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Miles Ahead session details

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January 17, 1951 (6 items; TT = 16:45)
Apex Studio, New York NY
Commercial for Prestige

Miles Davis (tpt); Bennie Green (tb); Sonny Rollins (ts); John Lewis (p); Percy Heath (b); Roy Haynes (d)

1 Morpheus (J. Lewis) 2:20
2 Down (M. Davis) 2:50
3 Blue Room (take 1) (R. Rodgers-L. Hart) 2:48

A splice is audible at 1:48
4 Blue Room (take 1 (alternate version)) (R. Rodgers-L. Hart) 2:49

The ts solo is spliced in before the tpt solo at 0:58
5 Blue Room (take 2) (R. Rodgers-L. Hart) 2:58
6 Whispering (M. Schonberger-R. Coburn-V. Rose) 3:00


1 Morpheus
78 rpm: Prestige 734
45 rpm: Prestige PREP 1320 [EP]
10" LP: Prestige PRLP 113, Prestige PRS-36009-1
12" LP: Prestige 7025, Prestige P-012 (12 LP), Victor SMJ-6523, Victor VIJ-5090/5101 (12 LP)
CD: Fantasy OJC-053, Victor VICJ-23603, Prestige 8PCD-012, Victor VICJ-40225/32, Victor VICJ-2012, Victor VICJ-60421, Victor VICJ-41507, Universal UCCO-9304

2 Down
78 rpm: Prestige 742
45 rpm: Prestige PREP 1320 [EP]
10" LP: Prestige PRLP 113, Prestige PRS-36009-1
12" LP: Prestige 7025, Prestige P-012 (12 LP), Victor SMJ-6523, Victor VIJ-5090/5101 (12 LP)
CD: Fantasy OJC-053, OJC-6017, Victor VICJ-23603, Prestige 8PCD-012, Victor VICJ-40225/32, Victor VICJ-2012, Victor VICJ-60421, Victor VICJ-41507, Universal UCCO-9304

3 Blue Room (take 1)
45 rpm: Prestige PREP 1320 [EP]
10" LP: Prestige PRLP 140, Prestige PRS-36009-1
12" LP: Prestige 7025, Prestige 7674, Prestige P-012 (12 LP), Victor SMJ-6523, Victor VIJ-5090/5101 (12 LP)
CD: Fantasy OJC-053, Victor VICJ-23603, Prestige 8PCD-012, Victor VICJ-40225/32, Victor VICJ-2012, Victor VICJ-60421, Victor VICJ-41507, Universal UCCO-9304

4 Blue Room (take 1 (alternate version))
78 rpm: Prestige 734

5 Blue Room (take 2)
12" LP: Prestige 7025, Prestige P-012 (12 LP), Victor SMJ-6523, Victor VIJ-5090/5101 (12 LP)
CD: Fantasy OJC-053, Victor VICJ-23603, Prestige 8PCD-012, Victor VICJ-40225/32, Victor VICJ-2012, Victor VICJ-60421, Victor VICJ-41507, Universal UCCO-9304

6 Whispering
78 rpm: Prestige 742
45 rpm: Prestige PREP 1320 [EP]
10" LP: Prestige PRLP 113, Prestige PRS-36009-1
12" LP: Prestige 7025, Prestige P-012 (12 LP), Victor SMJ-6523, Victor VIJ-5090/5101 (12 LP)
CD: Fantasy OJC-053, Victor VICJ-23603, Prestige 8PCD-012, Victor VICJ-40225/32, Victor VICJ-2012, Victor VICJ-60421, Victor VICJ-41507, Universal UCCO-9304


This is the second of three studio sessions that Davis participated in on this date. The arrangement of "Morpheus," with its contrapuntal theme and complex ensemble passages, evokes the Davis Nonet recordings of 1948-1949, but the execution is sloppy. Rollins has an excellent solo on "Down," but Davis misses several notes in his solo and in the closing ensemble. He plays particularly poorly on the two takes of "Blue Room" -- on the second take, he seems to lose his way and Lewis has to remind him where he with leading chords (e.g. at 1:23). "Whispering," based on the changes of Dizzy Gillespie's "Groovin' High," contains another very good Rollins solo.

Green is out on both takes of "Blue Room," and Rollins plays only on the first. There are no original take numbers for "Blue Room" -- they are numbered here as on Prestige PCD-012. The first take sounds like it's winding down at the end of Davis' statement of the melody (1:48), but a Rollins solo is spliced in. On the alternate version of this take Rollins' solo is spliced in before Davis'. The master tapes for these two versions must be lost -- all of the 12" LP and subsequent reissues are mastered from an acetate or vinyl source.

The three versions of "Blue Room" have different matrix numbers and unfold as follows:

Matrix 130-B (2:58) piano intro (0:12) + Davis melody repeated, no solo (2:45) [= take 2 on P-012]
Matrix 130-BB (2:48) different piano intro (0:10) + Davis melody (1:39) + Rollins solo (0:58) [= take 1 on P-012]
Matrix 130-B-BB (2:40) piano intro (0:12) + Rollins solo (0:41) + Davis melody (1:39) [not included on P-012]

I am grateful to Craig Neilson for help with this session.

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