Session details: Café Bohemia (July 13, 1957)

Miles Ahead session details

July 13, 1957 (5 items; TT = 22:41)

Café Bohemia, New York NY

Mutual Network radio broadcast (B+)

Show chatter

Miles Davis (tpt); Sonny Rollins (ts); William "Red" Garland (p); Paul Chambers (b); Arthur Taylor (d); Guy Wallace (ann); Jean Shepherd (guest)

1	Four (E. Vinson)	6:07
	Issued as "Roy's Romp" on Ozone and as "Four Squared" on Black Label
2	Bye Bye Blackbird (R. Henderson-M. Dixon)	6:48
	Voiceover 3:52-6:13. Guy Wallace: "They're wailin', they're wailin' down at the Bohemia tonight, don't you think so, Jean?" Jean Shepherd: "Yeah, yeah." Wallace: "What d'you think of Miles? D'you like him?" Shepherd: "Oh, he's fine..." Wallace: "Do you think he's as controversial as, uh, the legend goes?" Shepherd: "Con...? I don't think he's controversial, no." Wallace: "I don't either, I think he plays with a lot of fine, delicate taste." Shepherd: "Although I will say this, that anybody who is an artist, who is truly a creative artist, must be controversial to certain people. It's almost part of the word." Wallace: "That's right, I'm, I'm quite in accord with you on that. That Sonny Rollins, that's featured with Miles down there, is so very, very great too. Jimmy Giarofolo's running a real spot down there. Folks, if you want to hear some live jazz, that's a good place to go -- as are all the places that we feature on the Bandstand -- live music, you know, none of this recorded jazz for us, and you can take that jazz anywhere you want, too. Say Jean, I've got to tell the folks about something here that's very important, and I think you'd be interested too... Incidentally, how's the sale of your book going, I, Libertine? Shepherd: "It was just published in England about six weeks ago..." Wallace: "In English, of course." Shepherd: "Yes, that's the translation." Wallace: "And it's going well?" Shepherd: "Very well, very well. We sold over 300,000 here in the United States." Wallace: "Isn't that wonderful. I told everybody you were an author, a pied piper, and we'll get to talking about your domino playing a little later in the show, huh?" Shepherd: "It's a triumph of charlatanism..." Wallace: "Yeah, did you ever play Kelly pool?" Shepherd: "Kelly pool? I'm a snooker man, I don't know Kelly..." Wallace: "All charlatans play Kelly, I'll tell you about that too. Say, have you got a jazz problem -- you out there listening, I mean? Have you got a question about jazz that you want answered -- jazz, its personalities, its influences, any question at all you want answered? Well, it's a simple matter for you to get your question answered, answered by the person who should answer it too, right on these Bandstand USA broadcasts. Now all you have to do is send us a postcard telling us your question. Send your questions to Bandstand USA in care of the Mutual Broadcasting System, 1440 Broadway, New York 18, New York. I'll give you the address again later. Ask us anything about jazz you want, anything that bothers you as a jazz fan, and -- listen to this -- we'll take your question to the very jazz star, or stars, or critic, the one who is in the best position to answer the question, and you'll hear them answer your question right on the air. Don't forget, in jazz, the beat's the thing."
3	Introduction (Guy Wallace)	0:38
	Wallace: "All right now, everybody knows what to do when they've got a question about jazz, just send us that postcard. Now I'm gonna tell you what you get. Just to make it interesting for everybody concerned, especially for hi-fi fans, we're gonna have those highly desirable Scott tuners and amplifiers and Stephens speakers as prizes for the best questions asked of Bandstand USA's stars. How 'bout that, Jean?" Shepherd: "Isn't that great, I was just listening to that, it's amazing." Wallace: "Each week we'll award one component of these fabulous Scott and Stephens hi-fi systems to the person writing the question answered on the air. And each month we'll choose the best letter of the month, and complete the hi-fi system that person has already started. Now isn't that easy?"
4	It Never Entered My Mind (incomplete) (R. Rodgers-L. Hart)	4:58
	Rollins out. Incomplete (3:54) as issued. Voiceover 0:00-1:04. Wallace: "It's pretty simple for you, huh? The first week there'll be an H.H. Scott amplifier and pre-amplifier, with all the controls necessary. Scott is THE name in hi-fi, don't forget, given more engineering awards than anyone else in the field. Jean, I'm sure you knew that, didn't you?" Shepherd: "Hmm..." Wallace: "And the second week, Jean, will be a Scott tuner, a hi-fi radio set, designed for the connoisseur, the perfectionist, can you think of another term?" Shepherd: "The raconteur." Wallace: "The racon... That's pretty good. The third week, a Stephens speaker unit is going to be the prize. A full-range, hi-fi, eight-inch Tru-Sonic speaker, enclosed in its own handsome furniture piece in natural walnut. Now we'll tell you all about the fourth week later. But don't forget, to win your hi-fi component, either a Scott tuner, amplifier, or a Stephens speaker, send your question about jazz to the Mutual Broadcasting System, 1440 Broadway, New York 18, New York, in care of the Bandstand USA program. We've talked an awful lot, Jean, I think it's about time we listened to some more music, huh?" Shepherd: "Splendid." Wallace: "Very succinct. Here's Miles Davis again from the Bohemia..."
5	Walkin' (incomplete) (R. Carpenter)	4:10
	Issued (1:22) as "Rollin', Blowin', Walkin'" on Rarelp and as "Roy's Nappin' Now" on Chakra. Voiceover 1:18-3:54. Wallace: "The great and unique Miles Davis, and his horn and his quintet, playing for you from Jimmy Giarofolo's Café Bohemia at 15 Barrow Street in the Village, and featuring Sonny Rollins on saxophone. How 'bout 'em, Jean, what d'you think?" Shepherd: "Oh, fine." Wallace: "What d'you think of Miles, and the outfit down there?" Shepherd: "Well, they sound very good. As a matter of fact, uh, do you want me to talk about it?" Wallace: "Yeah, I think it'd be wonderful if you did." Shepherd: "Well, you know there's a great deal of misunderstanding about jazz among a large number of people who don't know much about it. Y'know it's a strange thing, Guy, I just got back from Europe. I was over about six weeks, I just returned about four or five weeks ago, and one of the things that really impressed me tremendously is something I'd been reading about for years, and that is the appreciation of American jazz all over Europe, not only... Hmm?" Wallace: "I wonder why that is." Shepherd: "Well, I think it's because the European approaches it with an open mind, generally. I think most Americans don't. I think most Americans approach the field of jazz -- that is, people who do not appreciate it -- approach it with a kind of a closed mind; they don't listen to it for what it is." Wallace: "In other words, they're standing around saying 'Condition me to like it'." Shepherd: "Yes, it's more or less like that. And it's the one art form that we've given the world..." Wallace: "I guess it is, Jean, and that's true all over the world, too. I just wanna say that we here on the Bandstand are certainly trying to do just that by presenting these live performances of the world's great jazzmen each Saturday night for eight to ten. Coming up on the Bandstand yet tonight, after we break for five minutes of news here, which we're gonna do here in just a few seconds, will be Stan Getz and Jimmy Giuffre from the Village Vanguard, on Seventh Avenue south, near Eleventh Street in New York City. Then we're going up to Storyville in Boston, up to George Wein's pad up there, for, uh, um, Ruby Braff and Pee Wee Russell, and then back here in Manhattan to Birdland for Oscar Pettiford. Jean, stick around here and don't go too far. This is the Bandstand, everybody, Guy Wallace speaking. It's produced by Tommy Reynolds and directed tonight by Tommy [undecipherable], and our guest tonight is the noted author of the book I, Libertine, Jean Shepherd. He's a jazz enthusiast, aficionado, buff, critic..." Shepherd: "I'm a pretty good..., I'm a pretty good domino man, too." Wallace: "Yeah? And, uh, he's gonna be a snooker..." Shepherd: "I'm great at fist-fights." Wallace: "Kelly pool player when we finish with him. Stick with us, everybody, we'll be back after the news with Les Smith. This is Mutual Radio Network, for all America..."


1 Four 12" LP: Ozone 18, Chakra TH100MD, Bopera 2-100, Jazzbird JAX 2005, Rarelp 09 CD: Yadeon 502, Black Label BLCD 8027, Recording Arts (Golden Age of Jazz) JZCD 314, Tokuma TKCB-70066 (= TKCB-71062 = TKCB-71892), Music Trax MTI 9017
2 Bye Bye Blackbird 12" LP: Ozone 18, Chakra TH100MD, Bopera 2-100, Jazzbird JAX 2005, Rarelp 09 CD: Yadeon 502, Black Label BLCD 8027, Recording Arts (Golden Age of Jazz) JZCD 314, Recording Arts Reference Edition RARE CD 08/10, Music Trax MTI 9017
3 Introduction (Guy Wallace) CD: Yadeon 502, Black Label BLCD 8027, Recording Arts (Golden Age of Jazz) JZCD 314, Music Trax MTI 9017
4 It Never Entered My Mind (incomplete) 12" LP: Chakra TH100MD, Bopera 2-100, Jazzbird JAX 2005, Rarelp 09, Bandstand BLP 1501, Bandstand (J) 25BLL-3001 CD: Bandstand BDCD 1501, Bandstand (J) 32JBB-133, Yadeon 502, Black Label BLCD 8027, Recording Arts (Golden Age of Jazz) JZCD 314, Recording Arts Reference Edition RARE CD 08/10, Tokuma TKCB-30458 (= TKCB-70811), Tokuma TKCB-70066 (= TKCB-71062 = TKCB-71892), Jazz Door JD 1242
5 Walkin' (incomplete) 12" LP: Chakra TH100MD, Bopera 2-100, Jazzbird JAX 2005, Rarelp 09 CD: Yadeon 502, Tokuma TKCB-70066 (= TKCB-71062 = TKCB-71892), Recording Arts Reference Edition RARE CD 08/10

This is from the Mutual Network's Bandstand USA, which was broadcast live on Saturday nights beginning in 1956.

In the first few months of 1957 the Davis Quintet spent very little time in New York: Jazz City, Hollywood (January 4-17); Blackhawk Supper Club, San Francisco (January 22-February 10); Syria Mosque, Pittsburgh (Wednesday, February 13, two shows); Peacock Alley, St. Louis (February 15-23); Preview's Modern Jazz Room, Chicago (February 27-March 10); Comedy Club, Baltimore (March 26-31); Café Bohemia, New York (April 5-28, last 2+ wks canceled). The Quintet was disbanded during the Café Bohemia engagement -- Davis apparently fired Coltrane and Philly Joe Jones for increasingly erratic behavior.

The Davis Quintet (with Rollins instead of Coltrane and Art Taylor instead of Jones) was booked at the Café Bohemia for two weeks in June (June 17-27) and for a month in July (July 8-August 11). Later in the month the Quintet was booked for a week (exact dates unknown) at the Crawford Grill in Pittsburgh.