The Davis Quintet played two concerts, 8:00 pm and 10:30 pm, at the first
Paris Jazz Festival.
As far as I know neither concert was ever broadcast in its entirety, but
there are several ORTF broadcasts that include some of these titles.
Tapes in general circulation often include incomplete versions of "All of You" and
"Joshua" from the second concert (10:52 and 9:18, respectively). Also, some versions
of this material in circulation include a version of "All of You" in the first concert,
but this performance is from the Sindelfingen concert on October 8. The "Miles
Impro" included on Moon MCD 021 is an excerpt of "Joshua" from Stockholm,
October 3, not from these concerts.
The A side of Heart Note HN 004 contains "Stella by Starlight" and "Walkin'"
(plus "The Theme," which is not listed); and the opening "Autumn Leaves" and "So What"
are on the B side.
The issued material on Heart Note and Moon (and more recently on Mega Disc) is
sonically poor, probably mastered from a broadcast recording. Unfortunately the
tapes in the RTF/INA archives are incomplete, and the performance master for these
concerts apparently disappeared from the archives some years ago.
A recording of "Seven Steps to Heaven" (12:25) is included in one of André
Francis' Jazz sur Scène broadcasts (item #101D00009B in the RTF/INA
archive) where it is listed as from this date, but I have not been able to confirm
that this is the correct date (or the correct title). Another Jazz sur Scène
show, broadcast on May 29, 1966 (item #101D00088A), includes "My Funny Valentine,"
"No Blues," and "The Theme" from the second concert above, along with "All Blues" from the
July 26, 1963 Juan-les-Pins Festival.
The Davis Quintet embarked on a European tour, the
USA Jazz Festival, in late September.
In addition to the Davis Quintet, several other groups were involved, though I don't know if
they all performed at every stop on the tour. The itinerary (with several gaps) was as follows:
September 25: Philharmonie, Berlin, West Germany
September 26: Concertgebouw, Amsterdam, Holland
September 29: Le Théâtre Municipal, Lausanne, Switzerland
September 30: Kongresshaus, Zürich
October 1: Salle Pleyel, Paris, France (two concerts)
October 3: Johanneshov Isstadion, Stockholm, Sweden
October 4: KB-Hallen, Copenhagen, Denmark
October 5: Mässhallen, Gothenburg, Sweden
October 6: Messuhalli, Helsinki, Finland
October 8: Stadthalle, Sindelfingen, Germany (two concerts)
October 10: unknown venue, Marseilles, France (two concerts)
October 11: Teatro dell' Arte, Milan, Italy
The Quintet was booked in other cities as well -- e.g. Vichy, Barcelona, and Frankfurt --
but I have been unable to find dates or confirm that these concerts occurred. Thanks
to Flurin Casura for the advertisement for the Zürich concert, and to Frederik
Adlers for providing the festival poster and for telling me about the Gothenburg date.
Apparently the drummer for Papa Celestine's Original Tuxedo Jazz Band was sick that
day and Tony Williams stepped in to take his place. He brought the house down!
Davis' deteriorating hip joint caused him trouble and led him to cancel an engagement
at Birdland (ca. October 14-22). The Quintet was booked for four nights at the Casa Loma Club
in Montréal (November 4-7); and for two weeks at the Plugged Nickel, Chicago
(November 11-22). A week-long engagement at the Penthouse in Cincinnati in early
December may have been canceled. The Quintet closed the year with two weeks at the
Bohemian Caverns in Washington DC (December 4-17) and a three-week stay at
Basin Street West in San Francisco (December 30-January 19).
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