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Miles Ahead session details

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April 3, 1960 (4 items; TT = 37:33)
Kongress-Saal, Deutsches Museum, Munich (Germany)
Unknown radio broadcast (B+)

Miles Davis (tpt); John Coltrane (ts); Wynton Kelly (p); Paul Chambers (b); Jimmy Cobb (d)

First fragment
1 So What (incomplete) (M. Davis) 10:37

Opening few measures missing
2 'Round Midnight (B. Hanighen-C. Williams-T. Monk) 5:43
3 Walkin' (incomplete) (R. Carpenter) 11:03

Cut off at 10:59

Second fragment
4 So What (M. Davis) 10:10


1 So What (incomplete)
CD: Solar 4569971, Jazz Plot JPR 61623

2 'Round Midnight
CD: Solar 4569971, Jazz Plot JPR 61623

3 Walkin' (incomplete)
CD: Solar 4569971, Jazz Plot JPR 61623

4 So What
CD: Solar 4569971, Jazz Plot JPR 61623


From March 21 through April 10, the Davis Quintet toured Europe, along with Oscar Peterson and the Stan Getz and their groups, under the auspices of Norman Granz's "Jazz at the Philharmonic." Davis had hired vibraphonist Buddy Montgomery for the tour but at the last minute Montgomery bowed out. Surprisingly few recordings from this tour have surfaced. The itinerary was as follows:

March 21 (Monday, 7:30 and 10:00 pm), Olympia Theatre, Paris
March 22 (Tuesday, 7:00 and 9:15 pm), Konserthuset, Stockholm
March 23 (Wednesday), Njardhallen, Oslo (or Goteburg, Sweden)
March 24 (Thursday, 7:00 and 9:30 pm), Tivolis Konsertsal, Copenhagen
March 25 (Friday, 8:00 pm), Niedersachsenhalle, Hannover
March 26 (Saturday, 8:00 pm), Weser-Ems-Halle, Oldenburg
March 27 (Sunday, 8:00 pm), Sportspalast, Berlin
March 28 (Monday), WDR Studio, Düsseldorf (Davis out)
March 29 (Tuesday, 6:00 and 9:00 pm), Musikhalle, Hamburg
March 30 (Wednesday), Kongresshalle, Frankfurt am Main
March 31 (Thursday, 9:15 pm), Teatro Lirico, Milan
April 1 (Friday, 8:00 pm), Fruchthalle, Kaiserslautern
April 2 (Saturday, 6:15 and 9:45 pm), Messehalle, Köln
April 3 (Sunday, 6:00 and 9:00 pm), Deutsches Museum, Kongress-Saal, Munich
April 4 (Monday, 8:00 pm), Stadthalle, Karlsruhe
April 6 (Wednesday), Stadthalle, Vienna
April 7 (Thursday, two shows), Messehaus, Nürnberg
April 8 (Friday, 8:30 pm), Kongresshaus, Zürich
April 9 (Saturday, 8:15 pm), Kurhaus, Scheveningen
April 9 (Saturday, midnight), Concertgebouw, Amsterdam
April 10 (Sunday, 8:00 pm), Liederhalle, Beethoven-Saal, Stuttgart

If we assume that the titles listed above were all recorded on the same date, then given the two versions of "So What," it seems likely that the music comes from one of the dates with two concerts -- Munich, April 3, or Stuttgart, April 10. But I can't do better than this circumstantial case in dating these tunes.

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