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Miles Ahead session details

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November 7, 1956 (12 items; TT = 40:32)
Festhalle A, Planten & Blomen, Hamburg (West Germany)
Norddeutscher Rundfunk (NDR) radio broadcast (B+)

Miles Davis (tpt); Lester Young (ts); René Urtreger (p); Pierre Michelot (b); Christian Garros (d); Earl "Bud" Powell (p)

1 El Sino (G. Ammons) 3:21

René Urtreger Trio
2 Tune Up (E. Vinson) 2:58

René Urtreger Trio + Miles Davis
3 Four (E. Vinson) 3:38

René Urtreger Trio + Miles Davis
4 Yesterdays (J. Kern-O. Harbach) 4:00

René Urtreger Trio + Miles Davis
5 Walkin' (R. Carpenter) 2:52

René Urtreger Trio + Miles Davis. Davis begins his solo with eight bars of "Bye Bye Blackbird"
6 Three Little Words (H. Ruby-B. Kalmar) 5:25

René Urtreger Trio + Lester Young
7 Lady Be Good (G. Gershwin-I. Gershwin) 6:15

René Urtreger Trio + Lester Young, Miles Davis
8 Autumn in New York (V. Duke) 2:31

Bud Powell solo
9 I Want to Be Happy (V. Youmans-I. Caesar) 2:42

Bud Powell solo
10 Jumpin' with Symphony Sid (L. Young) 2:04

René Urtreger Trio + Lester Young
11 Polka Dots and Moonbeams (J. Burke-J. Van Heusen) 3:52

René Urtreger Trio + Lester Young
12 Lester Leaps In (inc) (L. Young) 0:54

René Urtreger Trio + Lester Young


In addition to Davis, the "Birdland All-Stars in Europe" tour featured Lester Young, Bud Powell, The Modern Jazz Quartet, the René Urtreger Trio, and (on some of the German dates) the Kurt Edelhagen Orchestra. The itinerary was as follows:

November 2: Salle Pleyel, Paris
November 3 (evening): Concertgebouw, Haarlem
November 3 (midnight): Concertgebouw, Amsterdam
November 4: Cercle Artistique, Antwerp (afternoon)
November 4: Palais de Beaux-Arts, Brussels (evening)
November 6: Sportspalast, Berlin
November 7: Festhalle, Hamburg
November 8: Rosengarten, Mannheim
November 9: Kongresshalle, Frankfurt
November 10: Unknown venue, Hamburg
November 11: Deutsches Museum, Munich
November 12: Stadthalle, Freiburg
November 13: Konserthuset, Stockholm
November 14: KB-Hallen, Copenhagen
November 16: Unknown venue, Lille
November 17: Salle Pleyel, Paris
November 18: Unknown venue, Strasbourg
November 19: Kongresshaus, Zürich
November 20: Victoria Hall, Geneva
November 21: Musikhalle, Basel
November 22: Teatro di via Manzoni, Milan (two concerts, afternoon and evening)
November 23: Teatro Nuovo, Turin (two concerts, afternoon and evening)
November 24: Unknown venue, Marseilles
November 25: Unknown venue, Lyons

The few fragments that survive from this tour show Davis in fine form and a very frail Lester Young.

According to an interview with Jeanne de Mirbeck, René Urtreger's sister and Davis' companion during this time, there were 28 concerts in this tour (see Jazz Magazine, December 2007, pp. 20-21).

After the evening concert on November 22, Davis participated in a jam session in a Milan club, the Taverna Mexico, with Renato Angiolini (p), but Davis apparently did not like his playing and so replaced him with Milt Jackson; the other participants were Alceo Guatelli (b) and an unknown Italian drummer. Thanks to Stefano Biosa for this information. And thanks to Winfried Müller for providing the image of the Munich concert poster.

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