1 Stella by Starlight
CD: Recording Arts (Golden Age of Jazz) JZCD 371

2 So What
CD: Recording Arts (Golden Age of Jazz) JZCD 371

On their way to the Juan-les-Pins Festival, the Davis Quintet played one night at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in Paris. The performance was recorded by ORTF, but the tape is missing from the archive. The two titles listed here are poor quality recordings from a radio broadcast.

In a Down Beat review of this concert ("Caught in the Act," Down Beat, September 12, 1963) Alan Bates mentions that the band opened with "Autumn Leaves" and also performed "Stella by Starlight," "Seven Steps to Heaven," and "Joshua." He was impressed by "Williams, a 17-year old drum prodigy, [who] created a mild sensation with his surging and propulsive drumming. Certainly this boy's name is destined to become a household word in the world of jazz."

A fragment of "Joshua" (3:21) is sometimes included with these tunes, but that piece is a slightly off-speed excerpt from the beginning of the version performed October 1, 1964 at Salle Pleyel, Paris.

I am grateful to Tommaso Urbano and Jérôme Challier for help with this session.