Session details: Columbia Studio C (June 3, 1970)

Miles Ahead session details

June 3, 1970 (20 items; TT = 87:08)

Columbia Studio C, New York NY

Commercial for Columbia

Show chatter

Miles Davis (tpt); Steve Grossman (ss); Chick Corea (org); Herbie Hancock (el-p); Keith Jarrett (el-p); Ron Carter (el-b); Jack De Johnette (d); Airto Moreira (perc, kazoo); Hermeto Pascoal (d, voc)

1	Little High People (rehearsal) (M. Davis)	6:42
	Begins in medias res; first run-through breaks down at 2:20, then another try (4:12)
2	Little High People (take 1) (M. Davis)	1:45
	Macero: "One... This is CO 103891..." Two short rehearsals (1:07, 0:21)
3	Little High People (take 2) (M. Davis)	1:32
	Macero: "Two." False start (0:15), followed by rehearsal (0:11). Davis asks. "Is it on?" Macero: "Yeah, we're hearing you..." Davis: "But they can't hear..." Macero: "Oh." Davis (sarcastically): "Oh!" Macero: "They can't. Maybe give 'em some earphones." Davis: "No..." [splice] Another try (0:21). Davis: "Can't the bass come up about five times as loud, Teo?" Macero: "I'll take... Lemme come out and hear it..." Short run-through (0:09)
4	Little High People (take 3) (M. Davis)	0:55
	Macero: "Three." Two short run-throughs (0:34, 0:09)
5	Little High People (take 4) (M. Davis)	4:23
	Macero: "Four..." Davis counts off. Two false starts (0:05, 0:06), then a longer attempt (0:55). Brief rehearsal, then Davis counts off. Three more false starts (0:08, 0:18, 0:09). Short rehearsal with just bass, organ, and percussion (0:32), then a short run through with soprano saxophone soloing (0:42)
6	Little High People (take 5) (M. Davis)	4:40
	Macero: "Five..." Davis: "Hey, play that vamp you just got through playin' when you feel like it. You all know where to come in... Jack, you've really got to set the vamp up -- mm-bop-mm-bay..." Corea: "Where are we starting?" De Johnette: "You start on the top... You start on the top." Hancock: "Start the trumpet..." Davis: "Yeah, we got [undecipherable]..." False start (0:04) interrupted by Davis: "Right, right, try again..." Short run-through (2:22); Davis interrupts: "When he comes in, let him have it by himself..." Another try (0:58), and a short rehearsal with bass and keyboards (0:22)
7	Little High People (take 6) (M. Davis)	1:31
	Macero: "Here we go, this'll be six..." Davis counts off; short run-through (1:16). Davis: "You play straight, Jack, [undecipherable]" De Johnette: "Oh, OK..."
8	Little High People (take 7) (M. Davis)	11:14
	Macero: "Seven..." After some electrical issues, Davis introduces a nice run-through (no wah-wah throughout, 4:01); on the next run-through Davis is on wah-wah and Moreira is busy with the kazoo (6:48)
9	Little High People (take 8) (M. Davis)	10:22
	Macero: "Uh, I have to slate it and mark it. Uh, take eight..." Corea: "What again? What is it?" Hancock: "The piano part. What have you done? What are we gonna -- is this the insert?" Macero: "No, just keep -- continue, we'll make this comp -- is take eight... Eight..." Muffled discussion. De Johnette: "Start at the top?" Hancock: "Start at the top..." Long run-through (9:30)
10	Little High People (edited take 7/8) (M. Davis)	12:24
11	Nem Um Talvez (take 1) (H. Pascoal)	2:25
	Macero: "This is CO 103892, one..." Short rehearsal (1:10). Davis (to Moreira playing berimbau): "Play this with him... Remember?" Another short rehearsal (0:18), then a run-through with trumpet (0:33). Davis: "Yeah!" Macero: "Yeah..."
12	Nem Um Talvez (take 2) (H. Pascoal)	11:31
	Macero: "Two... You wanna hear some of this? OK... Two..." Short rehearsal (0:19) then another run-through interrupted by Davis at 1:31: "Where am I gonna say... Shit, I can't make it with that, man. This thing sounds too low. Chick, can't you play like you played it in Miles? (Corea plays) Yeah... Yeah. That's the way I want it. Man, I want it to sound distorted..." Corea: "You want it to sound distorted?" Davis: "Yeah, I want it to sound like a..." (splice) Another run-through (2:44); Davis: "You gotta play with me, Chick... Start again... Go on, keep the D-flat in the front as long as you can. Come on, Chick..." Two false starts (0:05, 0:14). Davis: "You gotta play with me. You know what I mean? (strange noise in studio) What's this fuckin' noise out there?" Hancock: "No, it exterminates [undecipherable]" Longer run-through (4:34). At the end Davis says "Play that..." Macero: "OK, we'll play it back..." Brief rehearsal (0:16)
13	Nem Um Talvez (take 3) (H. Pascoal)	0:48
	Macero: "OK? This'll be, uh, take three..." False start (0:14). Davis: "You gotta get the note together. Just play D-flat..." Carter: "For how many bars? [undecipherable] melody, I'll have to change it." Davis: "D-flat." "Carter: "Yeah, before B..." Corea: "It's two or three bars..." Carter: "Three bars? That was killin' me, that's all..."
14	Nem Um Talvez (take 4A) (H. Pascoal)	0:59
	Macero: "Four..." Grossman: "When I go, so that he goes to the E -- first, that's the first melody in front of the beat." Unknown: "Crazy, man." Corea: "We'll soon [undecipherable]" Short rehearsal with Pascoal, voc (0:06), then a short run-through (0:30) followed by Pascoal singing with organ and trumpet (0:09)
15	Nem Um Talvez (take 4B) (H. Pascoal)	3:07
	Macero: "Four..." Davis: "Here we go..." Two false starts (0:08, 0:02). Pascoal: "Mmm, OK..." Davis: "How can we hear him?" Macero: "There's no really way unless we put some earphones..." Stan Tonkel (engineer): "Well, I'll turn off the speaker." Macero: "Stan, how you condescend to turn off the speaker... OK." Davis: "Go ahead... Come on, Steve, right on the band." A short run-through (1:34) with vocal. Davis to Grossman: "You gotta play it [undecipherable]" Grossman: "The part is, but not all the melody -- I know where it's goin'. Do it again..." Macero: "It's coming along. We have to have another... It's -- yeah, I think, the quality of the, uh, of the voice... All right, I won't say anything about the quality. That's great..."
16	Nem Um Talvez (take 5) (H. Pascoal)	0:24
	Macero: "Here you go, five... Want you to hear it..." False start (0:05)
17	Nem Um Talvez (take 6) (H. Pascoal)	1:35
	Macero: "Six." Short rehearsal (0:21), short run-through (0:22) followed by muffled discussion, then Macero: "We'll play that back..."
18	Nem Um Talvez (issued take 3) (H. Pascoal)	4:36
	The version issued as take 3 on Columbia Legacy C5K 86359 and equivalents is really an excerpt of take 2 above, 6:35-11:08
19	Nem Um Talvez (unknown take) (H. Pascoal)	4:03
	The version issued on G 30594 and equivalents repeats an unknown 2:00 take twice
20	Nem Um Talvez (unknown take) [Selim] (H. Pascoal)	2:12


8 Little High People (take 7) 12" LP: Columbia CAS 55858 CD: Columbia Legacy C5K 86359, Columbia Legacy C5K 90926, Sony SICP 431/5
9 Little High People (take 8) CD: Columbia Legacy C5K 86359, Columbia Legacy C5K 90926, Sony SICP 431/5
18 Nem Um Talvez (issued take 3) CD: Columbia Legacy C5K 86359, Columbia Legacy C5K 90926, Sony SICP 431/5
19 Nem Um Talvez (unknown take) 12" LP: Columbia G 30954, Columbia Musical Treasury DS 880, CBS (UK) S 64575, Four Men with Beards 4M 809LP, CBS/Sony SONP 50452/3, CBS/Sony SOPJ 88/9, CBS/Sony 28AP 2153/4, CBS/Sony 36AP 1773/4, Vinyl Me, Please A017 CD: Columbia Legacy C2K 65135, Columbia Legacy C5K 86359, Columbia Legacy C5K 90926, Columbia Legacy C2K 85475, Columbia Legacy CK 65449, CBS/Sony 50DP 707/8, Sony SRCS 5715/6, Sony SRCS 9123/4, Sony SRCS 9739/40, Sony SRCS 2493/4, Sony SIGP 24/5, Sony SICP 843/4, Sony SICP 1225/6, SICP 20061/2, Sony SICP 431/5, Columbia Legacy 86975 24922 [= Columbia (F) 86975 52492] (CD 40)
20 Nem Um Talvez (unknown take) 12" LP: Columbia G 30954, Columbia Musical Treasury DS 880, CBS (UK) S 64575, Four Men with Beards 4M 809LP, CBS/Sony SONP 50452/3, CBS/Sony SOPJ 88/9, CBS/Sony 28AP 2153/4, CBS/Sony 36AP 1773/4, Vinyl Me, Please A017 CD: Columbia Legacy C2K 65135, Columbia Legacy C5K 86359, Columbia Legacy C5K 90926, Columbia Legacy C2K 85475, Columbia Legacy CK 65449, CBS/Sony 50DP 707/8, Sony SRCS 5715/6, Sony SRCS 9123/4, Sony SRCS 9739/40, Sony SRCS 2493/4, Sony SIGP 24/5, Sony SICP 843/4, Sony SICP 1225/6, SICP 20061/2, Sony SICP 431/5, Columbia Legacy 86975 24922 [= Columbia (F) 86975 52492] (CD 40)

Live-Evil includes two titles, "Nem Um Talvez" ("Not Even a Maybe") and "Selim" which are in fact two different takes of the same tune. To make it more confusing, nineteen takes of a different tune -- but also called "Nem Um Talvez" -- were recorded by substantially the same group on May 27.

Pascoal does not play on "Little High People."

Davis had various groups in the studio throughout the first half of 1970 -- fourteen dates in the first half of the year! Some of the music recorded in the studio during this period -- e.g. "Willie Nelson," "Honky Tonk," "The Mask" -- was immediately added to the live book.

The Davis Septet (with Corea and Jarrett on keyboards) was busy in the summer: Fillmore East, New York (June 17-20); Hampton Roads Coliseum (July 3); Central Park, New York (July 6); Hollywood Bowl (July 10); Randall's Island, New York (July 18); Madison Square Garden, New York (July 25); Shea Stadium, New York (August 6); SUNY Stony Brook (August 16); Berkshire Music Center, Tanglewood (August 18). At the end of the summer the Septet played at the Isle of Wight Festival (August 29).