Session details: Columbia Studio B (April 7, 1970)

Miles Ahead session details

April 7, 1970 (25 items; TT = 166:28)

Columbia Studio B, New York NY

Commercial for Columbia

Show chatter

Miles Davis (tpt); Steve Grossman (ss); John McLaughlin (g); Herbie Hancock (org); Michael Henderson (el-b); Billy Cobham (d); Unknown orchestra (conducted by Teo Macero); Brock Peters (narr)

1	Right Off (rehearsal) (M. Davis)	9:46
	Rhythm section plays (0:27); Davis complains about the tempo: "...the tempo." Cobham: "It's the same tempo..." Davis: "The same tempo, just cut it in half. Make it a half-shuffle, come on. One, two, one..." [cut off] Another rhythm section run-through (0:41), then Davis: "No. Hey, play that back..." Another short run-through (0:43), interrupted by Davis: "All that in it, all that in it, just keep changing. And sometimes, bub-up, bub-up... bub-up, bub-up... You know? Just keep changing it. 'Cause when it's supposed to be funky..." Another short run-through (0:44) breaks down. Davis: "Shit... Turn that shit up! Here we go. Go ahead...." False start (0:10), then Davis: "The last four chord, the last chord, do you remember how you gonna start it? (McLaughlin plays chords) Here you go, Michael, come on... Yeah, and you catch 'em, all of 'em. Here we go. One, two, three..." False start (0:05), then Cobham: "Why not, wuh-uh-UH-uhhh?" Davis: "One, two, tro -- one, two, three, four... five. Here we go -- one, two, three..." Short run-through (0:51) breaks down, but Davis says "Go ahead -- dat-dat-dat-dat, come on, dat-dat-dat-dat..." False start (0:04), then Cobham: "What about... Miles, I go into, after that shuffle, man, do I go back into the..." Davis: "Look, when he says da-dat, you can say bup-bup-bup-bup-boom. Bup-bup-boom, boom-pa-boom..." Cobham: "Uh-huh... (McLaughlin plays) Yeah!" Davis: "One, two, three, four..." False start (0:02); Cobham: "Chords again, right?" Short run-through with guitar vamp (1:40), followed by a slower-tempo vamp (0:12); Davis: "Go ahead, try again..." Another run-through (1:41), then the slower-tempo vamp (0:12). Rehearsal ends with Grossman noodling (0:11)
2	Right Off (take 1) (M. Davis)	2:37
	Macero: "Uh, lemme, lemme slate this. CO 105098, take one..." Davis: "Hey, let Steve play in that chord right there. Steve, play that chord right there, it's E, E major. Play it. Blow some like that, play the chord like that..." Short run through (2:02) introduced by Grossman, who solos throughout; at the end Davis tells him, "Make that little figure and then I'll play." Grossman: "Which figure?" Davis: "After you get through playin', make that little figure and I'll play. (McLaughlin plays the phrase) Yeah, after he gets through playin' it, then I'll play." Grossman: "You're gonna play in in E-flat?" Davis: "Yeah -- in B-flat." Grossman: "In B-flat? Davis: "Yeah..."
3	Right Off (take 2) (M. Davis)	1:42
	Macero: "Two..." Davis: "B-flat is all right, E-flat is all right, and you play in the B-flat." Grossman: "No, I'm playin' in... A-flat..." Macero: "Two." False start (0:06). Davis: "You feel comfortable standin' there? Go ahead... Go ahead. One, two, three, four..." Short run-through (1:10) interrupted by Davis: "Try it again. You gotta get into that, man..."
4	Right Off (take 3) (M. Davis)	0:57
	Macero: "Three..." Davis: "Bam, bam -- bup-bup-bubba-dup, bubba-dup... You be cool!" Cobham: "Oh!" Davis: "OK. One, two, three, four..." Short run-through of opening chords and vamp (0:38). Davis: "[undecipherable] Michael..." Henderson: "Huh?" Davis: "Where you hear that?" Henderson: "Oh well, you know..."
5	Right Off (take 4) (M. Davis)	4:01
	Macero: "Four..." Henderson: "Yeah, I couldn't see great..." Davis: "OK, come on, come on, come on..." Grossman: "Yeah, what he... what we'll do is just like..." Cobham: "You sort of feel it through." Grossman: "Right..." Davis: "OK, come on. One, two... Here you go. Stand up, Michael. Come on, man, you swing better when you stand up. One, two, three, four..." Another run-through of chords and vamp, followed by Grossman solo (3:28). Davis: "Don't play that chord once it's dropped -- you just play in the same... key, and then to leave it..."
6	Right Off (take 5) (M. Davis)	0:58
	Macero: "Five..." False start (0:16). Davis to Cobham: "It's gotta be up..." Cobham: "It's gotta be up, yeah, and I gotta cut that time in half." Davis: "You don't have to. Just play a lot of cymbals on top. Here you go -- one, two, three, four..." False start (0:17)
7	Right Off (take 6) (M. Davis)	0:53
	Macero: "Six..." Davis: "You know, hey, just play like you play it, man, just straight ahead... on the cymbals. On the cymbals, you know. One, two, three, four..." Short run-through (0:35)
8	Right Off (take 7) (M. Davis)	1:06
	Macero: "Seven." Short run-through (0:53), than false start (0:03)
9	Right Off (take 8) (M. Davis)	0:32
	Macero: "Eight." False start (0:08). Undecipherable exchange between Davis and Cobham. Davis counts off. Another false start (0:09). Cobham: "Like I just keep it goin', and you come in whenever you wanna come." Davis: "Yeah! All the time!"
10	Right Off (take 9) (M. Davis)	4:12
	Macero: "Nine." Davis: "Yeah, I want it up. I want it up." False start (0:04). Another run-through (3:43), with soprano saxophone and guitar solos. At the end Davis to Henderson: "You see how that goes? When you play like that, it runs right straight through no matter what we do, you run right into it." Henderson: "OK"
11	Right Off (take 10) (M. Davis)	11:14
	Macero: "OK, this'll be take ten..." Davis: "We're not going play it up and go down. Wait, John, play. Play up -- play up, and then chop down. Bang, bang, bang, bang..." Long run-through (10:59), with trumpet solo. Ends abruptly
12	Right Off (take 10A) (M. Davis)	4:41
	Continues with soprano saxophone solo, into beginning of organ solo. A few stray organ notes afterward
13	Right Off (take 11) (M. Davis)	6:17
	Continues with organ solo, then trumpet solo. At the end Davis says, "Hey, play the ending of it..."
14	Right Off (take 12) (M. Davis)	9:04
	Macero: "All right, twelve..." Long run-through (8:49) with organ and soprano saxophone solos. At the end someone says "Whew!" and Macero says "OK..."
15	Right Off (issued composite) (M. Davis)	26:32
16	Yesternow (rehearsal) (M. Davis)	2:11
17	Yesternow (take 1) (M. Davis)	2:31
	Macero: "CO 10599 [sic -- should be 105099], one..."
18	Yesternow (take 2) (M. Davis)	15:49
	At the take winds down Davis says "Hey Teo, I wanna hear some of that..."
19	Yesternow (take 3) (M. Davis)	1:21
	Macero: "Three..." Short undecipherable exchange between Hancock and Davis, then short run-through (1:04) with organ, bass, and guitar
20	Yesternow (take 4) (M. Davis)	16:13
	Macero: "Four." Long run-through (15:43) with trumpet, soprano saxophone, and guitar solos. At the end, Davis says, "I like that, Teo." Macero: "We'll play it back..."
21	Yesternow (take 16) (M. Davis)	9:49
22	Yesternow (issued composite) (M. Davis)	25:34
23	Untitled original 700407 (inc) (M. Davis)	0:26
	Begins in middle of soprano saxophone solo; after about ten seconds Macero and others try to break in. Macero at 0:10: "Try it again -- hold it, hold it! Hold it!" Davis at 0:14: "Hey, hold it a minute. Hey Michael, stop [undecipherable]..."
24	Untitled original 700407 (inc) (M. Davis)	6:27
	Macero: "Start over again..." Davis: "Start! Play like you started, Michael... Go ahead, what you were playin'... Go ahead!" Henderson sets up a vamp and the rhythm section locks in, followed by soprano saxophone, guitar, and organ solos. Henderson takes the tune out solo
25	Unknown Title	1:35
	Rhythm section with pre-recorded tpt solo


11 Right Off (take 10) CD: Columbia C5K 86359, Columbia C5K 90926, Sony SICP 431/5
12 Right Off (take 10A) CD: Columbia C5K 86359, Columbia C5K 90926, Sony SICP 431/5
13 Right Off (take 11) 12" LP: CMG 19439860581 CD: Columbia C5K 86359, Columbia C5K 90926, Sony SICP 431/5
14 Right Off (take 12) CD: Columbia C5K 86359, Columbia C5K 90926, Sony SICP 431/5
15 Right Off (issued composite) 12" LP: Columbia KC 30445, Mobile Fidelity Sound Laboratory MFSL 1-440, CBS/Sony SOPC 57110, CBS/Sony SOPN 99, CBS/Sony 20AP 1405 CD: Columbia CK 47036, Columbia CK 93599, Columbia C5K 86359, Columbia C5K 90926, CK 93599, Mobile Fidelity Sound Laboratory UDSACD 2150, CBS/Sony 32DP 709, CBS/Sony CSCS 5153, Sony SRCS 9120, Sony SRCS 9718, Sony SRGS 4504, Sony SICP 1222, Sony SICP 20060, Sony SICP 30269, Sony SICJ 30082, Sony SICP 431/5, Columbia Legacy 86975 24922
18 Yesternow (take 2) CD: Columbia C5K 86359, Columbia C5K 90926, Sony SICP 431/5
20 Yesternow (take 4) CD: Columbia C5K 86359, Columbia C5K 90926, Sony SICP 431/5
21 Yesternow (take 16) CD: Columbia C5K 86359, Columbia C5K 90926, Sony SICP 431/5
22 Yesternow (issued composite) 12" LP: Columbia KC 30445, Mobile Fidelity Sound Laboratory MFSL 1-440, CBS/Sony SOPC 57110, CBS/Sony SOPN 99, CBS/Sony 20AP 1405 CD: Columbia CK 47036, Columbia CK 93599, Columbia C5K 86359, Columbia C5K 90926, CK 93599, Mobile Fidelity Sound Laboratory UDSACD 2150, CBS/Sony 32DP 709, CBS/Sony CSCS 5153, Sony SRCS 9120, Sony SRCS 9718, Sony SRGS 4504, Sony SICP 1222, Sony SICP 20060, Sony SICP 30269, Sony SICJ 30082, Sony SICP 431/5, Columbia Legacy 86975 24922
25 Unknown Title CD: So What SW-158 (CDR)

Chick Corea and Dave Holland were unavailable for this session -- two sessions with Barry Altschul at Rudy Van Gelder's on April 7 and 8 yielded several tracks issued on Corea's The Song of Singing (Blue Note BST 84353) and Circling In (Blue Note LA472-H2). They rejoined Davis for the Fillmore West engagement (April 9-12) and remained in California with the Sextet until late April. And Jack De Johnette was in Tokyo on this date, recording his Have You Heard? LP (CBS/Sony SONP-50282; later issued in the USA as Milestone MSP-9029). De Johnette also rejoined the Davis Sextet for the Fillmore West engagement.

The issued versions of "Right Off" and "Yesternow" are both heavily edited from the raw materials listed above. Here is an approximate guide to the contents of these versions. Columbia Legacy C5K 86359 includes both the raw materials and the versions originally issued on the Tribute to Jack Johnson LP. Overlapping times reflect the crossfades used on some of the transitions, and discrepancies in durations reflect small differences in analog tape speed. Thanks to Pat Buzby for spotting an edit point I had missed in "Right Off."

Right Off (26:50)
00:00-10:53	Take 10 (0:10-11:099; the segment from 10:51-10:57 is edited out and does not appear in the LP version)
10:53-12:14	Davis tpt solo [1] + ring modulator
11:58-15:02	Take 10A (0:03-3:07)
15:02-18:30	Take 11 (2:01-5:35)
18:30-19:31	Take 12 (0:12-1:14)
19:31-26:50	Take 12 (0:26-7:56)
	[1] Davis solo recorded on November 19 or 28, 1969

Yesternow (25:34)
00:00-07:31	New Take 4 (0:06-7:36)
07:31-12:25	New Take 4 (10:14-15:09)
12:25-14:09	Davis tpt solo (right channel); "Shhh/Peaceful" [2] (left channel)
13:57-18:34	"Willie Nelson" take 3 (0:06-4:44)
18:34-18:49	"Willie Nelson" insert take 1 (5:50-6:05)
18:49-18:53	"Willie Nelson" insert take 1 (6:21-6:25)
18:53-23:55	"Willie Nelson" insert take 2 (0:08-5:13)
23:52-25:34	Davis tpt solo + orchestra [3] + Brock Peters narration [4] (25:15-25:33)
	[2] Excerpt of "Shhh/Peaceful" from February 18, 1969 [3] Excerpt of Macero's "The Man Nobody Saw," probably recorded in early 1970 [4] "I'm Jack Johnson, heavyweight champion of the world. I'm black. They never let me forget it. I'm black all right. I'll never let them forget it..."

The Jack Johnson documentary contains the following musical fragments:


00:00-03:18	Right Off
03:33-03:46	Right Off
03:57-05:03	Right Off
08:44-09:51	Shhh/Peaceful + orchestra
10:07-10:54	Right Off
10:55-12:09	Miles Runs the Voodoo Down
16:12-17:25	Right Off
17:45-21:40	Right Off
21:42-22:48	Miles Runs the Voodoo Down
23:04-24:01	Right Off
24:47-24:58	Double Image
28:56-29:38	Pharaoh's Dance
30:55-31:52	Miles Runs the Voodoo Down
31:59-32:59	Right Off
33:29-34:24	Miles Runs the Voodoo Down
34:56-39:04	Right Off
39:28-40:04	d solo (probably Billy Cobham)
43:51-45:28	d solo
45:28-46:05	I Fall in Love Too Easily
46:05-47:04	Yesternow
47:28-47:45	d solo
48:28-48:56	I Fall in Love Too Easily
48:56-49:05	Sanctuary
49:05-52:50	Shhh/Peaceful
54:19-56:36	Willie Nelson
56:36-57:10	d solo
57:43-57:56	Willie Nelson
57:56-59:04	Yesternow
59:18-61:20	Right Off
68:50-70:09	Davis tpt solo + orchestra
70:28-71:59	Spanish Key
72:04-72:27	Willie Nelson
72:33-73:15	Davis tpt solo, no orchestra
73:17-76:08	Shhh/Peaceful
77:36-78:47	Right Off
79:22-79:47	Yesternow
82:23-82:53	d solo
82:53-83:00	Miles Runs the Voodoo Down
83:10-83:45	Davis tpt solo + orchestra
86:05-87:47	Spanish Key

The other unissued tune (the two takes of "Untitled original 700407") is not used in the issued version of either "Right Off" or "Yesternow."

The So What CDR Unknown Sessions, volume 5 (SW-158) contains the last item listed above, with the title "Unknown SE (A new version of excerpt of Jack Johnson?)." No date is given, and it may not belong here. But the pre-recorded trumpet solo is the same as that used in several places in "Yesternow," so I have listed it here.