The Davis Quintet played two concerts, 8:00 pm and 10:30 pm, at the first
Paris Jazz Festival.
As far as I know neither concert was ever broadcast in its entirety, but
there are several ORTF broadcasts that include some of these titles.
Tapes in general circulation often include incomplete versions of "All of You" and
"Joshua" from the second concert (10:52 and 9:18, respectively). Also, some versions
of this material in circulation include a version of "All of You" in the first concert,
but this performance is from the Sindelfingen concert on October 8. The "Miles
Impro" included on Moon MCD 021 is an excerpt of "Joshua" from Stockholm,
October 3, not from these concerts.
The issued material on Heart Note and Moon (and more recently on Mega Disc) is
sonically poor, probably mastered from a broadcast recording. Unfortunately the
tapes in the RTF/INA archives are incomplete, and the performance master for these
concerts apparently disappeared from the archives some years ago.
A recording of "Seven Steps to Heaven" (12:25) is included in one of André
Francis' Jazz sur Scène broadcasts (item #101D00009B in the RTF/INA
archive) where it is listed as from this date, but I have not been able to confirm
that this is the correct date (or the correct title). Another Jazz sur Scène
show, broadcast on May 29, 1966 (item #101D00088A), includes "My Funny Valentine,"
"No Blues," and "The Theme" from the second concert above, along with "All Blues" from the
July 26, 1963 Juan-les-Pins Festival.
The Davis Quintet embarked on a European tour, the
USA Jazz Festival, in late September.
In addition to the Davis Quintet, several other groups were involved, though I don't know if
they all performed at every stop on the tour. The itinerary (with several gaps) was as follows:
September 25: Berlin Philharmonie
September 26: Concertgebouw, Amsterdam
September 29: Le Théâtre Municipal, Lausanne
September 30:
Kongresshaus, Zürich
October 1: Salle Pleyel, Paris (two concerts)
October 3: Johanneshov Isstadion, Stockholm
October 4: KB-Hallen, Copenhagen
October 5: Mässhallen, Gothenburg
October 6: Messuhalli, Helsinki
October 8: Stadthalle, Sindelfingen (two concerts)
October 11: Teatro dell' Arte, Milan
The Quintet was booked in other cities as well -- e.g. Barcelona and Frankfurt --
but I have been unable to find dates or confirm that these concerts occurred. Thanks
to Flurin Casura for the advertisement for the Zürich concert, and to Frederik
Adlers for providing the festival poster and for telling me about the Gothenburg date.
Apparently the drummer for Papa Celestine's Original Tuxedo Jazz Band was sick that
day and Tony Williams stepped in to take his place. He brought the house down!
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