The Quintet played the sixth annual Monterey Festival at the beginning of a month
or two in California; during that time Davis spent a lot of time collaborating with
Gil Evans on the music to accompany Peter Barnes' play The Time of the Barracudas.
Some of this music, only a fraction of what was recorded, was released on Mosaic
MQ11-164 and Columbia CXK 67397.
The Time of the Barracudas opened at the Curran Theatre in San Francisco
on October 21. Ralph J. Gleason's review in the San Francisco Chronicle
(October 24) was not a rave: "Miles Davis' music is used in 'Time of the Barracudas'
all right and it's a good thing it is, since the play at the Curran has little
else to recommend it." The play closed on November 23 at the Huntington Hartford
in Los Angeles.
The Davis Quintet was booked for three weeks at the Jazz Workshop in San Francisco
(September 3-22), but the show was closed down on the 18th because Davis did not fulfill
the terms of his contract. As reported in Down Beat in 1964,
[Jazz Workshop owner Art] Auerbach said that Davis did not play a full schedule on
several nights nights of his stay and additionally failed to appear on three
other nights -- once without advance notice... Auerbach said Davis notified him
that he could not play Wednesday night of the second week, and as a result the
owner kept the club closed. On [the following] Sunday night... Davis failed to
appear and gave no warning of his absence. As a result, the owner said, he had
to close the club and refund the door charge to customers who were inside
waiting.
"No other musician has ever closed my club in the seven years I've been operating
it," Auerbach declared. "I feel it was inexcusable."
Auerbach's troubles were compounded by the presence of the underage Tony Williams.
He suspended the club's liquor license so that Williams might appear with the
group, thus sacrificing income from drinking patrons. "I did this because Miles
is an excellent musician, has an excellent group, and I wanted them to be heard
in San Francisco," he said.
Other activity: Royce Hall, UCLA (September 28); It Club, Los Angeles (October 3-13);
Adams-West Theatre (October 11-12 -- these were "after-hours jam sessions" scheduled for 2-6 am);
Minor Key Club, Detroit (October 22-27, canceled);
La Grand Salle, Place
des Arts, Montréal (October 26); Showboat, Philadelphia (November 4-10);
Village Vanguard, New York (November 12-December 1); Town Casino, Buffalo NY
(December 31-January 6; opening night was canceled on account of snow).
I am grateful to Eric Jooris for providing the review of the Montréal concert.
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