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Miles Ahead session details

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March 2, 1978 (11 items; TT = 34:13)
Columbia Studio B, New York NY
Commercial for Columbia

Miles Davis (org); Larry Coryell (g); Masabumi Kikuchi (keyb); George Pavlis (keyb); T.M. Stevens (el-b); Al Foster (d)

1 Miss Last Summer (rehearsal) (M. Davis) 0:37
2 Miss Last Summer (take 1) (M. Davis) 4:31
3 Miss Last Summer (take 2) (M. Davis) 1:03
4 Miss Last Summer (take 3) (M. Davis) 3:21
5 Miss Last Summer (take 4) (M. Davis) 0:58
6 Miss Last Summer (take 4) (M. Davis) 2:37
7 Miss Last Summer (take 6) (M. Davis) 2:09
8 Miss Last Summer (take 7) (M. Davis) 2:56
9 Miss Last Summer (take 8) (M. Davis) 4:00
10 Miss Last Summer (take 9) (M. Davis) 4:21
11 Miss Last Summer (take 10) (M. Davis) 7:40


Davis was coaxed into the studio by Larry and Julie Coryell, to whom he had been introduced by his friend Eleana Steinberg. Steinberg's attentions were apparently helping to get Davis off cocaine and alcohol, and he began composing again. These items, on which Davis plays only organ, are just riffs, with the standard flashy excesses of late-1970s fusion. Apparently Davis and/or Steinberg suggested as the title for this tune "Amanaura," but it was copyrighted as "Miss Last Summer." (See the interviews with keyboard player George Pavlis and Eleana Steinberg on George Cole's The Last Miles website.) Davis was very happy with this music, and he wanted Coryell, whom he called "Notes Anonymous" on account of his tendency to play too many notes, to join a band. Coryell wisely declined. Davis was in no condition to play in a band, much less lead one. It would be more than two years before he returned to regular touring.

The whole session is now available on So What CDRs Comeback Sessions, Volumes 1 and 2, where the music is divided into ten untitled tracks.

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