Session details: CBS-TV Studios (March 11, 1949)

Miles Ahead session details

March 11, 1949 (8 items; TT = 13:04)

CBS-TV Studios, New York NY

WCBS-TV recording (B)

Show chatter

Miles Davis (tpt); Max Kaminsky (tpt); Kai Winding (tb); Will Bradley (tb); Charlie Parker (as); Joe Marsala (cl); Mike Caluccio (p); Joe Sullivan (p); Unknown (g); Unknown (b); Max Roach (d); Gordon "Specs" Powell (d); Ann Hathaway (voc); William Williams (ann)

1	Introduction (William Williams)	1:18
	William Williams introduces the contestants: Williams: "Can you hold the towel for me, please? Anybody got a half a buck? I gotta flip a coin. Flipping a coin will find out whether Dixieland will precede bop or bop will precede Dixieland... Call it -- heads it's Dixieland, tails it's bop. Heads is right. Dixieland comes first, that means if we turn to the piano, I think Joe Sullivan is on his way in. Joe, do you know Mike Caluccio? Mike, Joe... Joe, Mike. I know that both of you are very happy. Joe Sullivan is going to play some Dixieland music for us, and Mike, you stand by and be ready with some bop. All right? What're you gonna do, Joe?" Sullivan: "Little Rock Getaway..." (faded out) (0:00-0:39). Williams: "Round three brings us two men, ah, again in a Dixie and bop duel, Mr. ahhh, Charlie Parker on the bop stick, and Mr. Joe Marsala on the clarinet. Gentlemen, walk in and take your just deserts. Joe, of course, right here, and Yardbird-o-roonie, step over here, the genius... Joe, ah, Dixieland comes first, suppose you take it and Charlie, you stand right over here and watch. What're you gonna do, Joe?" Marsala: "Ah, how 'bout a little..." (faded out) (0:40-1:04). Williams: "Yardbird, it's up to you, I want you to come out a-hoppin' out of your corner. Lemme see, you got Mike at the piano, Max Roach is sitting in at drums, ah, and you got an original called 'Anthropology'?" Parker: "Yeah, Bill, I'd like to play it now." Williams: "I'd love to hear it..." Parker: "OK." (1:05-1:18)
2	Anthropology (D. Gillespie-C. Parker)	1:22
3	Introduction (William Williams)	0:32
	Williams introduces Kai Winding: Williams: "Round four comin' up. Round four brings us a boy from the Stan Kenton aggregation, currently leading his own group: Kai Winding. Where's the group playing, Kai?" Winding: "Well, we'll be down at the Royal Roost, and..." Williams: "Royal Roost? In fact I think this tune you're gonna play is dedicated to the guy who own the Royal Roost and is gonna open a place called Bop City, right?" Winding: "That's right." Williams: "The name of the tune is 'Bop City'..." Winding: "That's right." Williams: "It's called 'Bop City', goes like this..."
4	Bop City (K. Winding)	0:57
	Add Winding (tb)
5	Introduction (William Williams)	0:28
	Williams introduces Ann Hathaway: Williams: "We're gonna welcome back Miss Ann Hathaway. Hold round five, and don't make a move without callin' me. Ann, come right out here, honey. We heard you do a ballad, how 'bout something, ah, uptempo?" Hathaway: "All right." Williams: "The boys in the band are gonna back you up on this, right? What's the name of it?" Hathaway: "'I Get a Kick out of You'..." Williams: "You get a kick out of me? A Cole Porter tune!"
6	I Get a Kick Out of You (C. Porter)	2:36
	Add Hathaway (voc), Winding (tb), maybe Davis (tpt)
7	Introduction (William Williams)	1:25
	Williams: "Right now we turn to the piece de resistance, which is a French ex..., ah, no, wait'll I get the French... 'piece de resistance' is a French expression I had flown in especially for the occasion. Now... Round five! Round five is the finale... Here is the jam session to end all jam sessions. We're gonna line the boppers up over here, the Dixieland men up over here, uh, you have to stay in the middle, and everything goes. Lemme see, who we got? On the bop side we got Charlie, Charlie wanna come out? Charlie Parker, Miles Davis, Kai Winding, and ah, Max Roach is gonna fill in in between with Specs on the tubs. For you bop men we're gonna have over on this side, ah, Joe Marsala, Will Bradley, Max Kaminsky, and Joe Sullivan is gonna slide in every once in a while to help Mike Caluccio. Now a lot of people have said 'what is bop?' and 'what is Dixieland?', and it's very, very fortunate that I happen to be here tonight, because I know absolutely nothing about it. However, as a noted professor [undecipherable] once said, that bop is the dotted sound of the flatted silent, and Dixieland, on the other hand, is the... (Laughter.) Wait, this is as clear an explanation as you'll get all night... Gentlemen, can you take off -- oh, yeah, gimme the towel. Gonna fan everything up, everybody all cool, crazy, solid, and gone? How 'bout doing something like a blues thing, and then Dixieland, bop... You all set?"
8	Big Foot (incomplete) [Blues Jam #2] (C. Parker)	4:26
	Voiceover closing announcements (4:16-4:26): Williams: "Until next Friday night at the same time when our guest will be Artie Shaw, this is Bill Williams..." Announcer: "These are the sounds of Will Bradley and his band with Bill Williams as your MC..."


1 Introduction (William Williams) CD: Stash 21, Philology Volume 21 (W 851)
2 Anthropology CD: Stash 21, Philology Volume 21 (W 851)
3 Introduction (William Williams) CD: Stash 21, Philology Volume 21 (W 851)
4 Bop City CD: Stash 21, Philology Volume 21 (W 851)
5 Introduction (William Williams) CD: Stash 21, Philology Volume 21 (W 851)
6 I Get a Kick Out of You CD: Stash 21, Philology Volume 21 (W 851)
7 Introduction (William Williams) CD: Stash 21, Philology Volume 21 (W 851)
8 Big Foot (incomplete) CD: Stash 21, Philology Volume 21 (W 851)

These items were recorded for the WCBS-TV show Adventures in Jazz. Davis plays only on the "Big Foot" jam, a bop-vs.-Dixieland duel with Kaminsky. His range is impressive here, just as it is on the recordings a couple months later from the Paris Festival International de Jazz.

At the time Davis was a member of the Tadd Dameron Tentet, in the midst of a month-long engagement (February 12-March 16) at the Royal Roost on Broadway.

This performance was broadcast on March 11 as listed above. The date that appears in most discographies, March 4, is incorrect; I don't know its source. A short article in the April 8, 1949 issue of Down Beat describes a very different jam session on March 4, and Leif Bo Petersen has identified the correct date as March 11.

The vocalist is Ann Hathaway, not Ann Baker. These are two very different people. For the evidence, see the note to the October 18, 1946 session.

I am grateful to Leif Bo Petersen and Lewis Porter for their help with this session.