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Miles Ahead session details

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October 6-12, 1969 (4 items; TT = 46:53)
Blue Coronet Club, New York NY
Audience recording (B)

Miles Davis (tpt); Wayne Shorter (ss, ts); Chick Corea (el-p); Dave Holland (b); Jack De Johnette (d)

1 This (inc) (C. Corea) 10:59

Fade in at beginning
2 Agitation (M. Davis) 17:14
3 No Blues (M. Davis) 16:09
4 Paraphernalia (inc) (W. Shorter) 2:31

Fade out at 2:31


1 This (inc)
CD: Domino 891207

2 Agitation
CD: Domino 891207

3 No Blues
CD: Domino 891207

4 Paraphernalia (inc)
CD: Domino 891207


The date of this set is uncertain. It circulates with the date "April 1969," but this date is pretty clearly wrong.

The Davis Quintet was booked at the Blue Coronet Club twice in 1969: June 21-29 and early October (probably October 6-12). Although this session is sometimes dated from June, the presence of "This" among the tunes suggests a later date. The tune was recorded by Corea, Holland, and De Johnette in mid-May 1969 for release on Corea's Is (Solid State SS 18055). But the only other live performances of the tune by Davis-led groups besides this one and an uncertainly-dated recording from the Village Gate Club are from late 1969 and early 1970. So it seems likely that this recording is from the October engagement at the Blue Coronet.

This stint at the Blue Coronet ended early when Davis was shot after the October 8 performance. According to one report, "Miles Davis had appeared at the Blue Coronet Club October 8, finishing his last set on the morning of October 9. He drove back to New York with the lovely Marguerite Eskridge, 24, as a passenger. He pulled up in front of her house on 141 E. 13th St. at 4:30, when a cab drove up alongside the car and someone inside fired. One of the bullets grazed Davis' side. The young woman was not injured." (See also the New York Times, October 10.) After being treated at the hospital, Davis was booked for possession of marijuana. As a result, remaining shows at the Blue Coronet were canceled. The Quintet was also booked at Boston's Jazz Workshop (October 13-16), but these shows may have been canceled as well.

I am grateful to Iver McLeod for help with this session.

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