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Miles Ahead session details

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September 17, 1973 (31 items; TT = 203:00)
Columbia Studio B, New York NY
Commercial for Columbia
Show chatter

Miles Davis (tpt, org); Dave Liebman (ts, fl); John Stubblefield (ss); Pete Cosey (g); Reggie Lucas (g); Michael Henderson (el-b); Al Foster (d); James Mtume Forman (cga, perc)

1 Calypso Frelimo (take 1) (M. Davis) 2:16
2 Calypso Frelimo (take 2) (M. Davis) 1:37
3 Calypso Frelimo (take 3 fs) (M. Davis) 1:42
4 Calypso Frelimo (take 4 fs) (M. Davis) 0:35
5 Calypso Frelimo (take 5) (M. Davis) 6:56
6 Calypso Frelimo (take 6) (M. Davis) 17:17
7 Calypso Frelimo (part 1) (M. Davis) 2:07

Rhythm section only
8 Calypso Frelimo (part 2) (M. Davis) 15:41

Excerpt (10:12) on Columbia/CBS issues
9 Calypso Frelimo (part 3) (M. Davis) 14:07

Excerpt (11:31) on Columbia/CBS issues
10 Calypso Frelimo (part 4) (M. Davis) 15:40

Excerpt (10:23) on Columbia/CBS issues
11 Calypso Frelimo (issued version) (M. Davis) 32:08
12 Mr. Foster (rehearsal) [For Dave] (M. Davis) 8:20
13 Mr. Foster (take 3) [For Dave] (M. Davis) 6:16
14 Mr. Foster (take 4A) [For Dave] (M. Davis) 7:04
15 Mr. Foster (take 4B) [For Dave] (M. Davis) 9:48
16 Mr. Foster (rehearsal) [For Dave] (M. Davis) 0:46
17 Mr. Foster (take 5) [For Dave] (M. Davis) 3:56
18 Mr. Foster (take 6) [For Dave] (M. Davis) 2:49
19 Mr. Foster (take 7) [For Dave] (M. Davis) 1:21
20 Mr. Foster (take 8) [For Dave] (M. Davis) 4:37
21 Mr. Foster (take 9) [For Dave] (M. Davis) 2:17
22 Mr. Foster (take 10) [For Dave] (M. Davis) 0:30
23 Mr. Foster (take 11) [For Dave] (M. Davis) 6:37
24 Mr. Foster (rehearsal) [For Dave] (M. Davis) 2:40
25 Mr. Foster (take 12A) [For Dave] (M. Davis) 1:18
26 Mr. Foster (take 12B) [For Dave] (M. Davis) 5:11
27 Mr. Foster (new take 1) [For Dave] (M. Davis) 3:55
28 Mr. Foster (new take 2) [For Dave] (M. Davis) 5:00
29 Mr. Foster (new take 3) [For Dave] (M. Davis) 4:07
30 Mr. Foster (new take 4) [For Dave] (M. Davis) 1:08
31 Mr. Foster (issued version) [For Dave] (M. Davis) 15:14

Edited from takes 4A and 4B


11 Calypso Frelimo (issued version)
12" LP: Columbia KG 33236, CBS/Sony SOPJ 90/1, CBS/Sony 28AP 2163/4, CBS/Sony 36AP 1783/4, Vinyl Me, Please A017
CD: Columbia Legacy C2K 63970, Columbia Legacy C6K 06239, CBS/Sony 50DP 712/3, Sony SRCS 5726/7, Sony SRCS 9126/7, Sony SRCS 9741/2, Sony SIGP 22/3, Sony SICP 848/9, Sony SICP 1228/9, Sony SICP 20065/6, Sony SICP 30271/2, Sony SICJ 30096/7, Sony SICP 1581/6, Columbia Legacy 86975 24922 [= Columbia (F) 86975 52492] (CD 44)

31 Mr. Foster (issued version)
CD: Columbia Legacy C6K 06239, Sony SICP 1581/6


The raw materials from which the issued version of "Calypso Frelimo" was assembled have appeared in a couple different versions. According to the notes to the On the Corner Sessions box (Columbia Legacy CK7 06239), the issued version was assembled from five different takes. Perhaps ultimately this means items 1-6 above, but the proximal parts are the longer excerpts listed as Parts 1-4 (items 7-10), which have appeared on the So What CDR Calypso Frelimo Session (SW 127). The first table below shows how the longer parts were used to create the issued version (32:06):

Issued version Taken from
00:00-10:11 (A) Part 2 (Davis tpt/org + fl, g, perc overdubbed)
10:11-21:43 (B) Part 3 (Davis plays org only; tpt + perc overdubbed)
21:45-32:06 (C) Part 4 (Davis tpt + perc overdubbed)

Parts 2-4 are heavily edited, and there is much added on top of this music in the issued version, but the relationship between these parts and the issued version is pretty clear. The relationship between these longer parts and the six takes listed above (items 1-6), however, is not. Parts 1-4 don't appear to have been assembled from those six studio takes, and it's hard to locate these takes in the issued version. So although we seem to have the ingredients that constitute the issued version of "Calypso Frelimo," the recipe according to which they were combined remains mysterious.

An overdubbed trumpet solo which recurs throughout the issued version of "Calypso Frelimo" also appears in edited form on "TDK Funk," remixed on December 27, 1976. See the table below. An excerpt of this title is issued on Kind of Blue KOB 002, Unknown Sessions, Volume 1 1973-1976. The tune "TDK Funk" consists of this solo superimposed on an excerpt of "What They Do" (take 14), which was recorded on November 6, 1974. The solo, which is audible throughout "TDK Funk," is brought in and out of the mix during parts A and C of "Calypso Frelimo."

Calypso Frelimo TDK Funk
00:02-01:06 3:48-4:52
01:25-06:15 0:06-4:52
26:00-26:17 3:38-3:54

It isn't clear when this much-used solo was recorded. Since some of the runs and the wah-wah effects on part B also figure in the solo used in parts A and C (e.g. 21:31-21:40), my guess is that the solo was recorded at this session, then re-used later to create "TDK Funk." But this is just a guess.

The other tune recorded on this day was quickly brought into the live book. The tune is given the title "Mr. Foster" in the On the Corner Sessions box (Columbia Legacy CK7 06239), but it has traditionally been known as "For Dave," and was so titled even on previous Columbia releases (e.g. Columbia Legacy C2K 65137). What's worse, a tune called "Mr. Foster" appears on Al Foster's 1979 album Mr. Foster (Better Days (J) YX-7599) -- but that tune is not this one but a different Davis original from May 1975, to which Sony/Columbia has now given the title "Minnie"!

Thanks to Len Pogost for helping me with "Mr. Foster."

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