Session details: Blue Note Club (December 8, 1956)

Miles Ahead session details

December 8, 1956 (4 items; TT = 13:14)

Blue Note Club, Philadelphia PA

Mutual Network radio broadcast (B)

Show chatter

Miles Davis (tpt); John Coltrane (ts); William "Red" Garland (p); Paul Chambers (b); Philly Joe Jones (d); Guy Wallace (ann)

1	Theme and Introduction (Guy Wallace)	2:20
	"Look out -- dangerous area, falling rocks, and brother we've got 'em for you tonight -- talent that'll hit you just like a ten-ton rock, right on the noggin. This is Bandstand USA, and this is Guy Wallace, the old tomcat who sits up here in our Mutual studios in Manhattan every Saturday night from 8 to 10 to bring you, all over the East, to bring you the sounds of some of the finest jazz that you've ever heard -- live, all of it, mind you, none of this mechanical reproduction jazz for us -- all of these are live performances, flesh and blood breathing musicians. Where are we going tonight? Well, that's simple for me to tell you: first we're going to Lou Church's Blue Note in Philadelphia, where Miles Davis is holding forth. Then we're going over to the Camden area -- that's the Camden, Philadelphia area -- to Harvey Houston's Red Hill Inn, where one of the greats is playing, Duke Ellington. After that, down to Washington, to Mrs. Olivia Davis' Olivia's Patio Lounge, where the Pres is, Lester Young of course, and then up to Storyville in Boston, where George Wein is presenting Gerry Mulligan, one of the great baritone men of our day. And finally, we're gonna come back to New York to two great spots -- the internationally known Café Bohemia, 15 Barrow Street in Greenwich Village, where Jimmy Giarofolo is presenting Max Roach. Incidentally, something very interesting is gonna happen down there tonight: Mr. Jazz, Leonard Feather, is going to present the musicians' musician poll award to Max Roach. You know Leonard is the chap that wrote that new encyclopedia of jazz. And then after that we're gonna wind up from nine-thity to ten tonight, on the network from coast to coast on Mutual, with a great session from Birdland, the jazz corner of the world, where Morris Levy and Oscar Goodstein are presenting the Count -- the Count of Basie. What more could you want? And what more can we say, except that, right now it's Blue Note time -- Lou Church, as we told you, is bringing you Miles Davis from the Blue Note down in Philadelphia tonight. Miles Davis as you know is that great modern progressive trumpet player, both here and abroad, a great exponent of the cool sound school. So Bandstand USA takes you direct to the Blue Note in Philadelphia and Miles Davis..."
2	Tune Up (E. Vinson)	4:24
3	Walkin' (R. Carpenter)	5:22
4	Closing announcement (Guy Wallace)	1:08
	"A great sound -- the great sound by Miles Davis and his horn, from Lou Church's Blue Note, 15th and Ridge Avenue down in Philadelphia. A truly fine place to go if you're driving around down in that Philadelphia area and you want to hear some real cool jazz. Miles Davis is the boy that can do it, because he's one of the real great exponents of that cool sound in cool jazz. I don't know, uh, as an observer (and more than just interested observer), I find it a pretty controversial thing to talk about cool jazz and other types of jazz, because those of you who are listening who like the clinical sound of cool jazz, really like it, and when we make any comment about it, we're usually deluged with letters. We hope you liked it, however, and we hope that you continue to listen to our Bandstand here on Saturday nights on Mutual as we present all types of jazz, from New Orleans to Chicago to Kansas City to the cool clinical sound of modern jazz. You're listening to Bandstand USA on Mutual..."


2 Tune Up 12" LP: Teppa 76, Durium-Cicala BLJ-8039 CD: Prestige PRCD4-4444, Yadeon 502, Recording Arts (Golden Age of Jazz) JZCD 314, Tokuma TKCB-70066 (= TKCB-71062 = TKCB-71892), Lone Hill Jazz LHJ-10206
3 Walkin' 12" LP: Teppa 76, Durium-Cicala BLJ-8039 CD: Prestige PRCD4-4444, Yadeon 502, Recording Arts (Golden Age of Jazz) JZCD 314, Tokuma TKCB-70066 (= TKCB-71062 = TKCB-71892), Lone Hill Jazz LHJ-10206

This set was part of a Mutual Network Bandstand USA broadcast. This session is often dated one year earlier (December 8, 1955), but this is wrong. Bandstand USA was broadcast live on Saturday nights beginning in 1956. As Wallace's announcement makes clear, the usual format was to include several short sets by various acts at different clubs in the eastern U.S. This particular evening's show featured Duke Ellington, Lester Young, Gerry Mulligan, Max Roach, and Count Basie in addition to the Davis Quintet.

After returning from the Birdland All-Stars European Tour, Davis took the Quintet back on the road: Blue Note, Philadelphia (December 3-8); Shrine Auditorium, Los Angeles (Wednesday, December 12, 8:15 pm); DePaul University (Tuesday, December 18, 8:00 pm), Fourth Annual Jazz Festival); Crown Propeller Lounge, Chicago (December 21-27).

The Davis Quintet was apparently included in another Bandstand USA broadcast from this period -- from October 6 from Storyville in Boston -- but I have not heard it and don't know which titles are supposed to have been recorded.