis- trumpet Wayne Shorter- tenor saxophone Herbie Hancock- piano Richard Davis- bass Tony Williams- drums introduction 0:00 Autumn Leaves (Prevert-Mercer-Kosma) 0:40 No Blues (aka Pfrancing) [incomplete] (Davis) 10:37 Agitation [incomplete] (Davis) 20:15 Stella by Starlight (Washington-Young) 29:39 Gingerbread Boy [incomplete] (Heath) 40:16 My Funny Valentine (Rodgers-Hart) 52:06 All Blues (Davis) 1:03:50 Who Can I Turn To? (When Nobody Needs Me) (Bricusse-Newley) 1:13:55 So What (Davis) 1:23:12/ The Theme (Davis) 1:32:27 closing titles 1:32:45 Soundboard recording 1966 is a sparsely documented year in the Miles Davis discography. After recording his _E.S.P._ album in January the previous year, Miles went in for hip replacement surgery. Recovering from that he broke his leg while playing with his sons and the hip replacement had to be redone. A string of dates in the summer and autumn had to be cancelled. Davis's luck didn't improve in the new year; in January he was hospitalised with a liver condition and again spent several months recuperating. The members of the Second Great Quintet were in demand, though, and kept themselves busy in the Blue Note studios during Miles's layoffs. Shorter recorded his albums _Adam's Apple, The Collector_ and _Et Cetera_ for the label, all with Hancock on piano, _The All Seeing Eye_ with Hancock and Carter, and _The Soothsayer_ with Tony Williams; Shorter and Hancock appeared on Williams' album _Spring,_ while Hancock used the whole Davis rhythm section for _Maiden Voyage._ Various members of the quintet also played on albums under the leadership of Lee Morgan, Sam Rivers, Bobby Hutcherson, Bobby Timmons, and Freddie Hubbard. Bassist Ron Carter was much in demand and consequently missed many of the quintet's live appearances, being depped by Gary Peacock, Reggie Workman, and, on a tour in the spring of 1966, Richard Davis. Davis (no releation), born in Chicago in 1930, was an excellent player, equally at home with jazz and classical, and was also much in demand, playing with Sarah Vaughan, Eric Dolphy, Andrew Hill, Booker Ervin, Charles Lloyd, Joe Henderson, and Jaki Byard. This unofficial recording from Portland is the only known documentation of his appearances with Miles's quintet. Portland's Tebbets' Oriental Theatre was a 2,038 seat movie palace built in 1927. The exterior was designed in the Italian Renaissance style but the interior was inspired by promoter Walter Tebbetts travels to the East Indies and was designed to resemble an Indian temple, with Hindu deities and dragons in the lobby, and columns modelled on the Temple of Angkor Wat in Cambodia. By the late 1950s the theatre's extravagant opulence was at odds with the era's sleek minimalism and the venue was struggling financially. It was eventually demolished in 1970 to make way for a parking lot. There are a couple of notable inclusions in the setlist- this is the first recording by Miles of Jimmy Heath's tune Gingerbread Boy. The original was recorded by the composer on his album _On The Trail_ (Riverside) in spring 1964 with Wynton Kelly and Paul Chambers in the personnel. Miles would record the piece in October 1966 for _Miles Smiles_ (Columbia) but this version more closely resembles the original, with the melody in the turnaround not yet replaced by the series of ascending smears familiar from the studio recording. Incidentally, Richard Davis would record the tune in August under the leadership of vibraphonist Milt Jackson for his album _Jazz 'n' Samba_ (Impulse). This is also the only appearance of the song Who Can I Turn To in Miles's discography. The tune was written by English songwriters Leslie Bricusse and Anthony Newley in 1964 for a stage show, _The Roar of the Greasepaint- The Smell of the Crowd,_ sung by the character Cocky, played in the UK production by comedic actor Norman Wisdom. The tour was a failure but was picked up for a US production, eventually running for 231 Broadway performances with Newley himself playing Cocky. The song was covered by Tony Bennett, who had a #33 pop hit with it, followed by Astrud Gilberto and Dionne Warwick. It's interesting to hear Richard Davis with the quintet (when he can be heard through the recording's sonic murk). He has a tendency to play more abstractly than Carter and the band sound less grounded than usual- hear, for instance, how the familiar ostinato of All Blues is abandoned to very different effect than usual. I've attempted to clean up the sound somewhat, but Tony Williams' drums are very prominent- the closing So What sees the drummer unleash an onslaught of rhythmic intensity that threatens to engulf the other instruments. Still, this is a valuable document with the quintet's Newport appearance and the studio sessions for _Miles Smiles_ being the only other recordings of 1966. </video> <video> Miles Davis- July 11, 1988 | Liederhalle, Stuttgart Description: Great sounding audio of highlights from 1988 festival appearance July 11, 1988 Jazz Gipfel Liederhalle, Stuttgart, the former West Germany MILES DAVIS Miles Davis- trumpet, additional keyboards (-1) Kenny Garrett- alto saxophone (-2), flute (-3) Robert Irving III- keyboards Adam Holzman- keyboards Joe 'Foley' McCreary- piccolo bass Benny Rietveld- bass guitar Ricky Wellman- drums Marilyn Mazur- percussion New Blues [Star People] [incomplete] (M. Davis) 00:00 -1, 2 Me and You [incomplete] (J. McCreary) 06:59 -1, 2 Human Nature (S. Porcaro-J. Bettis) 11:58 -1, 2, 3 Wrinkle (A.Z. Giles-R. Hall-W. Linsey) 24:01 -1, 2 Tutu (M. Miller) 30:58 -1, 3 Time After Time (C. Lauper-R. Hyman) 41:34 -3 end titles 50:23 Broadcast by SWR-tv, _Jazzmasters_ 1988 was a busy year for Miles and the band. In April they played a number of dates along the US west coast, before embarking on what would be Davis' only tour of Australia, New Zealand and Hawaii. After a few weeks rest there were dates in the east of the US and Canada before setting off on the now customary summer tour of Europe's jazz festivals. The core of the band were settled in by this point- Garrett, Foley and Wellman had now been playing with Miles over a year, while keyboardists Irving and Holzman joined in 1983 and 1985 respectively. Early in 1988 Miles recruited bassist Benny Rietveld who had been playing with percussionist and vocalist Sheila E. At the same time, percussionist Marilyn Mazur rejoined the band after a two year break. These European dates would be among longtime keyboardist Bobby Irving's final ones with the band- when they undertook a tour in the autumn that year his position had been filled by the teenage Joey DeFrancesco. This recording is the audio from televised highlights at Stuttgart's Liederhalle. The band played for about 93 minutes that evening, this tape includes a little over half of that. There was also an SDR radio broadcast that included a further half hour of material but I have not been able to track this down. The recording opens near the start of what was traditionally the second piece of the evening in Miles's comeback years, the slow blues New Blues (released by Columbia as the title track of _Star People,_ in 1983). Next we hear only the second part of a medley of Foley compositions, Me and You (The Senate has been edited out). This is largely a feature for new bassist Benny Rietveld, who quotes Prince's Controversy and German singer Nena's Neunundneunzig Luftballons (aka 99 Red Balloons). Michael Jackson's Toto-written ballad Human Nature had by now picked up its extended coda vamp that became a feature for Garrett's impassioned alto saxophone. Wrinkle dates back to the (then) unreleased Rubber Band sessions of late 1985, a furious funk workout based on a Mike Stern guitar riff from _Star People's_ Star On Cicely. Tutu was the title track from Miles's now two year old Warner Bros debut, and features Mazur in an extended percussion showcase, culminating in her dancing across the stage with bells attached to her ankles, accompanying her own talking drum solo. A version of Cyndi Lauper's Time After Time closes things out. The band is a well oiled machine by this point, Miles plays well and there are fine spots for the featured soloists. The audio is very good, well recorded and decently mixed. There is a little digital artifacting noticeable in the high end but it shouldn't be too distracting. As noted, a couple of tracks are incomplete as a result of editing and there was a small gap in the intro to Human Nature, which I have patched with audio from an alternate, inferior source. I gave the audio a little re-EQing and adjusted the running speed slightly. This is another good late eighties show, even if it is incomplete, and the superior sound makes it an enjoyable listen. </video> <video> Miles Davis- July 17, 1984 | Royal Festival Hall, London (1st concert) [REMASTERED] Description: FM broadcast highlights from the post _Decoy_ era July 17, 1984 JVC-Capital Radio Jazz Parade, Royal Festival Hall, Southbank Centre, London, UK MILES DAVIS Miles Davis- trumpet, synthesizer Bob Berg- tenor and soprano saxophones John Scofield- guitar Robert Irving III- synthesizers Darryl Jones- bass guitar Al Foster- drums Steve Thornton- percussion 1st concert New Blues [Star People] (Miles Davis) 00:00 What It Is (Miles Davis-John Scofield) 08:34 It Gets Better [incomplete] (Miles Davis) 18:19 Time After Time (Cyndi Lauper-Rob Hyman) 26:40 Hopscotch (Marcus Miller) 36:17 Jean Pierre (Miles Davis) 42:52 closing titles 50:29 Early 1984 saw a break in Miles' demanding touring schedule. At the end of the previous year saxophonist Bill Evans left to join John McLaughlin's Mahavishnu band, while percussionist Mino Cinelu went to Weather Report. Recording sessions were held early in the year, with Miles recording a number of cover versions of pop tunes, including Cyndi Lauper's Time After Time. But Miles also contracted pneumonia, and was convalescing after a hip operation (photos from his return to the stage often see him using a cane). According to Miles, he was using this time to practice every day and build up his chops, and to go swimming to help his breathing and stamina. In June he lead his band on a tour of the US and Europe with new recruits Steve Thornton, who had played percussion on the studio sessions, and saxophonist Bob Berg. Berg recalls that, to his surprise, Miles was playing strongly during this period. "The first gig we played... I was shocked. I mean, not shocked, but pleasantly surprised at how strong Miles was... Generally he was really _on_ the whole time. I mean amazingly. He could hit high notes that I had never heard him play before." Promoter George Wein launched a jazz festival in collaboration with London radio station Capital Radio in 1979, initially at the Alexandra Palace (nicknamed 'Ally Pally'), to some discontent from British jazz musicians, unhappy at the US-centric line-up. The festival the following year was abandoned when, the night before it was due to start, the Ally Pally burned to the ground. Wein recalled "The fire had spread so fast that, had it happened the following night, many of our audience of 5000 might have perished. We were lucky, but it was the end of the Ally Pally festival. For a few years we tried to keep it alive... We achieved varying degrees of success, but never captured the spirit or momentum of what we had at Ally Pally." The 1981 festival moved to Knebworth House but in later years found a home at the 2,700 capacity Royal Festival Hall, situated within the Southbank Centre, a handsome modern arts complex built on the River Thames, at the southern end of Waterloo Bridge. Now renamed the JVC-Capital Radio Jazz Parade, to fit the branding of other JVC jazz festivals around Europe, it became one of the stops in Miles's now customary summer European tour. Writer George Cole, author of the superb _The Last Miles: The Music of Miles Davis 1980-1991_ (Equinox Publishing, 2005) attended this gig, the first of two concerts that day. "There were quite a few changes to the band from the previous year... [Jones] especially intrigued me as he looked so young (in fact, he was only 22). The entire band was dressed casually; Miles wore a sailor’s cap and sports jacket, while Jones was wearing a blue boiler suit... It was soon clear that Berg was a superb musician, Jones was a formidable bassist and Miles’s chops were definitely on the up." (You can read Cole's full account at https://www.thelastmiles.com/miles-davis-moments-royal-festival-hall-july-1984/ ) This recording of selected highlights from the 75 minute set was broadcast by Capital Radio (a complete audience tape exists but is not in my collection). The band is tight and energetic, Jones and Sco are especially compelling and Miles is in great form. Berg is oddly underused, appearing on only two tunes, but plays some typically burning horn. The pieces are drawn from _Decoy,_ and _We Want Miles_ along with a couple of unreleased titles; Time After Time would have been a surprise for the audience, as the studio version would not be released until the following year. The tape was in less than perfect sound, with a booming, muddy low end and a non existent top end. I re-Eqed the audio to give the bass better definition and bring out some of the higher frequencies, but it's still less than optimum for a 40 year old FM broadcast. Still, it's very listenable and the quality of the music shines through. Miles was busy crossing the Atlantic that year; the band returned for a short European visit in the autumn, then Davis returned again in December, visiting Copenhagen to accept the Léonie Sonning Music Prize, and playing music written by Palle Mikkelborg that would become the genesis of 1985's _Aura,_ before returning to New York to complete the sessions for _You're Under Arrest._ </video> <video> Miles Davis- The 1946 Earl Coleman/ Ann Baker Final Takes | REMASTERED Description: Final takes from early R&B flavored session with singers Coleman and Baker. October 18, 1946 Radio Recorders Studio, Hollywood, California EARL COLEMAN/ ANN BAKER Miles Davis- trumpet Gene Ammons- tenor saxophone Connie Wainwright- guitar Linton Garner- piano Tommy Potter- bass Art Blakey- drums Earl Coleman+, Ann Baker*- vocals Don't Sing Me The Blues (Earl Coleman)+ take 2 0:00 Don't Explain To Me Baby (Earl Coleman)+ take 4 2:55 Baby, Won't You Make Up Your Mind? (Ann Baker)* take 3 5:48 I've Always Got The Blues (Ann Baker)* take 3 8:59 closing titles 11:48 Session produced by Eddie Laguna Since arriving in New York in the spring of 1945, where he sought out Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie after sitting in with them in Billy Eckstine's orchestra back in East St. Louis, Miles Davis had established himself as one of the most promising newcomers on the scene. Having been taken under Bird's wing they had recorded an important session for Savoy and gigged together. Late in the year, though, Parker travelled to the west coast to spread the word of bebop in Los Angeles. In early 1946 Miles took up an invitation from saxophonist Benny Carter to join his big band and although he found the music somewhat old fashioned he saw an opportunity to travel west with the band and to reunite with Parker. Once there, the pair played the Finale Club with a rhythm section of L.A. musicians until, in April, a police raid closed the club. Parker's mental and physical health was also in a downward spiral and, after a complete breakdown on the evening of the infamous Lover Man session of July 29, he was committed to Camarillo State Mental Hospital. Miles spent his time jamming with his new acquaintance, bassist Charles Mingus, and gigging with saxophonist Lucky Thompson. But it was to be Billy Eckstine that once again provided a path. His big band arrived on the west coast in September, minus a trumpet player- Fats Navarro had decided to stay in New York- and Miles joined, giving him the chance to work his way back east. Eckstine's band was noted for its excellence but its excitement failed to transfer to the recording studio- a couple of sessions for the National label in early October, with Miles in the trumpet section, were let down by mediocre recording and poor pressings. It was during this period that Miles started to experiment with drugs- fellow trumpeter Hobart Dotson gave him cocaine; shortly after, saxophonist Gene Ammons introduced him to heroin. In mid October came this session, the details of which are still somewhat shrouded in mystery. The session was produced by Eddie Laguna, founder of the Sunset label, but the music went unreleased. There is some confusion as to whether the recordings were made for Sunset, or for Keynote Records- the liner notes to a 1956 Earl Coleman album mention an unreleased session for the label. Laguna eventually sold the masters to Alun Morgan at Black Lion Records, who released them under the title _Boppin[g] The Blues_ (1986). The personnel is drawn from the ranks of Eckstine's big band- Baker was the band's female singer, while Coleman occasionally depped for Eckstine himself, singing in the ripe, broad baritone that was fashionable at the time. [There's been some confusion concerning Ann Baker- she was never known as Ann[e] Hathaway; this misattribution stems from a mistake in Alun Morgan's liner notes and has since been repeated in discographies and biographies, such as Jack Chambers' _Milestones._ ] The music is a mix of bebop horn lines with the sort of typical rhythm & blues that featured on _Billboard's_ 'Juke Box Race Records' chart, or _Cashbox's_ 'Hot In Harlem'. Three of the pieces are 12 bar blues- both of Earl Coleman's are in the key of Eb, and his oleaginous vocals make them sound very similar, Baker's pair (including a blues in C) offer a little more variety. Overall, these are very good examples of jazz inflected Black popular music of the day making their non-release at the time something of a puzzle. Miles has made great strides in the last 18 months- he sounds much more rhythmically supple than on, say, Parker's Now's The Time session, although his occasional Gillespie-like runs [at 5:08 for example] demonstrate he was still yet to forge a personal style beyond bebop. Ammons provides many of the highlights here, a fine player whose career was blighted by addiction. Wainwright sticks to Freddie Greene-style chording, Linton Garner lacks the swinging virtuosity of his brother Erroll but provides some solid comping, while Blakey would be an important bandmate for Davis over the next few years, before becoming a star himself. Four months after this date Coleman would record a pair of tunes with a rejunivated Charlie Parker that became Dial Records' biggest sellers. Miles would also reach new artistic heights with Parker on his return to New York, while his new found addictions saw him hit lows that would threaten his career and his life. </video> <video> Miles Davis- July 14, 1990 | Hohentwiel-Festival, Singen Description: Great FM broadcast of a strong late period show MILES DAVIS July 14, 1990 Hohentwiel-Festival Hohentwiel Castle Singen the former West Germany MILES DAVIS Miles Davis- trumpet, keyboards Kenny Garrett- alto saxophone (out on -1) Joe 'Foley' McCreary- piccolo bass, vocals (-2) Kei Akagi- keyboards Richard Patterson- bass guitar, vocals (-2) Ricky Wellman- drums Erin Davis- electronic percussion introduction 00:00 Perfect Way (Green Gartside-David Gamson) 00:13 New Blues [Star People] (Miles Davis) 05:51 Hannibal (Marcus Miller) 14:57 The Senate (Joe McCreary) 26:01/ Me And You (Joe McCreary) 33:05 Jilli (John Bigham) 37:45 announcement 44:30 Human Nature (Steve Porcaro-John Bettis) 44:38 Time After Time (Cyndi Lauper-Rob Hyman) -1 58:41 In the Night (Larry Blackmon-Merve DePeyer) -2 1:08:21 Wrinkle (Attala Zane Giles-Randy Hall-Wayne Linsey) -1 1:12:32 Tutu (Marcus Miller) -1 1:19:31 announcement 1:30:13 closing titles 1:30:29 Südwestfunk (SWF) radio broadcast In 1990 Miles Davis was in the final phrase of his career- his last gig would be 14 months after this- and the band were frequently visiting West Germany, with this gig being broadcast by German radio. The band was kept busy throughout 1990 with a string of US and Canadian dates in the first half of the year, then a European tour starting in late June. Miles's son Erin joined the band earlier that month, playing electronic percussion, replacing John Bigham. Erin recalls his father had started to take him on the road when he was 14 and soon he became part of the road crew. Eventually he was asked to join the band. "Him letting me on stage was him giving me a chance. I kept telling him I wanted to be a musician, I wanted to play drums, I wanted to have my own band. He let me see what it was like on the big stage. He knew I knew all the material from working on the crew all those summers. I don’t even think I got any rehearsals. I think I watched the guy who did it before me for a couple of shows, and then I was just kind of on it, in the seat. It was my gig. It was a good experience, nerve-wracking for me." The next newest member, bassist Richard Patterson, had joined in April. Hohentwiel is a dead volcano that towers over the city of Singen with the castle, now a ruin, built at its peak. Festivals had been held at the site since the early 1900s and an annual jazz festival started in 1975. This appearance by Davis has been credited with drawing attention to the festival and boosting its popularity. This gig is a typical Miles set of the period, with a well drilled band, and great spots for Garrett, Foley and Akagi. Patterson's snappy bass is a great fit, although Erin's electronic percussion pads are as clunky sounding as Bigham's had been before him. The tunes are a mix of pieces from the _Tutu_ and _Amandla_ albums, some funk jams, and the crowd pleasing pop covers he had been playing for several years. Perhaps the most surprising aspect of the show is how strongly Miles is playing- rhythmically incisive phrases with a full, piercing tone and plenty of open horn, always a sign Miles was having a good night. Listen to this performance of Cyndi Lauper's Time After Time- it might be one of the best on tape. There are spots where Miles seems to be preserving his strength, though- Garrett takes over for most of In The Night, the tune Miles had recorded with the great funk band Cameo for their otherwise disappointing album _Machismo_ (Atlanta Artists). This piece also has the novelty of Foley and Patterson contributing vocals, the only time Miles's set regularly featured singing. Tutu ends with some amusing call-and-response between Miles and the crowd, a sign that he was happier to engage with audiences than in years gone by. The European tour was scheduled to continue into the first week of August but, after another German gig on July 30 (https://youtu.be/7pb_leqtct8 ) the final dates were cancelled when Miles fell ill. These were historic times for Germany- the Berlin Wall fell the year before and official demolition had begun one month and a day before this concert. On October 3 the Unification Treaty came into effect, reuniting the West with what had been the German Democratic Republic in the East. Miles and the band would revisit the united country in the autumn, playing at least eight more concerts there before the end of the year. </video> <video> Miles Davis- July 12, 1964 Hibaya Yagai Ongaku-do, Tokyo | REMASTERED Description: Rare performance with saxophonist Sam Rivers now in improved sound July 12, 1964 Hibaya Yagai Ongaku-do, Hibaya Park, Chiyoda City Tokyo, Japan MILES DAVIS QUINTET Miles Davis- trumpet Sam Rivers- tenor saxophone Herbie Hancock- piano Ron Carter- bass Tony Williams- drums Autumn Leaves (J. Prevert-J. Mercer-J. Kosma) 00:00 So What (M. Davis) 11:12 Stella by Starlight (N. Washington-V. Young) 19:59 Walkin' (R. Carpenter) 30:59/ The Theme (M. Davis) 40:18 announcement by Teruo Isono 40:39 closing titles 40:47 Soundboard source Spring 1963 saw Miles Davis putting together a new working quintet, first recruiting the masterful bassist Ron Carter and adding two gifted young musicians, 23 year old pianist Herbie Hancock and drummer Tony Williams, then just 17. Their immediate rapport saw them quickly become one of the most exciting rhythm sections in jazz. The saxophonist in the band was George Coleman, a brilliant hard bop player with an excellent melodic and harmonic sense and a warm, broad tone. However, the younger musicians in the band were open to the new sounds coming from jazz's avant-garde and Williams especially disliked Coleman's polished perfectionism. Internal conflicts and extended layoffs while Miles dealt with health issues prompted the saxophonist to quit in the early months of 1964. Miles's first choice for the saxophone chair was Wayne Shorter, whose tenure as musical director in Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers made him unavailable. Williams lobbied for tenorist Sam Rivers, who he had played with in Boston as early as 1959. Rivers, then already 40, was following his own musical course, one that embraced free playing. Davis had been critical of many of the avant-garde players- when Williams brought Archie Shepp to sit in one night at the Village Vanguard, Miles simply walked offstage and a disparaging remark about altoist Eric Dolphy ('The next time I see him I'm going to step on his foot') seemed especially brutal when Dolphy died suddenly at the age of 36 after falling into a diabetic coma. But with a Japanese tour looming Davis's options were limited and so Rivers, then out on tour with blues guitarist T-Bone Walker, was recruited. The group played a few (undocumented) US concerts before heading off to Japan, for two gigs in Tokyo and one in Kyoto (a further date in Osaka was played without Davis). The tour was a package organised by promoter George Wein and featured Carmen McRae, J.J. Johnson, Clark Terry, Sonny Stitt, and a trio of Miles's old rhythm section of Wynton Kelly, Paul Chambers and Jimmy Cobb. Davis's band attracted the most attention and expectation was high for this gig at a 5,000 seater outdoor ampitheatre. "It was Davis who drew the crowds," reported Leonard Feather, "his photo adorned the cover of the current _Swing Journal;_ he got the full VIP treatment, with first class air transportation, a private air-conditioned limousine from hotel to concert hall... [he] achieved an immediate rapport." Davis was impressed with how well he was treated in Japan and he remained fond of the country and its people for the rest of his life. Only the July 14 Tokyo gig was officially released in Japan as _Miles In Tokyo_ (CBS/Sony, 1969) but there are tapes for the other two dates, making these valuable documents of Rivers' brief tenure. The saxophonist's reedy tone sits somewhat uneasily in the band, playing fairly conservatively for the most part, proving himself a capable melodic changes-based player, but he occasionally veers off into atonal declamations, Coltranesque flurries, and harsh wails or honks. Miles appears unperturbed and the rhythm trio are yet to venture into the freer territory they would later explore. The result is that Rivers rarely feels fully integrated into the music; it's a clash of styles, albeit an intriguing one. "Miles was doing things that were pretty straight," Rivers recalled. "I was there but I was somewhere else, too. I guess it sounds funny, but I was already ahead of that." It's tempting to speculate about what might have developed had Rivers stayed with the band. However, on returning to the States, Miles discovered that Wayne Shorter had quit Blakey's Messengers and so the final piece of Davis's Second Great Quintet fell into place. Rivers continued to play with the quintet's members on a series of albums for Blue Note- a month after this tour, when Tony Williams recorded _Life Time,_ his debut LP as a leader, Rivers was the saxophonist. Hancock and Carter played on Rivers' own May 1965 _Contours_ session, while both Rivers and Wayne Shorter, along with Hancock, played on Williams' second LP _Spring._ We originally posted this show back in 2016 but revisiting it recently I felt that its thin, boxy sound could be improved. This new version has been re-EQed and speed corrected (it was running fast). The result sounds much fuller and more lively, although there's still a lot of hiss which was not possible to remove without affecting the music. </video> <video> Miles Davis- August 7, 1959 | Playboy Jazz Festival, Chicago Stadium Description: A swinging So What from _Playboy's_ first jazz festival August 7, 1959 1st _Playboy_ Jazz Festival Chicago Stadium, 1800 West Madison Street, Chicago, Illinois MILES DAVIS QUINTET Miles Davis- trumpet Cannonball Adderley- alto saxophone Wynton Kelly- piano Paul Chambers- bass Jimmy Cobb- drums introduction 00:00 So What (M. Davis) 01:10 closing titles 13:15 AFRS _This Is Jazz_ radio broadcast In 1953 27-year-old Chicago born psychology graduate, advertising copyrighter and cartoonist Hugh Hefner published the first edition of a men's lifestyle magazine. After rejecting several possible titles, such as _Bachelor, Gentleman, Top Hat_ and _Stag Party,_ Hefner chose the name _Playboy._ The first edition was a success, thanks to a centrefold of a nude Marilyn Monroe, and the title became a monthly publication; by June 1956 it was selling a million copies and was growing into a huge empire. The magazine captured the mood of an aspirational and affluent post-war (male) America, defining a somewhat louche sophistication; articles on yachting, cocktails, and outdoor barbecuing sat alongside fiction by leading American writers, irreverent cartoons, jokes, men's fashion, sports, motoring, Hollywood, and of course, the indispensable disrobed Playmates. Jazz was also part of the lifestyle- that first issue had included a feature on the Dorsey Brothers and articles on Louis Armstrong, Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, Benny Goodman, Lester Young, Stan Kenton, Dave Brubeck, and the Newport Jazz Festival followed- and in 1957 the magazine held the inaugural _Playboy_ Jazz Poll, an annual readers' vote for the music's leading figures (Miles placed 8th in the trumpet category that year); there were also tie-in LPs featuring the highest polling artists. In 1959 Hefner decided to hold a huge jazz festival in his home town, at the outdoor Soldier Field- a late change of venue to Chicago Stadium saw it become the first indoor American jazz festival- featuring an eye-popping line up including Duke Ellington, Ella Fitzgerald, Count Basie, Louis Armstrong, Dave Brubeck, Oscar Peterson, Dizzy Gillespie, Sonny Rollins, Coleman Hawkins, J.J. Johnson, Ahmad Jamal, Stan Kenton, and Bobby Darin. The Miles Davis Sextet were booked to play the opening Friday evening of the festival. However, John Coltrane, who had just recorded his career-boosting album _Giant Steps,_ had quit the group to form his own quartet. On May 21 Miles' old associate Jimmy Heath was released after serving four years of a six year prison sentence for narcotics and Davis hired him for the tenor saxophone chair. This soon presented a problem; the conditions of Heath's probation prevented him from travelling outside the Philadelphia area and so Davis was forced to go to Chicago with a quintet. This is the only known live recording with Cannonball Adderley as the sole saxophonist (incidentally, Jack Chambers' book _Milestones: The Music and Times of Miles Davis_ erroneously dates these events as 1960; the mistake is repeated in Miles' own autobiography). This performance of So What, from the _Kind of Blue_ LP which would be released ten days later, is all that was broadcast of the Davis quintet's appearance. It kicks off at a much speedier tempo and Miles, perhaps to compensate for the absence of Trane, pushes himself a little too hard, a couple of phrases not quite coming off, to his audible irritation. But it's mostly a buoyant, driving solo, matched by swinging spots for Adderley and pianist Wynton Kelly. Despite the personnel problems Miles seemed in good spirits, perhaps soaking up the atmosphere of an audience of over 19,000; Gene Lees reported in _Down Beat_ "even Miles seemed in good mood. He came close to acknowledging that the audience existed; once he even smiled. No amount of incredulity from the profession will deny the truth: Miles smiled... and played beautifully." This recording comes from an AFRS broadcast of highlights from the festival, in typically cloudy sound for the period. I had two sources for the music, one was in very poor audio, the other was in better sound but apparently dubbed from a LP pressing with a lot of surface noise. I re-EQed the audio, ran it through a declicker (some noise persists) and adjusted the speed as it ran almost a semitone sharp. Coltrane's absence from the sextet was short; Davis was forced to let Heath go and by the time the band opened at Birdland on August 13 Trane was back in the fold. Despite the success of _Playboy's_ first jazz festival- there were over 70,000 attendees at five concerts across the three days- it would be another twenty years before Hefner organised another. But the magazine continued to feature jazz in its pages; in September 1962 it launched The _Playboy_ Interview, which would become a prestigious and popular feature, as young writer Alex Haley (later of _Roots_ fame) sat down with its first subject... Miles Davis. </video> <video> Miles Davis- Aura Live with Palle Mikkelborg & Danish Radio Big Band | December 14, 1984 Copenhagen Description: Historic live performance of Palle Mikkelborg's Aura suite with Miles awarded the Léonie Sonning Music Prize December 14, 1984 Léonie Sonning Music Prize Award Ceremony 3 Falke Scenen, Falkoner Teatret, Copenhagen, Denmark DANISH RADIO BIG BAND with MILES DAVIS and JOHN SCOFIELD Miles Davis- trumpet (-1) John Scofield- guitar (-2) Danish Radio Big Band : Palle Mikkelborg- arranger, conductor Benny Rosenfeld, Palle Bolvig, Idrees Sulieman, Jens Winther, Perry Knudsen- trumpets, flugelhorns Vincent Nilsson, Ture Larsen, Ole Kurt Jensen- trombones Jens Engel- bass trombone Axel Windfeld- bass trombone, tuba Jesper Thilo- soprano and alto saxophones, flute, clarinet Per Carsten- alto saxophone, flute Bent Jædig- soprano and tenor saxophones, flute Uffe Karskov- tenor saxophone, flute, alto flute, clarinet Flemming Madsen- baritone saxophone, flute, clarinet, bass clarinet Thomas Clausen, Ole Kock Hansen, Kenneth Knudsen- keyboards Bo Sylvén, Bjarne Roupé- guitars Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen- acoustic bass Bo Stief- bass guitar, fretless bass guitar Lennart Gruvstedt- drums Marilyn Mazur- percussion Ethan Weisgard- Latin percussion Niels Eje- oboe, cor anglais Lillian Tørnquist- harp Eva Thaysen- vocals introduction 00:00 Aura (P. Mikkelborg) Yellow 02:36 Orange (part 1) 17:50 Green (part 2) 28:43 Red (part 1) 33:20 Red (part 2) [Intro] 36:11 Orange (part 2) 37:32 Green (part 1) 39:17 Blue -2 42:24 Indigo 50:12 Violet -1 59:13 Violet (encore) -1, 2 1:09:07 presentation of the Léonie Sonning Music Prize by Børge Friis 1:18:53 Time After Time [incomplete] (C. Lauper-R. Hyman) -1, 2 1:22:46 Jean Pierre (M. Davis) -1, 2 1:31:01 Violet (reprise) 1:46:50 announcement 1:49:01 Radio broadcast by DR P2 The Léonie Sonning Music Prize, Denmark's highest musical honour, was first awarded in 1959 to composer Igor Stravinsky and subsequent recipients included conductors and instrumentalists from the world of classical music: Leonard Bernstein, Benjamin Britten, Arthur Rubenstein, Yehudi Menuhin, Dmitri Shostakovich, Andrés Segovia, Olivier Messiaen, and Isaac Stern. In 1984 the decision was made to award the prize to Miles Davis, the first non-classical musician to receive it. The Sonning committee wrote to Davis informing him of the award but heard nothing in return; eventually they sent a representative to New York to meet with Miles personally. After hearing about the prestigious former winners Miles became interested. The prize included a diploma and 10,000 Danish Krona, the equivalent of around US$40,000 at the time (over $120,000 today). One of the conditions of the prize was that the recipient had to perform or conduct a piece of at least five minutes at the awards ceremony, which presented a problem. The Sonning committee commissioned two compositions written in tribute to Davis, one from American composer Bill Pitts and one from Danish composer Palle Mikkelborg, himself a fine trumpeter who had performed with Dexter Gordon, George Russell, Bill Evans, and Gil Evans. The idea was for Mikkelborg's piece to open the concert, followed by Pitts' and Miles would play for part of this composition. However, on hearing the pieces Miles decided that, although he liked Pitts' composition _Beyond Logic,_ he did not want to play on it, preferring Mikkelborg's _Aura._ The order of the two pieces was swapped and Miles flew to Denmark with his nephew, drummer Vince Wilburn, Jr to rehearse. Miles was pleasantly surprised by the size of the band, which included harp and oboe, and they were joined by guitarist John Scofield who had been invited by Mikkelborg. Aside from an impromptu jam with Mel Lewis this was the first time Miles had worked with a big band in over 20 years. The award ceremony was broadcast by Danish radio, including all of Mikkelborg's suite, the prize presentation and encores. Although Miles does not play until an hour into the concert it is fascinating to hear this early version of the suite, which has many differences from the LP version recorded two months later. Mikkelborg employed an interesting compositional method- he assigned the letters of the alphabet to the chromatic scale and spelt out Miles' name M-I-L-E-S-D-A-V-I-S. The resulting melody suggested a scale and related harmonies that informed much of the composition. "When I wrote the piece I hadn’t met Miles, I had only heard the stories and of course had been to all his concerts in Sweden and Copenhagen. My inner voice said I should do it in seven movements, these prime colours. Miles was fascinated by the idea, although I’m not sure he fully understood what I did– or maybe he wasn’t that interested! He just found it interesting that someone had described his life in colours." (Notes continue in the pinned comment below) </video> <video> Miles Davis- April 12, 1970 | Fillmore West, San Francisco [REMASTERED] Description: Fiery set at the home of hippie culture April 12, 1970 Fillmore West, 10 South Van Ness Avenue, San Francisco, California MILES DAVIS Miles Davis- trumpet Steve Grossman- soprano saxophone, except -1 tenor saxophone Chick Corea- electric piano Dave Holland- bass guitar, except -2 double bass Jack De Johnette- drums Airto Moreira- percussion It's About That Time (M. Davis) 00:00 Directions (J. Zawinul) -1 10:58 I Fall in Love Too Easily (S. Cahn-J. Styne) 23:20 / Sanctuary (W. Shorter-M. Davis) 25:09 Footprints (W. Shorter) 29:03 Agitation (M. Davis) -2 39:48 No Blues (M. Davis) -2 41:37 Bitches Brew (M. Davis) 49:33 Spanish Key (M. Davis) 1:04:22 / The Theme (M. Davis) 1:15:55 closing titles 1:16:43 Soundboard source _Bitches Brew_ was an earthquake. The August 1969 sessions, fusing jazz, rock, R&B, and the avant garde, caused aftershocks through the worlds of jazz, progressive rock, and funk that were felt for decades. The album also caused a seismic shift in Miles' own career. After signing with Columbia in 1955 Miles had become one of their leading jazz stars; his early albums for the label were big sellers in jazz terms- _Kind Of Blue, Sketches of Spain_ and _Porgy & Bess_ had sold 100,000 to 150,000 but by the mid-1960s things were changing. College kids were turning to the wave of rock music that had followed The Beatles, young black audiences were listening to Motown and James Brown. Jazz was becoming the music of their parents' generation. Miles' recent albums sales had fallen to 40-50,000. He was also playing small jazz venues, as Dave Holland reported: "When I joined the band it was on a sort of decline in America. We played a lot of clubs where there were 30 or 40 people in the audience in a night... I was amazed that so few people would come." Promoter Bill Graham ran two rock venues, the Fillmore East in New York and Fillmore West in Los Angeles, the hub of the hippie culture. Clive Davis, who had become president of Columbia in 1966, saw an opportunity to introduce rock audiences to Miles's new direction and increase his sales. He wrote to Graham and told him "the 'underground' is ready for Miles." Miles was infuriated. In a foul tempered phone call to his label boss he railed against playing for "those fucking long-haired white kids" and complained about money- Miles's fee for a large venue was around $5000; Graham was offering $1500. The dispute escalated when Miles's lawyer contacted Columbia to say there would be no more recordings for the label. There were even rumours in the press that Miles was looking to get out of his contract and sign with Motown. Miles eventually relented. In March he played two nights at the Fillmore East on a bill with Neil Young and Steve Miller, to a mixed reception. _Bitches Brew_ was released March 30 to acclaim from the rock press. The next month he played a four night run at the Fillmore West, supporting hippie heroes the Grateful Dead, whose mix of rock, folk, bluegrass, and psychedelia also included a healthy dose of jazz-inspired improvisation. Also on the bill were Scottish blues rock band Stone The Crows, with Brotherhood of Light's lightshow. Miles and his band made no concessions to the new audience; this was fierce, uncompromising music- abstract, chromatic and occasionally teetering into free jazz. This was the last of the four shows (the second evening was released as the _Black Beauty_ LP). Unusually, the set opens with It's About That Time from 1969's _In A Silent Way_ LP, with the customary set opener Directions following. Corea is especially wild, distorting his Fender Rhodes through a ring modulator and Echoplex, in a constant commentary on the soloists. The middle of the set features three tunes all making their final appearance in the setlist- the minor blues form of Footprints has been abandoned, leaving only a bass vamp and a fragment of the melody; there's a truncated Agitation, while No Blues also takes its blues form to breaking point (Miles sits out apart from the opening horn line), becoming a lengthy showcase for Holland's acoustic bass, before Corea's electric piano dissolves into free jazz cacophony. These skeletal forms would become the norm for Miles' new material but it's interesting to hear him retooling old compositions to fit the new aesthetic. Two pieces from _Bitches Brew_ round out the set. The Deadheads seem to lap it up, and so did the Dead themselves. Bassist Phil Lesh recalled; "As I listened, leaning over the amps with my jaw hanging agape, trying to comprehend the forces that Miles was unleashing onstage, I was thinking, 'What’s the use? How can we possibly play after this? We should just go home and try to digest this unbelievable shit.'" Miles appeared to enjoy his Fillmore experience, winning over audiences, reconciling with Clive Davis and Bill Graham, and befriending Dead guitarist Jerry Garcia. "[We] hit it off great, talking about music... and I think we all learned something." </video> <video> Miles Davis- Mystery (long version), originally from the 1991 Doo-Bop album Description: Alternative edit of the lead track from Miles' final _Doo-Bop_ album recorded spring 1991 Unique Recording Studio, New York City Miles Davis- trumpet Easy Mo Bee- samples, drum programming Deron Johnson- keyboards Mystery [long version] (Miles Davis-Easy Mo Bee) Produced by Easy Mo Bee Original version from the album _Doo-Bop_ (Warner Bros, 1992) Miles Davis could hear the future. He was in his New York apartment in the heat of summer, with the windows open, listening to the sound of the music coming from radios in the street outside. He was hearing the sampled loops, turntable scratching, and drum machine beats of hip hop and he decided that his next album would include these new sounds and rhythms. The project was going to be ambitious- a double album, with a cast of collaborators. Miles' friend, Def Jam co-founder Russell Simmons, hooked him up with Easy Mo Bee, part of the group Rappin' Is Fundamental (R.I.F.), who fused vocal harmonies with hip hop in a style they called 'doo hop', and also a producer who was working with some of the biggest names in hip hop of the era: Notorious B.I.G., 2Pac, Big Daddy Kane, Heavy D., Slick Rick, D.J. Red Alert, and The Genius (aka GZA, from Wu Tang Clan). Other contributors to the project were to be Sid Reynolds (Queen Latifah, Naughty By Nature), regular collaborator Marcus Miller, ex-Fishbone guitarist John Bigham (who had contributed to Miles' 1988 album _Amandla,_ and who toured with the band briefly, playing electronic percussion), and mutual admirer Prince. Other possible contributors included Public Enemy's production team, The Bomb Squad (who had worked with saxophonist Branford Marsalis on a remix of P.E.'s Fight The Power in 1989), and KRS-One told me that he had a conversation with Miles about a collaboration. In the end, time was against him. Miles and Easy completed a half dozen tracks between February and July of 1991, before Miles was taken ill and died in September. A scaled back album was completed posthumously, using the unfinished 'Rubber Band' tapes from 1985. Jazz critics almost universally slated _Doo Bop,_ with its mixture of hip hop and new jack swing beats, sampling, and Miles' trumpet, but the record proved popular- it sold 300,000 copies in its first year of release and won a Grammy in 1993 for Best R&B Instrumental Performance. The Davis-praising raps that appear on a couple of tracks were especially singled out as cliched- shades of the title track of _The Man With The Horn._ But Miles plays some surprisingly strong horn on the record and sounds genuinely energised by these fresh settings. Easy Mo Bee remembered the collaboration proudly, stating "I love Biggie, I love (2)Pac, I love a lot of the things that I've done but I hold producing Miles Davis'... last album to be the greatest thing that I've ever done." Mystery was the lead off track from Doo-Bop, a fine start to the record with its bouncing hip hop beat, speaker shaking bassline, and catchy electric piano loop. For all the gripes from the jazz critics, Miles plays beautifully here, crafting the sort of spontaneous melodies that he could always muster, whatever the setting, in a surprisingly strong tone. Easy Mo Bee named the track because of the sustained note that runs through the beat. "That tone just held there and hovered over the track... to me it created like a mysterious vibe." The original LP version clocked in at 3'55, while the album ended on a Mystery (Reprise) version, which used a brief piece of audience applause, segueing into a duplication of the opening half minute of the full version, followed by a hard edit to the end. However, where the full version cuts off, the Reprise has the beat kick back in, over which Miles plays some more phrases and the track fades after 1'23. "[The reprise] was my idea," says Easy Mo Bee. "I really used to like that on an album. On an Earth, Wind & Fire album... there would be a song on one side of the album and later on there would be a short version that was slightly different. I was just trying to make the album sophisticated." I stumbled across this version by accident; listening to the album recently on a streaming service I realised that the track listed as Mystery (Reprise) was actually a hybrid of the two LP versions- the full LP version, segued into the final section from the Reprise. Why this has replaced the actual Reprise version on streaming services is something of a... well, mystery. </video> <video> Miles Davis- 1952 The Barrel, St. Louis [EXCLUSIVE UPGRADE!!!] Description: Spring 1952 The Barrel, St. Louis, Missouri Miles Davis- trumpet Jimmy Forrest- tenor saxophone, vocals -2 Charles Fox- piano Johnny Mixon- bass Oscar Oldham- drums unknown- bongos -1 All the Things You Are (J. Kern-O. Hammerstein) 0:00 Our Delight (T. Dameron) -1 9:59 Lady Bird (T. Dameron) -1 17:18 Ow! [incomplete] (D. Gillespie) -2* 23:56 Ray's Idea (R. Brown-G. Fuller) -1 28:10 A Night in Tunisia (D. Gillespie-F. Paparelli) 36:41 Wee Dot (J.J. Johnson) 45:01 What's New? (J. Burke-B. Haggart) -1 55:47 Wahoo (T. Dameron) ** 1:02:54 end credits 1:12:13 * issued as Oh Lady, Be Good! ** issued as Perdido. Includes a brief fragment of 52nd Street Theme (T. Monk) 1952 would be another grim year for Miles Davis. After the highs of 1949, including recording with his ground breaking _Birth Of The Cool_ nonet, appearing before large, rapturous audiences at the Paris Jazz Festival, and falling in love with singer Juliette Gréco, Miles crashed back down on his return to the States- a dwinding club scene, lack of work for the nonet, and the constant presence of racism. Before long Miles had developed a heroin addiction that further derailed his career. After a final nonet recording in 1950 the next couple of years offered scant opportunities in the studio- a few sideman sessions with Sarah Vaughan, Lee Konitz, and a reunion with Charlie Parker, a Metronome All Stars date, and two recordings as leader for Prestige in the company of fellow addicts Sonny Rollins, Jackie McLean, and Art Blakey that yielded mixed results; Davis's chaotic lifestyle and unreliablity caused label boss Bob Weinstock not to renew his contract. Live appearances were hardly any better. In the February 23, 1952 edition of the UK music paper _Melody Maker,_ Leonard Feather wrote 'Miles in the past year has seen his career slip away from him while his imitators have been progressing... It is doubtful whether he worked more than six or seven weeks during 1951. And through his personal and economic problems his playing inevitably suffered.' That euphamism cloaked a starker reality- Miles' life was spiralling out of control, days spent nodding out on street corners, pawning his posessions including his trumpet, and resorting to pimping to make drug money. Clark Terry recalled finding Miles sitting on a kerb on Broadway, looking so sick that Terry bought him dinner, then told his wife to contact Davis' father, a kindness Miles repaid by stealing Terry's possessions. One night, while onstage at the Downbeat Club on 53rd Street, Miles saw his father appear in the audience. Leaving Jackie McLean to finish the set, Dr. Davis and his son took a train home to St. Louis. Miles senior's hopes of breaking his son's addiction were soon dashed; within days Miles found a heroin connection and had started hanging out in the clubs, including The Barrel, also known as The Barrelhouse, sitting in with the band of Jimmy Forrest, a robust tenor saxophonist who had played with swing era greats such as Jay McShann, Andy Kirk, and Duke Ellington, whose Happy-Go-Lucky Local formed the basis of Forrest's Night Train, which entered the R&B charts in February 1952. These privately made recordings are in fairly poor sound- Forrest dominates to the point of distortion- but it's interesting to hear Davis on a casual local gig. If he was a man beset by addiction and sundry other problems it isn't much in evidence here; he sounds bright and lively on a set of bebop themes of the era, from Dizzy Gillespie, J.J. Johnson, and three tunes by Tadd Dameron including Davis' only recorded performance of Our Delight, recorded by Dameron with Fats Navarro in 1947. It's a breezy little blowing session, Forrest sounds Dexter Gordon-ish, with occasional hints of R&B honking, even bursting into a scat vocal on Ow! The rhythm section make less of an impression; Fox barely ventures beyond the melodies, Mixon is reduced to a thud, and Oldham's lumpy bomb dropping is buried beneath a clattery ride cymbal. An unidentified bongo player also sits in on several tunes to no great effect (could it be St. Louis percussionist Percy James, who played with this same band (minus Miles) on the Night Train sessions?). Despite these shortcomings and an occasional raggedness in the performances it's an enjoyable glimpse into the club scene of the era. The audience sounds tiny- a couple of tunes finish to no applause. Some of the recordings were released as a bootleg in 1975, then officially issued in two volumes by Prestige in 1983 & 84, in boxy sound and off speed (Peter Losin lists a second version of Wee Dot which remains unreleased). I did some re-EQing in an attempt to lessen the harsh recording of Forrest's tenor, brighten Miles' horn, and clarify the rhythm section. The recordings all ran slow, which has been corrected. It would be another year and a half of scuffling before Miles kicked his habit, unleashing the incredible creativity of the later 1950s. </video> <video> Miles Davis- April 28, 1982 | Congresgebouw, Den Haag [REMASTERED] Description: Great FM broadcast of an excellent comeback era show April 28, 1982 Congresgebouw, Den Haag (The Hague), The Netherlands MILES DAVIS Miles Davis- trumpet, electric piano (-3) Bill Evans- soprano saxophone (-1), tenor saxophone (-2), flute (-3) Mike Stern- guitar Marcus Miller- bass guitar Al Foster- drums Mino Cinelu- percussion First set Back Seat Betty [incomplete] (M. Davis) -1 00:00 My Man's Gone Now (D. Heyward-G. Gershwin) -2 06:08 Fat Time (M. Davis) -2 19:47 Aida (M. Davis) [incomplete] -2 30:55 Second set Ife (M. Davis) -3 47:21 Jean Pierre (M. Davis) -1 1:06:16 closing credits 1:19:54 AVRO (Algemene Vereniging Radio Omroep) FM radio broadcast After returning to the stage in the summer of 1981 following a five year haitus, Miles and his talented young band toured extensively for the rest of the year around the US and Japan. At the end of '81 Miles married actress Cicely Tyson and shortly after suffered a stroke that affected the movement in his right hand. By the spring of 1982 he had recovered enough to resume touring and the rest of the year continued with a string of dates around the US and Canada and, starting in mid April, a month long tour of Europe, his first since 1973. This concert comes from midway through the tour at the 2,100 seater Nederlands Congresgebouw (later known as the Congres Centrum and currently as the World Forum), in The Hague. By this point the band had been together around a year and, despite a three month enforced lay off after Miles' stroke, had developed into an exciting, cohesive unit. Unsurprisingly, given his recent health problems, Miles's performances could be extremely variable. Bill Evans remembers, "Some nights he played one solo great; he'd nail one. He'd be really happy like a little kid who'd played great for his teacher. At the end of the night, he'd say 'Bill, come on over. I felt good tonight.' The next night be might have felt down because he wasn't playing so well." Miles was obviously feeling good on the night of the Congresgebouw concert, as he plays with genuine fire and confidence, hitting audacious high notes, rattling off fast, rhythmically biting runs, fat toned bluesy smears, utilising his distinctive use of space to gather his ideas, and often playing at surprising length- witness his astonishing five and a half minute solo on Ife. The Fender Rhodes electric piano that sat centre stage at these comeback concerts, at which Miles would occasionally sit to play harmonically ambiguous chords and preserve his lip, is almost unheard here, apart from a few brief prods at the beginning of Ife. It's a reminder that he was still the same Miles Davis of 1970, when his chops allowed him. The Chief is obviously inspiring his young band, too. Stern drew much of the ire of jazz critics, who were no doubt focusing on his long hair and Telecaster guitar rather than his playing, which is shot through with the blues and bebop as much as Hendrix, Evans evokes the memory of Coltrane in his burning solos, Miller's funky, springy bass is constantly inventive and interactive, and Foster and Cinelu whip up a rhythmic storm. I've said elsewhere that this is possibly Davis's most underrated band, probably due to the negative critical response to the _Man With The Horn_ album, and this concert stands as proof. It's one of the best from the post comeback period. These are the same six tunes that were played at most of the concerts on this tour; three pieces from _Man With The Horn,_ including Fat Time, the piece named for Stern, which is taken at a rocketing tempo, two from the then recently released live _We Want Miles,_ and a revival of Ife, originally recorded back in 1972. The recording comes from an FM radio broadcast and is in very good sound, full and well mixed. There are some occasional hints of distortion, particularly in the second set, but nothing too troublesome. The opening of Back Seat Betty is missing and there's a brief gap during Cinelu's solo at the end of Aida (probably due to a tape flip) but this is almost the whole show. I did some re-EQing to open up the sound and adjusted the speed slightly; I think this one sounds very good. The band would spend the rest of the summer touring before going back into the studio to start work on the next album, _Star People._ By the new year there would be personnel changes and new musical directions that would see Miles' superstar status grow. </video> <video> Miles Davis- June 2, 1951 | Birdland, New York City [REMASTERED] Description: Atmospheric live broadcast from 52nd Street June 2, 1951 Birdland 1678 Broadway West 52nd Street Manhattan New York City MILES DAVIS SEXTET Miles Davis- trumpet J.J. Johnson- trombone Sonny Rollins- tenor saxophone Kenny Drew- piano Tommy Potter- bass Art Blakey- drums Move (Denzil Best) 00:00 Half Nelson (Miles Davis) 06:34 Down (Miles Davis) 14:24/ Jumpin' With Symphony Sid [incomplete] (Lester Young) 22:00 closing titles 22:06 WJZ-AM radio broadcast Recorded and transferred to disc by Boris Rose Released on the bootleg LPs _Hooray For Miles Davis Vol. 2_ (Session Disc 102), _Miles Davis, 'Lockjaw' Davis, Art Blakey_ (Ozone 7), and _Miles Davis At Birdland 1951_ (Beppo BEP 501). Officially released on _Birdland 1951_ (Blue Note 7243 5 41779 2 7). As the 1950s dawned, Miles Davis was heading into a downward spiral. After the highs of 1949, including recording with his ground breaking _Birth Of The Cool_ nonet, appearing before large, rapturous audiences at the Paris Jazz Festival, and falling in love with singer Juliette Gréco, Miles crashed back down on his return to the States- a dwindling club scene, lack of work for the nonet, pining for Gréco, and the constant presence of racism. Having previously dabbled with snorting heroin (and cocaine) he now started injecting. Before long Miles had developed a heroin addiction that further derailed his career, entering a period Davis would later describe as a 'four year horror show'. In his search for drugs, Miles would journey from his Manhattan apartment to Harlem. He also connected with a group of musicians in Harlem's Sugar Hill neighbourhood: tenor saxophonist Sonny Rollins, altoist Jackie McLean, pianists Walter Bishop and Kenny Drew, and drummer Art Taylor. These musicians, all one to five years younger than Davis, were influenced not only by the music of Charlie Parker but by his narcotic intake. The scourge of heroin addiction ran through the New York scene, but its effects were not only physical: in early 1950 Rollins was jailed for armed robbery, McLean and Bishop would later both serve time on drugs charges. Miles also had a brush with the law; in September 1950 while touring with a small group lead by Billy Eckstine, he was arrested for possession along with Art Blakey. _Down Beat_ magazine singled the pair out in an editorial and, although he was acquitted on the charges, the damage was done- he found it almost impossible to find work in the NYC jazz clubs. There were also scant opportunities in the studio- after a final nonet recording in 1950 there were a few sideman sessions with Sarah Vaughan, Lee Konitz, and a reunion with Charlie Parker, a Metronome All Stars date, and in January 1951 a recording as leader for Prestige in the company of Rollins that yielded mixed results. Davis found a home at the one club willing to book him, Birdland, the Broadway jazz venue that opened in 1949 at the site of the former Clique club. There were several radio broadcasts made there, recorded by jazz fan and amateur engineer Boris Rose, who pressed up his recordings in various combinations for limited bootleg releases on a variety of his own labels- Ozone, Beppo and Session Disc. His efforts provide valuable documentation of this difficult period. This same line up had broadcast from the club on February 17 and despite not being an regular working sextet the musicians have an obvious rapport, despite their various personal problems. Rollins' rough, muscular tone is already distinctive and on the opening Move, a title Miles had previously recorded with the nonet, he gives an early glimpse of his brilliant improvisational skills. Miles kicks off his solo with the same phrase he'd used on the 1949 studio recording. Rollins also shines on Half Nelson, Davis' variation of Tadd Dameron's Ladybird, as does a buoyant, agile Miles. Davis also sounds in his element on the mid tempo blues groove of Down, a piece recorded at that January Prestige session. There is excellent support throughout from the undervalued Drew and Blakey's energetic swing boots everything along. Despite this, there is a raggedness to the ensemble passages that points to a lack of preparation. Drugs were taking heir toll on Miles's music as well as his personal and professional life. In the February 23, 1952 edition of the UK music paper _Melody Maker,_ Leonard Feather wrote 'Miles in the past year has seen his career slip away from him while his imitators have been progressing... It is doubtful whether he worked more than six or seven weeks during 1951. And through his personal and economic problems his playing inevitably suffered.' That euphemism cloaked a starker reality- Miles' life was spiralling out of control, days spent nodding out on street corners, pawning his possessions including his trumpet, and resorting to pimping and stealing from friends to make drug money. The four year horror show still had a long way to run. </video> <video> Miles Davis- The Complete 1946 Earl Coleman/ Ann Baker Recordings | REMASTERED Description: Early rhythm and blues flavored session with singers Coleman and Baker October 18, 1946 Radio Recorders Studio, Hollywood, California EARL COLEMAN/ ANN BAKER Miles Davis- trumpet Gene Ammons- tenor saxophone Connie Wainwright- guitar Linton Garner- piano Tommy Potter- bass Art Blakey- drums Earl Coleman+, Ann Baker*- vocals Don't Sing Me The Blues (Earl Coleman)+ 2 takes 0:00 Don't Explain To Me Baby (Earl Coleman)+ 4 takes 5:49 Baby, Won't You Make Up Your Mind? (Ann Baker)* 3 takes 17:30 I've Always Got The Blues (Ann Baker)* 3 takes 26:34 closing titles 34:49 Session produced by Eddie Laguna Since arriving in New York in the spring of 1945, where he sought out Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie after sitting in with them in Billy Eckstine's orchestra back in East St. Louis, Miles Davis had established himself as one of the most promising newcomers on the scene. Having been taken under Bird's wing they had recorded an important session for Savoy and gigged together. Late in the year, though, Parker travelled to the west coast to spread the word of bebop in Los Angeles. In early 1946 Miles took up an invitation from saxophonist Benny Carter to join his big band and although he found the music somewhat old fashioned he saw an opportunity to travel west with the band and to reunite with Parker. Once there, the pair played the Finale Club with a rhythm section of L.A. musicians until, in April, a police raid closed the club. Parker's mental and physical health was also in a downward spiral and, after a complete breakdown on the evening of the infamous Lover Man session of July 29, he was committed to Camarillo State Mental Hospital. Miles spent his time jamming with his new acquaintance, bassist Charles Mingus, and gigging with saxophonist Lucky Thompson. But it was to be Billy Eckstine that once again provided a path. His big band arrived on the west coast in September, minus a trumpet player- Fats Navarro had decided to stay in New York- and Miles joined, giving him the chance to work his way back east. Eckstine's band was noted for its excellence but its excitement failed to transfer to the recording studio- a couple of sessions for the National label in early October, with Miles in the trumpet section, were let down by mediocre recording and poor pressings. It was during this period that Miles started to experiment with drugs- fellow trumpeter Hobart Dotson gave him cocaine; shortly after, saxophonist Gene Ammons introduced him to heroin. In mid October came this session, the details of which are still somewhat shrouded in mystery. The session was produced by Eddie Laguna, founder of the Sunset label, but the music went unreleased. There is some confusion as to whether the recordings were made for Sunset, or for Keynote Records- the liner notes to a 1956 Earl Coleman album mention an unreleased session for the label. Laguna eventually sold the masters to Alun Morgan at Black Lion Records, who released them under the title _Boppin[g] The Blues_ (1986). The personnel is drawn from the ranks of Eckstine's big band- Baker was the band's female singer, while Coleman occasionally depped for Eckstine himself, singing in the ripe, broad baritone that was fashionable at the time. [There's been some confusion concerning Ann Baker- she was never known as Ann[e] Hathaway; this misattribution stems from a mistake in Alun Morgan's liner notes and has since been repeated in discographies and biographies, such as Jack Chambers' _Milestones._ ] The music is a mix of bebop horn lines with the sort of typical rhythm & blues that featured on _Billboard's_ 'Juke Box Race Records' chart, or _Cashbox's_ 'Hot In Harlem'. Three of the pieces are 12 bar blues- both of Earl Coleman's are in the key of Eb, and his oleaginous vocals make them sound very similar, Baker's pair (including a blues in C) offer a little more variety. Overall, these are very good examples of jazz inflected Black popular music of the day making their non-release at the time something of a puzzle. Miles has made great strides in the last 18 months- he sounds much more rhythmically supple than on, say, Parker's Now's The Time session, although his occasional Gillespie-like runs [at 13:47 and 16:49 for example] demonstrate he was still yet to forge a personal style beyond bebop. Ammons provides many of the highlights here, a fine player whose career was blighted by addiction. Wainwright sticks to Freddie Greene-style chording, Linton Garner lacks the swinging virtuosity of his brother Erroll but provides some solid comping, while Blakey would be an important bandmate for Davis over the next few years, before becoming a star himself. Four months after this date Coleman would record a pair of tunes with a rejunivated Charlie Parker that became Dial Records' biggest sellers. Miles would also reach new artistic heights with Parker on his return to New York, while his new found addictions saw him hit lows that would threaten his career and his life. </video>

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Dedicated to the music of the great jazz trumpeter, composer, and bandleader Miles Davis (1926-1991). Miles was at the forefront of American music during six decades from bebop in the 1940s, through cool jazz, hard bop, orchestral jazz, modal jazz, avant garde, jazz rock, fusion, to hip hop.

He led some of the greatest bands of all time, working with John Coltrane, Herbie Hancock, John McLaughlin, Bill Evans, Sonny Rollins, Marcus Miller, Horace Silver, Chick Corea, John Scofield, Keith Jarrett, Wayne Shorter, Joe Zawinul, Kenny Garrett, Cannonball Adderley, Jackie McLean, Hank Mobley, Sonny Stitt, Charlie Parker, Gil Evans, Mtume, Tony Williams, Ron Carter, Philly Joe Jones, Jimmy Cobb, Al Foster, Pete Cosey, Reggie Lucas, Michael Henderson, Daryl Jones, Marilyn Mazur, Robben Ford, and many others.

This is the place to hear vintage Miles concert recordings, unreleased music, and hard to find rarities. MILES LIVES!

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