Session details: Columbia 30th Street Studio (July 19, 1967)

Miles Ahead session details

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July 19, 1967 (12 items; TT = 39:38)

Columbia 30th Street Studio, New York NY

Commercial for Columbia

Show chatter

Miles Davis (tpt); Wayne Shorter (ts); Herbie Hancock (p); Ron Carter (b); Tony Williams (d)

1	Fall (rehearsal) (W. Shorter)	4:31
	Howard Roberts (producer): "Here we go." Davis taps out the count. They play (4:18). Davis: "That's nice, [undecipherable]... Hey, play that back, Howard." Roberts: "OK, good."
2	Fall (take 1 inc) (W. Shorter)	0:51
	Roberts: "Here we go, it's... the tape's rolling, Miles." Hancock: "Uh, I don't have anything [undecipherable] to do, I mean..." Davis: "No, play like..." Roberts: "Um, Miles, should we make this a take? Should I put the number on it and the name and everything?" Davis: "...put the number on it..." Roberts: "Uh, what's the title?" Davis: "I don't know." Roberts: "OK, 'I Don't'..." Stan Tonkel (engineer): "'I Don't Know', take one." Roberts: "Uh, this is job number 20066, master number 92289, 'I Don't Know', take one..." Davis: "Wait a minute." Roberts: "OK." (cut off) Davis: "That's quite a statement." Roberts: "Take one..." False start (0:14). Roberts: "OK, hold it."
3	Fall (take 2 inc) (W. Shorter)	3:01
	Roberts: "Uh, this is take two..." They play (2:50). Roberts: "Uh, uh, Miles, you wanna..." (cut off)
4	Fall (take 3) (W. Shorter)	7:42
	Roberts: "This is gonna be take three..." They play (7:27). At the end, Davis: "Hey, play it, Howard." Roberts: "OK." Davis: "It's gonna sound terrible."
5	Fall (insert 1, take 1) (W. Shorter)	0:20
	Roberts: "This'll be, uh, insert one, take one..." They play (0:10)
6	Fall (insert 1, take 2) (W. Shorter)	0:51
	Roberts: "Uh, take two..." Davis: [undecipherable]. They play (0:40). Roberts: "OK, uh..." (cut off). Davis: "God DAMN... How am I s'play that shit?" Hancock: "Yeah, that was it." Davis: "Yeah, I know, but..." (cut off)
7	Fall (insert 1, take 3) (W. Shorter)	1:53
	Roberts: "Uh, insert one, take three..." Davis taps out the count. False start (0:02). Davis: "Wait a minute. Right on the beat. One-two-three-uhh..." They play (1:37). Davis: "It's too fast for me." Williams: "No." Davis: "OK..."
8	Fall (insert 1, take 4) (W. Shorter)	0:30
	Roberts: "This'll be insert one, take four..." They play (0:22). Davis: "Fiiiiive..."
9	Fall (take 5) (W. Shorter)	6:47
	Roberts: "Take five..." Complete take (6:35). At the end, Davis: "Try that, Howard. Shit..." Roberts: "OK, good." Davis: "I ain't playin' nothin'. Well, God DAMN..."
10	Pinocchio (slow rehearsal take) (W. Shorter)	5:06
11	Pinocchio (take 4 (fast)) (W. Shorter)	5:05
12	Riot (take 3) (H. Hancock)	3:01


1 Fall (rehearsal) CD: Columbia Legacy 88985 35737, Sony SICJ 30005/7
2 Fall (take 1 inc) CD: Columbia Legacy 88985 35737, Sony SICJ 30005/7
3 Fall (take 2 inc) CD: Columbia Legacy 88985 35737, Sony SICJ 30005/7
4 Fall (take 3) CD: Columbia Legacy 88985 35737, Sony SICJ 30005/7
5 Fall (insert 1, take 1) CD: Columbia Legacy 88985 35737, Sony SICJ 30005/7
6 Fall (insert 1, take 2) CD: Columbia Legacy 88985 35737, Sony SICJ 30005/7
7 Fall (insert 1, take 3) CD: Columbia Legacy 88985 35737, Sony SICJ 30005/7
8 Fall (insert 1, take 4) CD: Columbia Legacy 88985 35737, Sony SICJ 30005/7
9 Fall (take 5) 12" LP: Columbia CL 2794 (= CS 9594), Music on Vinyl MOV LP031, Mobile Fidelity Sound Laboratory MFSL 2-45436, Columbia C5X 45000, CBS/Sony SONP 50186, CBS/Sony SONP 52049, CBS/Sony SOPL 167, CBS/Sony 18AP 2071, CBS/Sony 23AP 2571, CBS/Sony 25AP 767, Mosaic MQ10-177 CD: Columbia CK 46113, Columbia Legacy C4K 45000, Columbia Legacy C4K 86569, Columbia CK 65681, Columbia Legacy C6K 67398, Columbia Legacy C6K 90925, Columbia Legacy 88985 35737, Sony SICJ 30005/7, Mobile Fidelity Sound Laboratory UDSACD 2146, CBS/Sony 32DP 726, CBS/Sony CSCS 5149, CBS/Sony 80DP 5430/3, Sony SICP 5037/40, Sony SRCS 9116, Sony SRCS 8575/80, Sony SICP 663/8, Sony SRCS 9747, Sony SRGS 4521, Sony SICP 829, Sony SICP 1218, Sony SICP 20082, Sony SICP 30265, Sony SICJ 30071, Columbia Legacy 86975 24922 [= Columbia (F) 86975 52492] (CD 28)
10 Pinocchio (slow rehearsal take) 12" LP: Columbia C5X 45000, Mosaic MQ10-177 CD: Columbia Legacy C4K 45000, Columbia Legacy C4K 86569, CBS/Sony 80DP 5430/3, Sony SICP 5037/40, Columbia CK 65681, Columbia Legacy C6K 67398, Columbia Legacy C6K 90925, CBS/Sony 80DP 5430/3, Sony SICP 5037/40, Sony SRCS 8575/80, Sony SICP 663/8, Sony SRCS 9747, Sony SRGS 4521, Sony SICP 829, Sony SICP 30265, Sony SICJ 30071, Columbia Legacy 86975 24922 [= Columbia (F) 86975 52492] (CD 28)
11 Pinocchio (take 4 (fast)) 12" LP: Columbia CL 2794 (= CS 9594), Music on Vinyl MOV LP031, Mobile Fidelity Sound Laboratory MFSL 2-45436, CBS/Sony SONP 50186, CBS/Sony SONP 52049, CBS/Sony SOPL 167, CBS/Sony 18AP 2071, CBS/Sony 23AP 2571, CBS/Sony 25AP 767, Mosaic MQ10-177 CD: Columbia CK 46113, Columbia CK 65681, Columbia Legacy C6K 67398, Columbia Legacy C6K 90925, Mobile Fidelity Sound Laboratory UDSACD 2146, CBS/Sony 32DP 726, CBS/Sony CSCS 5149, Sony SRCS 9116, Sony SRCS 8575/80, Sony SICP 663/8, Sony SRCS 9747, Sony SRGS 4521, Sony SICP 829, Sony SICP 1218, Sony SICP 20082, Sony SICP 30265, Sony SICJ 30071, Columbia Legacy 86975 24922 [= Columbia (F) 86975 52492] (CD 28)
12 Riot (take 3) 12" LP: Columbia CL 2794 (= CS 9594), Music on Vinyl MOV LP031, Mobile Fidelity Sound Laboratory MFSL 2-45436, CBS/Sony SONP 50186, CBS/Sony SONP 52049, CBS/Sony SOPL 167, CBS/Sony 18AP 2071, CBS/Sony 23AP 2571, CBS/Sony 25AP 767, Mosaic MQ10-177 CD: Columbia CK 46113, Columbia CK 65681, Columbia CK 65945, Columbia Legacy C6K 67398, Columbia Legacy C6K 90925, Mobile Fidelity Sound Laboratory UDSACD 2146, CBS/Sony 32DP 726, CBS/Sony CSCS 5149, Sony SRCS 9116, Sony SRCS 8575/80, Sony SICP 663/8, Sony SRCS 9747, Sony SRGS 4521, Sony SICP 829, Sony SICP 1218, Sony SICP 20082, Sony SICP 30265, Sony SICJ 30071, Columbia Legacy 86975 24922 [= Columbia (F) 86975 52492] (CD 28)

"Pinocchio" is listed as "Nefertiti remake" on the track sheet for this session; the originally issued version (take 4) is the only complete take, other than the slow rehearsal that was included in the Quintet box (Mosaic MQ10-177, Columbia C6K-67398).

"Riot" -- aptly titled given the bloody toll of the Newark race riots two days before, and the hundreds of riots in the first half of 1967 as Blacks protested against discrimination, urban blight, and unemployment -- entered the live book immediately, and Davis continued to perform it sporadically until late 1969. Hancock recorded it (March 1968, with Carter), along with "The Sorcerer" and "Speak Like a Child," for his Blue Note album Speak Like a Child (BST 84279).

In the discography included in the Quintet box, "Fall" is wrongly listed as a composite of takes 3 and 5. The issued version includes take 5 only.

This is the last of the series of New York studio sessions during May-July 1967. These sessions allowed the Quintet to develop new repertoire centered around original compositions. Only a few of these tunes -- "Masqualero," "Nefertiti," and "Riot" -- became staples of the Quintet's live performances, however.

The Quintet was booked for most of July-August at the Village Gate in New York (July 4-16 opposite Dizzy Gillespie, and August 15-27 opposite Ornette Coleman). Miroslav Vitous replaced Carter for several nights in August at the Vanguard. The Quintet performed at the Civic Opera House, Chicago (August 11), at the Buffalo Jazz Festival (in Buffalo's Memorial Auditorium) on August 12, the Watts Summer Festival (Shrine Auditorium, Los Angeles) on August 21-22, and at the Laurel Jazz Festival on September 1; they then spent two weeks at the Both/And Club in San Francisco (September 5-17, with Ron Carter on bass). They also performed at the Pacific Jazz Festival in Costa Mesa with Don Plummer on bass (October 6). Afterwards, two weeks in Europe as part of the "Newport Jazz Festival in Europe" tour. Dizzy Gillespie was also on the bill.