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Miles Ahead session details

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June 20, 1970 (9 items; TT = 60:46)
Fillmore East Auditorium, New York NY
Commercial for Columbia
 Show chatter

Miles Davis (tpt); Steve Grossman (ss, ts); Chick Corea (el-p, perc); Keith Jarrett (org, fl); Dave Holland (b, el-b); Jack De Johnette (d); Airto Moreira (perc, voc); Bill Graham (ann)
1 Band warming up + introduction (Bill Graham) 2:46
2 Directions (J. Zawinul) 10:48

Theme stated at 2:40, 3:54, 5:59, 10:28
3 The Mask (M. Davis) 11:16

Fragment (0:20) on Columbia G 30038 and equivalents
4 It's About That Time (M. Davis) 11:21

Fragment (3:23) on Columbia G 30038 and equivalents
5 I Fall in Love Too Easily (S. Cahn-J. Styne) 1:04

Incomplete (0:53) on Columbia G 30038 and equivalents
6 Sanctuary (W. Shorter-M. Davis) 3:18

Incomplete (2:48) on Columbia G 30038 and equivalents
7 Bitches Brew (M. Davis) 9:44

Fragments (3:00 + 3:56) on Columbia G 30038 and equivalents
8 Willie Nelson (M. Davis) 9:21

Fragments (0:08 + 7:04) on Columbia G 30038 and equivalents
9 The Theme (with applause) (M. Davis) 1:08

Incomplete (0:43) on Columbia G 30038 and equivalents

1 Band warming up + introduction (Bill Graham)
CD: So What Blue SW 006, So What Blue 009/11

2 Directions
12" LP: Music on Vinyl MOV LP1251
CD: Columbia Legacy 88765 43381, So What Blue SW 006, So What Blue 009/11

3 The Mask
12" LP: Columbia G 30038, Music on Vinyl MOV LP1251, CBS/Sony SONP 50356/7, CBS/Sony SOPJ 86/7, CBS/Sony 28AP 2157/8, CBS/Sony 36AP 1777/8
CD: Columbia Legacy C2K 65139, Columbia Legacy 88765 43381, CBS/Sony 50DP 714/5, Sony SRCS 5719/20, Sony SRCS 9121/2, Sony SRCS 9716/7, Sony SICP 841/2, Sony SICP 1223/4, Sony SICP 20061/2, So What Blue SW 006, So What Blue 009/11, Columbia Legacy 86975 24922 [= Columbia (F) 86975 52492] (CD 38)

4 It's About That Time
12" LP: Columbia G 30038, Music on Vinyl MOV LP1251, CBS/Sony SONP 50356/7, CBS/Sony SOPJ 86/7, CBS/Sony 28AP 2157/8, CBS/Sony 36AP 1777/8
CD: Columbia Legacy C2K 65139, Columbia Legacy 88765 43381, CBS/Sony 50DP 714/5, Sony SRCS 5719/20, Sony SRCS 9121/2, Sony SRCS 9716/7, Sony SICP 841/2, Sony SICP 1223/4, Sony SICP 20061/2, So What Blue SW 006, So What Blue 009/11, Columbia Legacy 86975 24922 [= Columbia (F) 86975 52492] (CD 38)

5 I Fall in Love Too Easily
12" LP: Columbia G 30038, Music on Vinyl MOV LP1251, CBS/Sony SONP 50356/7, CBS/Sony SOPJ 86/7, CBS/Sony 28AP 2157/8, CBS/Sony 36AP 1777/8
CD: Columbia Legacy C2K 65139, Columbia Legacy 88765 43381, CBS/Sony 50DP 714/5, Sony SRCS 5719/20, Sony SRCS 9121/2, Sony SRCS 9716/7, Sony SICP 841/2, Sony SICP 1223/4, Sony SICP 20061/2, So What Blue SW 006, So What Blue 009/11, Columbia Legacy 86975 24922 [= Columbia (F) 86975 52492] (CD 38)

6 Sanctuary
12" LP: Columbia G 30038, Music on Vinyl MOV LP1251, CBS/Sony SONP 50356/7, CBS/Sony SOPJ 86/7, CBS/Sony 28AP 2157/8, CBS/Sony 36AP 1777/8
CD: Columbia Legacy C2K 65139, Columbia Legacy 88765 43381, CBS/Sony 50DP 714/5, Sony SRCS 5719/20, Sony SRCS 9121/2, Sony SRCS 9716/7, Sony SICP 841/2, Sony SICP 1223/4, Sony SICP 20061/2, So What Blue SW 006, So What Blue 009/11, Columbia Legacy 86975 24922 [= Columbia (F) 86975 52492] (CD 38)

7 Bitches Brew
12" LP: Columbia G 30038, Music on Vinyl MOV LP1251, CBS/Sony SONP 50356/7, CBS/Sony SOPJ 86/7, CBS/Sony 28AP 2157/8, CBS/Sony 36AP 1777/8
CD: Columbia Legacy C2K 65139, Columbia Legacy 88765 43381, CBS/Sony 50DP 714/5, Sony SRCS 5719/20, Sony SRCS 9121/2, Sony SRCS 9716/7, Sony SICP 841/2, Sony SICP 1223/4, Sony SICP 20061/2, So What Blue SW 006, So What Blue 009/11, Columbia Legacy 86975 24922 [= Columbia (F) 86975 52492] (CD 38)

8 Willie Nelson
12" LP: Columbia G 30038, Music on Vinyl MOV LP1251, CBS/Sony SONP 50356/7, CBS/Sony SOPJ 86/7, CBS/Sony 28AP 2157/8, CBS/Sony 36AP 1777/8
CD: Columbia Legacy C2K 65139, Columbia Legacy 88765 43381, CBS/Sony 50DP 714/5, Sony SRCS 5719/20, Sony SRCS 9121/2, Sony SRCS 9716/7, Sony SICP 841/2, Sony SICP 1223/4, Sony SICP 20061/2, So What Blue SW 006, So What Blue 009/11, Columbia Legacy 86975 24922 [= Columbia (F) 86975 52492] (CD 38)

9 The Theme (with applause)
12" LP: Columbia G 30038, Music on Vinyl MOV LP1251, CBS/Sony SONP 50356/7, CBS/Sony SOPJ 86/7, CBS/Sony 28AP 2157/8, CBS/Sony 36AP 1777/8
CD: Columbia Legacy C2K 65139, Columbia Legacy 88765 43381, CBS/Sony 50DP 714/5, Sony SRCS 5719/20, Sony SRCS 9121/2, Sony SRCS 9716/7, Sony SICP 841/2, Sony SICP 1223/4, Sony SICP 20061/2, So What Blue SW 006, So What Blue 009/11, Columbia Legacy 86975 24922 [= Columbia (F) 86975 52492] (CD 38)

The Davis Septet -- billed as "The Miles Davis Quartet" -- opened for Laura Nyro for four nights at the Fillmore Auditorium (June 17-20, Wednesday-Saturday). Columbia recorded all four nights, and Teo Macero distilled each night's music into the edited medleys released on Miles Davis at Fillmore (Columbia G 30038).

Promotional copies of Miles Davis at Fillmore included a list of "suggested cues":

  1. "Saturday Miles" (2:57" = "It's About That Time" (keyb solos)
  2. "Electjuicifying" (4:47) = "It's About That Time" (closing theme) + "I Fall In Love Too Easily" + "Sanctuary"
  3. "Mirror-Like" (2:43) = "Bitches Brew" (theme + tpt solo)
  4. "Earth" (2:24) = "Bitches Brew" (keyb solos)
  5. "Air" (4:55) = "Bitches Brew" (final tpt solo) + "Willie Nelson" (tpt, ss solos)
  6. "Yesternow" 4:35 = "Willie Nelson" (keyb solos, ending) + "The Theme"

The Columbia track sheets for the four Fillmore sessions indicate that the stereo image was (left to right):

Sax (or Trpt) - El. Piano - Drums - Trpt - Organ - Perc - El. Bass

On Miles Davis at Fillmore we hear Jarrett (org) on the left and Corea (el-p) on the right, and subsequent CD reissues preserve that image. The four-CD set Miles at the Fillmore (Legacy 88765 43381), remixed and remastered in 2013, reverses this image: Corea is on the left and Jarrett is on the right -- perhaps a return to the image listed on the original track sheets. To make matters more confusing, in video footage from the period (e.g. from Tanglewood and the Isle of Wight), Jarrett is on the left side of the stage, Corea on the right. So which is the "true" image? Until photographs surface of the band on stage during the Fillmore sets, we may never know.

So What SWB 09/11 is a "multi-track separate version," which presents the performance by isolating Corea and Jarrett; then Holland and De Johnette; and finally Davis, Grossman, and Moreira.

Davis returned from the west coast in early May, and quickly resumed a hectic studio schedule: five dates in the period from May 17-June 4. 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 Fillmore engagement was the beginning of a busy summer: Hampton Roads Coliseum (July 3); Central Park, New York (July 6); Hollywood Bowl (July 10); Spectrum, Philadelphia (July 15); 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).

Thanks to Richard Seidel for discussing the stereo image with me, and to Pat Buzby for the information about the promotional cues.

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