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Miles Ahead session details

[Return to 1950s sessions]

February 16, 1957 (12 items; TT = 36:26)
Peacock Alley Lounge, St. Louis MO
KSTL-AM radio broadcast (B)
Show chatter

Miles Davis (tpt); John Coltrane (ts); William "Red" Garland (p); Paul Chambers (b); Philly Joe Jones (d); Jesse "Spider" Burks (ann)

1 Introduction (Spider Burks, Miles Davis) 0:10
2 Ah-Leu-Cha (C. Parker) 5:52
3 Introduction (Spider Burks) 0:07
4 A Foggy Day (G. Gershwin-I. Gershwin) 5:45

Rhythm section only. Incomplete (5:01) on Soulard and Jazz Factory -- 0:34 of drum solo excised
5 Introduction (Spider Burks) 0:13
6 All of You (C. Porter) 9:17

Incomplete (6:27) on Soulard and Jazz Factory -- piano solo excised
7 Introduction (Spider Burks) 0:12
8 Woody 'n' You (D. Gillespie) 5:02
9 Introduction (Spider Burks) 0:12
10 Walkin' (R. Carpenter) 7:25
11 Announcement (Spider Burks) 1:27
12 The Theme (inc) (M. Davis) 0:44


1 Introduction (Spider Burks, Miles Davis)
CD: Soulard VGM-SOU 1997, Jazz Factory JFCD 22879, Rare Live Records RLR 88770

2 Ah-Leu-Cha
CD: Soulard VGM-SOU 1997, Jazz Factory JFCD 22879, Rare Live Records RLR 88770

3 Introduction (Spider Burks)
CD: Soulard VGM-SOU 1997, Jazz Factory JFCD 22879, Rare Live Records RLR 88770

4 A Foggy Day
CD: Soulard VGM-SOU 1997, Jazz Factory JFCD 22879, Rare Live Records RLR 88770

5 Introduction (Spider Burks)
CD: Soulard VGM-SOU 1997, Jazz Factory JFCD 22879, Rare Live Records RLR 88770

6 All of You
CD: Soulard VGM-SOU 1997, Jazz Factory JFCD 22879, Rare Live Records RLR 88770

7 Introduction (Spider Burks)
CD: Soulard VGM-SOU 1997, Jazz Factory JFCD 22879, Rare Live Records RLR 88770

8 Woody 'n' You
CD: Soulard VGM-SOU 1997, Jazz Factory JFCD 22879, Rare Live Records RLR 88770

9 Introduction (Spider Burks)
CD: Soulard VGM-SOU 1997, Jazz Factory JFCD 22879, Rare Live Records RLR 88770

10 Walkin'
CD: Soulard VGM-SOU 1997, Jazz Factory JFCD 22879, Rare Live Records RLR 88770

11 Announcement (Spider Burks)
CD: Soulard VGM-SOU 1997, Jazz Factory JFCD 22879, Rare Live Records RLR 88770

12 The Theme (inc)
CD: Soulard VGM-SOU 1997, Jazz Factory JFCD 22879, Rare Live Records RLR 88770


The Soulard CD lists the date for this performance as July 14, 1956, but this seems to be wrong. Spider Burks was fired by KXLW-AM on July 11, 1956, two days before the Davis Quintet opened a nine-day stop at Peacock Alley (July 13-21, Friday-Saturday). He was hired by KSTL-AM in August 1956 and quickly began live Saturday matinée broadcasts from Peacock Alley. The Davis Quintet returned to Peacock Alley in February 1957 for another nine-day engagement (Friday, February 15 through Saturday, February 23). In all likelihood, then, the Soulard material comes from broadcasts on February 16 and 23, and the correct station is KSTL-AM. Thanks to Chris DeVito for careful research here.

In the first few months of 1957 the Davis Quintet spent very little time in New York: Jazz City, Hollywood (January 4-17); Blackhawk Supper Club, San Francisco (January 22-February 10); Syria Mosque, Pittsburgh (Wednesday, February 13, two shows); Peacock Alley, St. Louis (February 15-23); Preview's Modern Jazz Room, Chicago (February 27-March 10); Comedy Club, Baltimore (March 26-31); Café Bohemia, New York (April 5-28, last 2+ wks canceled). The Quintet was disbanded during the Café Bohemia engagement -- Davis fired Coltrane and Philly Joe Jones for increasingly erratic behavior. Curtis Fuller may have participated in some of the performances at the Bohemia.

For some reason most of the concluding announcement (0:42), and the concluding fragment of "The Theme" (0:37), appear at the end of the Soulard CD, after the February 23 material. But they clearly belong here.

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