Session details: Café Bohemia (July 27, 1957)

Miles Ahead session details

July 27, 1957 (5 items; TT = 18:39)

Café Bohemia, New York NY

Mutual Network radio broadcast (B+)

Show chatter

Miles Davis (tpt); Sonny Rollins (ts); William "Red" Garland (p); Paul Chambers (b); Arthur Taylor (d); Guy Wallace (ann); Bill Coss (guest)

1	Introduction (Guy Wallace)	1:03
	"Bandstand USA... Hi there, come on along and listen to the sounds of America's newest and, we think, greatest art form, the sounds of jazz. And welcome aboard, we're very happy to have you with us tonight, this is Guy Wallace and Bandstand USA, the only live jazz show on radio today. The sounds of the world's greatest jazzmen are performed for you, direct from the spots in which they are currently appearing -- live, through the courtesy and cooperation of the American Federation of Musicians, James C. Petrillo, President. So if you're set, we are too, and let's not waste any more time as Bandstand USA gets ready to take you now to the Café Bohemia, 15 Barrow Street, right in Greenwich Village here in New York, for the artistry of the controversial trumpet player that the whole country listens to, Miles Davis. Here we go, Bandstand USA takes you direct to Café Bohemia and Miles Davis..."
2	Bye Bye Blackbird (R. Henderson-M. Dixon)	8:38
	Voiceover 7:53-8:38. Wallace: "That's Miles Davis and his group, coming to you from the Café Bohemia, 15 Barrow Street, in Greenwich Village. A great group it is, too, and a great place to go, incidentally, it's really got an international reputation in the jazz field, the Bohemia. Jimmy Giarofolo, the owner, is one of the nicest guys you'd ever wanna meet. If you're in the vicinity and wanna run down and listen to some real fine sounds... Say, our guest tonight, as we told you before, is Bill Coss, the editor of Jazz Today and Metronome magazines. Now, Bill, uh, come on on board here, see if you can grab yourself a piece of that microphone, and answer me a question, not so much for me but for the folks across the country. Why, why do they say Miles Davis is the most controversial trumpet player in the business today?" Coss: "You could write a book..."
3	Interview	0:19
	Interview continues. Coss: "...probably, about the subject, and I would like to. But there are two things, probably. One is that some people think that Miles is making fun of them from the stand. This is one thing. But secondly and most importantly I think, is that Miles, I think you could say, is the leader of a whole new school of trumpeters, this so-called soft sound trumpet, which is actually much more..."
4	Tune Up (E. Vinson)	5:27
	Voiceover interview continues until 0:34. Coss: Voiceover 0:00-2:50. "...reminiscent of a tenor saxophone or an alto saxophone say, than it is a trumpet, and this has led completely away from the Dizzy Gillespie out of Roy Eldridge out of Louie Armstrong kind of trumpet playing." Wallace: "I see. It's not only a soft sound, it's unusual and distinctive sound, because he gets sounds out of a horn that I've never heard before." Coss: "That's right. Barry Ulanov called it an 'eggshell' sound, and I think that's a very good description." Wallace: "Was it Barry that coined the phrase that Miles Davis plays like a man walking on eggs?" Coss: "He might have. It certainly is close enough to it, yes." Wallace: "Bill, I've got some news for you and for the folks across the country. Y'know, we've started a new contest on Bandstand USA, called 'Ask the Stars', and Dizzy Gillespie, one of the outstanding exponents of modern jazz in the country today is standing by ready to answer a question submitted by a listener in the new Bandstand USA contest. Now here's the new way that you can win some fabulous prizes, all by just writing a question that we can ask the stars. Jazz, you know, is full of changing patterns, personalities, events that seem to mark historic moments in this new art field, and what's it all about? All right, what do you wanna know? All you have to do is just ask the questions and we'll get the stars to answer them for you. Put your question on a postcard and address it to Bandstand USA, Mutual Broadcasting System, 1440 Broadway, New York 18, New York. That's Bandstand USA, Mutual Broadcasting System, 1440 Broadway, New York 18, New York. And for every question we use, we'll send the listener who wrote the question an RCA Victor and Columbia LP jazz album, plus a bottle of Le Monde perfume -- 'Nothing, to..., can make a woman more feminine than Le Monde...' And then just listen to this. At the end of the month, for the best question of the month, we will award a complete hi-fi set to include first, an H.H. Scott 311B FM tuner with circuits in it that audio experts have called the most significant development in tuner design in years. Second, an H.H. Scott 99C 22-watt amplifier, with complete controls, plus a preamplifier. There's nothing finer than Scott equipment. Scott -- the name that has won more engineering awards than anyone else in the field. And wait -- you'll also need a speaker, won't you? Well, we want you to have the finest, and so from Stephens, the pioneers in high fidelity and commercial sound equipment, their latest Tru-Sonic ADFR, a full-range eight-inch speaker in a handsome enclosure, finished in natural walnut. Listen -- you'll always hear more on your Stephens Tru-Sonic speaker. Well, that's the pitch, now you write the questions, the address again is Bandstand USA, Mutual Broadcasting System, 1440 Broadway, New York 18, New York, and we'll ask the stars for you. And you may wind up with this hi-fi system all for your very little own self. How about that?" Coss: "I just wanna know if I can have it." Wallace: "Yeah, I'm gonna enter myself. Let's get back now and here some more of that wonderful sound of Miles Davis' horn, from the Café Bohemia. Here we go..."
5	A Foggy Day (G. Gershwin-I. Gershwin)	3:12
	Voiceover 3:02-3:12. "That's Miles Davis and the quintet, playing for you from the Café Bohemia, 15 Barrow Street in Greenwich Village. And now comes a very important time..." (fade out)


2 Bye Bye Blackbird CD: Rare Live Recordings RLR 88665
4 Tune Up CD: Rare Live Recordings RLR 88665

This is from the Mutual Network's Bandstand USA, which aired live on Saturday nights beginning in 1956.

In the first few months of 1957 the Davis Quintet spent very little time in New York: Jazz City, Hollywood (January 4-17); Blackhawk Supper Club, San Francisco (January 22-February 10); Syria Mosque, Pittsburgh (Wednesday, February 13, two shows); Peacock Alley, St. Louis (February 15-23); Preview's Modern Jazz Room, Chicago (February 27-March 10); Comedy Club, Baltimore (March 26-31); Café Bohemia, New York (April 5-28, last 2+ wks canceled). The Quintet was disbanded during the Café Bohemia engagement -- Davis apparently fired Coltrane and Philly Joe Jones for increasingly erratic behavior.

The Davis Quintet (with Rollins instead of Coltrane and Art Taylor instead of Jones) was booked at the Café Bohemia for two weeks in June (June 17-27) and for a month in July (July 8-August 11). Later in the month the Quintet was booked for a week (exact dates unknown) at the Crawford Grill in Pittsburgh.