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Miles Ahead session details

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November 11-23, 1947 (?) (7 items; TT = 12:58)
Argyle Show Lounge, Chicago IL
Audience recording (C)

Miles Davis (tpt); Charlie Parker (as); Irving "Duke" Jordan (p); Tommy Potter (b); Max Roach (d)

1 I Got Rhythm (inc) (G. Gershwin-I. Gershwin) 2:19
2 Cool Blues (fragment) (C. Parker) 0:26
3 Ornithology (C. Parker-B. Harris) 2:16

Parker quotes "Santa Claus is Coming to Town" (0:31-0:37) and "Kerry Dancers" (1:05-1:08)
4 Dizzy Atmosphere (inc) (D. Gillespie-C. Parker) 2:51

Listed as "Changes (I Got Rhythm) II" on Philology. Parker quotes "Over There" (1:03-1:06 and 2:21-2:28)
5 Wahoo (inc) (T. Dameron) 2:20

Two fragments (1:23 + 0:57)
6 Groovin' High (inc) (D. Gillespie-F. Paparelli) 1:34
7 I Can't Get Started (inc) (V. Duke-I. Gershwin) 1:12

Two fragments (0:45 + 0:36)


1 I Got Rhythm (inc)
CD: Philology Volume 18 (W 848)

2 Cool Blues (fragment)
CD: Philology Volume 18 (W 848)

3 Ornithology
CD: Philology Volume 18 (W 848), Volume 58 (W 889)

4 Dizzy Atmosphere (inc)
CD: Philology Volume 18 (W 848)

5 Wahoo (inc)
CD: Philology Volume 62 (W 893)

6 Groovin' High (inc)
CD: Philology Volume 62 (W 893)

7 I Can't Get Started (inc)
CD: Philology Volume 62 (W 893)


These items are very fragmentary, edited to Parker solos for the most part. They may be dubs of wire recordings; in any case, fidelity is very poor throughout.

The date is uncertain. The Parker Quintet was booked for two weeks at Chicago's Argyle Show Lounge (November 11-23, 1947), then for four nights at the Pershing Hotel Ballroom (January 3-6, 1948). The recording could have been made during either of these engagements.

Philology W 844 contains 22 titles purporting to be from this date, but I'm skeptical. First, the trumpet player sounds like Kenny Dorham, not Davis. Second, Frank Loesser's tune "On a Slow Boat to China" was not copyrighted until 1948, and Parker's "Barbados" was not recorded in the studio until the Savoy date on September 18, 1948. It's very unusual for a Parker original to appear in the live repertoire before it has been recorded. Third, Parker's quotations and his playing (especially during his solo on the second "Slow Boat to China") sound like 1949, not 1947. The Parker Quintet (with Dorham, Haig, Potter, and Roach, and guest vocalist Arthur Daniels, were booked for two weeks at Chicago's Pershing Hotel Ballroom (March 28-April 10, 1949), and my guess is that those 22 tunes were recorded during this engagement. If so, Davis was half a country away in New York at the Royal Roost and Capitol Recording Studios.

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