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Miles Ahead session details

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April 1946 (a) (34 items; TT = 60:08)
NBC Studios, Hollywood CA
AFRS Jubilee session (B)
Show chatter

Miles Davis (tpt); Howard McGhee (tpt); Fred Trainer (tpt); Calvin Strickland (tpt); Walter Williams (tpt); Ira Pettiford (tpt); Candy Ross (tb); Johnny Morris (tb); Al Grey (tb); Charley Johnson (tb); Benny Carter (as, tpt); Bob Graettinger (as); Joe Epps (as); Harold Clark (ts); Hubert "Bumps" Myers (ts); Willard Brown (ts); James Cannady (g); Sonny White (p); Thomas Moultrie (b); Percy Brice (d); Ernie "Bubbles" Whitman (ann)

Jubilee 184
1 Announcement (George Dvorak) 0:05
2 One O'Clock Jump (theme) (C. Basie) 0:37
3 Introduction (Ernie "Bubbles" Whitman, Benny Carter) 0:48
4 Who's Sorry Now? (T. Snyder-B. Kalmar-H. Ruby) 2:46
5 Introduction (Whitman, Kay Starr) 0:38
6 He's Funny That Way (N. Moret-R. Whiting) 2:50
7 Introduction (Whitman, Nat Cole) 0:48
8 Sweet Georgia Brown (B. Bernie-M. Pinkard-K. Casey) 2:23
9 Introduction (Whitman, Lester Young) 0:53
10 These Foolish Things (Remind Me of You) (H. Marvell-J. Strachey-H. Link) 3:52
11 Lester Leaps In (L. Young) 3:37
12 Introduction (Whitman, Kay Starr) 0:29
13 On the Sunny Side of the Street (D. Fields-J. McHugh) 2:07
14 Introduction (Whitman, Carter) 0:28
15 I Can't Get Started (V. Duke-I. Gershwin) 3:00
16 Introduction (Whitman) 0:19
17 Jump Call (B. Carter) 3:31

Davis plays a 32-measure solo (0:38-1:05). Listed as "Melodrama in a V-Disc Record Room" on V-Disc 701
18 One O'Clock Jump (theme) (C. Basie) 0:52

Jubilee 186
19 One O'Clock Jump (theme; with voiceover (George Dvorak)) (C. Basie) 0:31
20 Introduction (Ernie "Bubbles" Whitman) 0:28
21 Just You, Just Me (R. Klages-J. Greer) 4:28

Davis plays a sixteen-bar solo (0:42-0:59)
22 Introduction (Whitman, Lucy Elliott) 0:19
23 Lover Man (J. Davis-R. Ramirez-J. Sherman) 2:31
24 Introduction (Whitman, Nat Cole) 1:19
25 Route 66 (B. Troup) 3:10
26 Sweet Georgia Brown (B. Bernie-M. Pinkard-K. Casey) 2:22

Repeated from Jubilee 184
27 Introduction (Whitman, Benny Carter, Charlie Parker) 1:25
28 Tea for Two (Willie Smith solo) (V. Youmans-I. Caesar) 2:44

Smith solos, Parker out
29 Body and Soul (Benny Carter solo) (J.W. Green-E. Heyman-R. Sour-F. Eyton) 2:32

Carter solos, Parker out
30 Cherokee (Charlie Parker solo) (R. Noble) 2:49
31 Introduction (Whitman) 0:21
32 Jump Call (B. Carter) 3:31

Repeated from Jubilee 184
33 Closing announcement (Whitman) 0:37
34 One O'Clock Jump (C. Basie) 0:58


4 Who's Sorry Now?
12" LP: Queen Disc Q-009
CD: Jazz Hour JH-1005

6 He's Funny That Way
12" LP: V-Disc 805

10 These Foolish Things (Remind Me of You)
12" LP: Spotlite SPJ 119
CD: Jass Records JCD-18

11 Lester Leaps In
12" LP: V-Disc 764, Spotlite SPJ 119
CD: Jass Records JCD-18

14 Introduction (Whitman, Carter)
12" LP: 12LP
CD: CD

15 I Can't Get Started
12" LP: V-Disc 351, V-Disc 715, Jazz Society AA-502, Musidisc 30JA-5123
CD: New Sound Planet/Jazz Up JU-327, Jazz Door JD 1206, Jazz Hour JH-1005

16 Introduction (Whitman)
12" LP: V-Disc 351, Jazz Society AA-502, Musidisc 30JA-5123
CD: New Sound Planet/Jazz Up JU-327, Jazz Door JD 1206, Jazz Hour JH-1005

17 Jump Call
12" LP: V-Disc 701, Jazz Society AA-502, Musidisc 30JA-5123, Spotlite SPJ 147
CD: New Sound Planet/Jazz Up JU-327, Jazz Door JD 1206, Jazz Hour JH-1005

20 Introduction (Ernie "Bubbles" Whitman)
12" LP: Spotlite SPJ 147
CD: Jazz Door JD 1206, Masters of Jazz MJCD 151

21 Just You, Just Me
12" LP: Spotlite SPJ 147
CD: Jazz Door JD 1206, Masters of Jazz MJCD 151

27 Introduction (Whitman, Benny Carter, Charlie Parker)
12" LP: Phoenix LP 17, Spotlite SPJ 123
CD: Philology Volume 18 (W 848), Rare Live Recordings RLR 88634, ESP-Disk 4050

28 Tea for Two (Willie Smith solo)
12" LP: Phoenix LP 17, Spotlite SPJ 123, Sounds 1206
CD: Philology Volume 18 (W 848), Rare Live Recordings RLR 88634, ESP-Disk 4050

29 Body and Soul (Benny Carter solo)
12" LP: Phoenix LP 17, Spotlite SPJ 123, Sounds 1206
CD: Philology Volume 18 (W 848), Rare Live Recordings RLR 88634, ESP-Disk 4050

30 Cherokee (Charlie Parker solo)
12" LP: Phoenix LP 17, Spotlite SPJ 123, Sounds 1206
CD: Philology Volume 18 (W 848), Rare Live Recordings RLR 88634, ESP-Disk 4050

31 Introduction (Whitman)
12" LP: Phoenix LP 17, Spotlite SPJ 123, Sounds 1206
CD: Philology Volume 18 (W 848), Rare Live Recordings RLR 88634, ESP-Disk 4050

32 Jump Call
12" LP: V-Disc 701, Jazz Society AA-502, Musidisc 30JA-5123, Spotlite SPJ 147
CD: New Sound Planet/Jazz Up JU-327, Jazz Door JD 1206, Jazz Hour JH-1005

33 Closing announcement (Whitman)
12" LP: Phoenix LP 17, Spotlite SPJ 123
CD: Philology Volume 18 (W 848), Rare Live Recordings RLR 88634, ESP-Disk 4050

34 One O'Clock Jump
12" LP: Phoenix LP 17, Spotlite SPJ 123
CD: Philology Volume 18 (W 848), Rare Live Recordings RLR 88634, ESP-Disk 4050


Davis only solos on the tunes indicated, sc. "Jump Call" and "Just You, Just Me." He begins his solo on "Jump Call" with a quotation from Charlie Parker's "Moose the Mooche," which he and Parker recorded in Hollywood at Radio Recorders Studios on March 28.

There is a lot of uncertainty and confusion about the Benny Carter recordings from 1946. Most of the items usually associated with Miles Davis were Armed Forces Radio Services (AFRS) "Jubilee" sessions which were transcribed on 16" 33-1/3 rpm LPs and distributed to radio stations around the world. The four sessions in questions are numbers 184, 186, 191, and 193. Recording sessions were typically an hour, in front of live studio audiences. The recordings were later edited and assembled into 30-minute Jubilee sides. In the process, some announcements and introductions (and tunes) were used more than once, which adds to the confusion. Recordings for the programs numbered 184 and 186 were made in early April at NBC Studios in Hollywood; those for programs numbered 191 and 193 were recorded on April 29.

According to a Friday, April 5 entry in the Los Angeles Daily News (page 22), "Kay Starr appeared with the King Cole Trio on this week's Jubilee program. Willie Smith, Benny Carter, and Charlie Parker, all top alto-men, were a starring trio, too." So the date of this session can be fixed pretty precisely.

Davis joined the Carter band after a January 1946 engagement at the Riviera Club in St. Louis, and traveled to Los Angeles in February. Looking back years later, Carter remarked,

When Miles joined me it was quite clear that he was already thinking along different lines. But he was a good reader and certainly had no trouble with the book. (Quoted in Morroe Berger, Ed Berger, and James Patrick, Benny Carter: A Life in American Music, Vol. 2, p. 123)

In addition to playing with Carter's orchestra and a smaller Carter group, Davis began sitting in with Charlie Parker at the Finale Club. In March he became a regular member of the Parker Quintet, and he participated in a Dial session on March 28. He continued to play regularly with Carter's bands, as evidenced by a March 31 broadcast from the Streets of Paris. Eventually the musicians' union caught up with him and he was fined. He chose to leave the Carter group; but exactly when this happened is not clear. On April 12 Parker brought an eight-piece band -- Davis, Britt Woodman (tb), Parker, Lucky Thompson (ts), Dodo Marmarosa (p), Arvin Garrison (g), Red Callendar (b), and Perc White (d) -- to a concert at UCLA's Royce Hall Auditorium, sponsored by the Carver Club. Also on the bill were Lester Young, the Nat Cole Trio, Herb Jeffries, and Kay Starr. There is a nice review in the June 1946 issue of Metronome magazine.

There is a CBS radio broadcast from the Trianon Ballroom from about this time, and Davis is clearly present. Berger et al. list two additional broadcasts from the Trianon -- dated April 30 and May 5 -- with Davis as a possible member of the trumpet section. I believe that Davis had left for good by this time, but I have not heard these recordings.

A nearly complete discography of the Jubilee series was published by Rainer Lötz and Ulrich Neuert: The AFRS Jubilee Transcription Programs: An Exploratory Discography, Vol. 1-2 (1985). Dennis M. Spragg has updated the discography and maintains it on the Glenn Miller Archive website, http://www.colorado.edu/amrc/glenn-miller-archive/gma-catalogs/jubilee. I am grateful to Craig Neilson, Jan Lohmann, and Leif Bo Petersen for their help with these Jubilee sessions, and to Tommaso Urbano for his expertise in identifying the trumpet soloists. Thanks also to Robert Shoji for pointing me to the UCLA Carver Club photos and for sharing with me the Metronome review.

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