Session details: Royal Roost Club (September 18, 1948)

Miles Ahead session details

September 18, 1948 (18 items; TT = 36:46)

Royal Roost Club, New York NY

WMCA-AM radio broadcast (B)

Show chatter

Miles Davis (tpt); Michael Zwerin (tb); Junior Collins (frh); Bill Barber (tuba); Lee Konitz (as); Gerry Mulligan (bs); John Lewis (p); Dillon "Curley" Russell (b); Max Roach (d); Kenny "Pancho" Hagood (voc); Clark Terry (tpt); Jimmy Nottingham (tpt); Harry Edison (tpt); Emmett Berry (tpt); Dickie Wells (tb); Bill Johnson (tb); George Matthews (tb); Ted Donnelly (tb); Bernie Peacock (as); Earl Warren (as, voc); Wardell Gray (ts); Paul Gonsalves (ts); Ronald "Jack" Washington (bs); Freddie Green (g); William "Count" Basie (p); Singleton Palmer (b); Rossiere "Shadow" Wilson (d); Dinah Washington (voc); Symphony Sid Torin (ann); Bob Garrity (ann)

1	Announcement (Bob Garrity)	0:07
	"We take you direct to the Royal Roost nightclub, and Symphony Sid..."
2	Jumpin' with Symphony Sid (with announcement) (L. Young)	2:33
	Announcement begins at 0:15: "And so once again, ladies and gentlemen, direct from the... Royal Roost, the Metropolitan Bopera House, right over here on Broadway between 47th and 48th Street, we bring you the gonest. That's right, the gonest in modern, progressive jazz, here at the Royal Roost... Every Friday night, Saturday morning we take one hour off from our all-night, all-frantic one, the Symphony Sid show, and bring you some of the greatest in progressive jazz. And we're having a lot of fun, and I know that you're gonna have a lot of fun, too. Just sit back and relax, and those of you who'd like to hear more of your favorites on the all-night, all-frantic one, remember the telephone number, Circle-six-two-five-hundred. Bob Garrity, Bud Hayes, yours truly Symphony Sid, the three knocked-out characters who play the gone sides for you upon calling Circle-six-two-five-hundred. We'll have some more of those sides for you later on. Remember, here at the Royal Roost we bring you some of the wonderful things, featuring the great Count Basie and his wonderful organization, along with Wardell Gray on tenor and then of course it's Miles Davis and his wonderful group, Kenny Pancho Hagood, 'Ooh Pah Pah Da' kid, and a lot of other wonderful things that happen. And I'd like to remind you that starting, uh, Fri..., Thursday, next Thursday, we're bringing for the first time in New York the great Anita O'Day. Anita O'Day, ladies and gentlemen, will be here, and I know that you will have a lot of fun. It'll be, also, Tadd Dameron and his wonderful group, with Allen Eager and the rest of the boys -- so you see, here at the Metropolitan Bopera House, the Royal Roost, it's always a lot of fun, where the lights are low, the music with that real knocked-out groove, and the people wonderful. And, to start the program off here, direct from the Roost, I'd like to remind you we're going to bring you Miles Davis and his wonderful group, featuring Max Roach on drums, John Lewis on piano, Curley Russell on bass, Lee Konitz on alto, and Gerry Murri... Mulligan on baritone. And before we bring the group to you, I'd like to, I'd like to ask a lot of you folks out here to give the wonderful, a wonderful welcome to wonderful guest in our audience this morning, right here at the Roost, ladies and gentlemen, let's give a great big hand to the one and only Sarah Vaughan. Sarah Vaughan, ladies and gentlemen... And without wasting too much time, let's hear from the wonderful group and a thing that was written by Denzil Best, arranged by John Lewis, featuring Max Roach on drums, a thing called 'Move'..."
3	Move (D. Best)	4:52
	Issued as "Mood" on Alto
4	Introduction (Symphony Sid Torin)	0:46
	"Thanks a lot, ladies and gentlemen, thanks a lot. We've, ah... I'd like to remind you once again, just like I've been tellin' you, that the Royal Roost is presenting to you Saturday [sic] afternoon concerts, calling 'em the Symphony Sid Bop Concerts. For a lot of you lucky members out there who are joined, who have joined the Symphony Sid Club, will get a substantial discount if you present your card. The first... concert will be held a week from this coming Sunday, September the 26th, in the afternoon at four o'clock where you can sit back and relax and dig some of the great things that we have for you. It'll be, ah... oh, I'll tell you about that later on. Right now, let's bring the, uh... Where's our glamor boy, Pancho? Pancho Kenny Hagood, ladies and gentlemen, with the Miles Davis organization. Panch, come up here and sing 'Darn That Dream'..."
5	Darn That Dream (E. DeLange-J. Van Heusen)	4:28
	Add Hagood (voc)
6	Introduction (Symphony Sid Torin)	0:14
	"Thanks a lot, Kenny, thanks a lot, I hope you really enjoyed it; and right now, once again, we keep right on jumpin', jumpin' with some more of the gone things that you ask for, here's featuring... Miles Davis and Lee Konitz and the rhythm section doing 'Chasin' the Bird'..."
7	Chasin' the Bird (C. Parker)	4:50
	Davis, Konitz, Lewis, Russell, Roach only
8	Introduction (Symphony Sid Torin)	0:16
	"Right now, ladies and gentlemen, right now let's hear the boys do a real relaxed thing -- the entire group doing a Glenn Minn-- Miller ore-- original, a Gil Evans arrangement of a beautiful thing called 'Moon Dreams'..."
9	Moon Dreams (C. MacGregor-J. Mercer)	3:48
10	Introduction (Symphony Sid Torin)	0:12
	"And there, ladies and gentlemen, was a really beautiful and relaxed thing, done by the great Miles Davis organization. And right now, a Bud Powell original, one of the greats of all time, and 'Hallucinations'..."
11	Hallucinations [Budo] (B. Powell-M. Davis)	4:21
12	Jumpin' with Symphony Sid (with announcement (inc)) (L. Young)	0:15
	"And so, ladies and gentlemen, you've heard from the great and wonderful... wonderful Miles Davis organization, here at the Metropolitan... Bopera House, the Royal Roost, 1580 Broadway. And as the boys in the background do our..." (cut off)
13	One O'Clock Jump (C. Basie)	0:38
14	The Peacock (B. Peacock)	2:12
15	Introduction (Symphony Sid Torin)	0:18
	"Oh, what a bunch of gone ones, that Count Basie and the orchestra, and everybody really jumpin'. Our boy Mr. Peacock on alto, and I hope that you really had a wonderful time. Even our boy George Steadwell is havin' himself a wonderful time. And we keep right on jumpin', here's another one for you, and this time it's 'Swedish Pastry'..."
16	Swedish Pastry (B. Kessel)	3:17
17	Introduction (Symphony Sid Torin)	0:17
	"Oh, wonderful Count Basie, you're really gassin' everybody, everybody's havin' such a wonderful time here at the Metropolitan Bopera House, the Royal Roost. And right now, ladies and gentlemen, let's bring Earl Warren to the microphone, well, Earl to sing for you 'Maybe You'll Be There'..."
18	X-1 (W. Basie)	3:22


3 Move 12" LP: Alto AL-701, Durium-Cicala BLJ-8003 CD: Recording Arts (Golden Age of Jazz) JZCD 313, Recording Arts Reference Edition RARE CD 08/10, Tokuma TKCB-30024, Tokuma TKCB-71891, Fresh Sound FSCD-1008, Capitol CDP 94550, Definitive Records DRCD 11159
5 Darn That Dream 12" LP: Alto AL-701, Durium-Cicala BLJ-8003 CD: Recording Arts (Golden Age of Jazz) JZCD 313, Recording Arts Reference Edition RARE CD 08/10, Tokuma TKCB-30024, Tokuma TKCB-71891, Fresh Sound FSCD-1008, Capitol CDP 94550, Definitive Records DRCD 11159
9 Moon Dreams 12" LP: Alto AL-701, Durium-Cicala BLJ-8003 CD: Tokuma TKCB-30024, Tokuma TKCB-71891, Fresh Sound FSCD-1008, Capitol CDP 94550, Definitive Records DRCD 11159
11 Hallucinations 12" LP: Alto AL-701, Durium-Cicala BLJ-8003 CD: Tokuma TKCB-30024, Tokuma TKCB-71891, Fresh Sound FSCD-1008, Capitol CDP 94550, Definitive Records DRCD 11159
13 One O'Clock Jump 12" LP: Session Disc 106
14 The Peacock 12" LP: Alto AL-702
16 Swedish Pastry 12" LP: Alto AL-702
18 X-1 12" LP: Session Disc 106 CD: Drive Archive DE2-41096

This is the second of two live broadcasts of the Davis Nonet from the Royal Roost. (The first was on September 4.) During this period Symphony Sid Torin's Friday night/Saturday morning "all-night, all-frantic" show consisted of Sid and Bob Garrity taking requests and playing records, along with short live broadcasts from the Royal Roost and occasionally the Apollo Theatre. Davis participated in a Savoy studio date with the Parker Quintet later on this day (a Saturday).

In his autobiography Davis says that "Monte Kay booked us [i.e. the Nonet] into the Royal Roost on Broadway for two weeks." While there is some disagreement on the date of the first Nonet broadcast from the Roost, everyone seems to agree that this broadcast took place on the 18th. The Nonet's two-week stint at the Roost ended soon afterward, and a Davis All-Star Quintet (a subset of the Nonet featuring Lee Konitz and John Lewis -- featured here on "Chasin' the Bird") began a one-week engagement at the Roost. For more details see the notes to the September 4 broadcast.

Thanks to James Accardi for help with this session.