Miles Davis - The Live Recordings

[George]

After having heard (and loved) Live Evil, and later picking up The Cellar Door Sessions, I am becoming increasingly more interested in Miles's live performances, especially those immediately before and after those from The Cellar Door Sessions. I have compiled this list and would appreciate any help in finding more from this time period, approximately 1969 - 1981.


Miles Davis at Newport 1955-1975: The Bootleg Series Vol. 4 – 1955 - 1975

Live in Europe 1969 – The Bootleg Series, Vol. 2 – July 25/26 and November 5/7, 1969

Black Beauty - Miles Davis at Fillmore West – April 10, 1970

Miles at The Fillmore - The Bootleg Series, Vol. 3 - April 11 and June 17–20, 1970

The Cellar Door Sessions – December 16-19, 1970

Miles Davis In Concert - September 29, 1972

Dark Magus – March 30, 1974

Agharta – February 1, 1975

Pangaea – February 1, 1975

We Want Miles - June 27, July 5 & October 4, 1981

[king ubu]

some more official releases:

Bitches Brew (40th Anniversary Collector's Edition) - 3CD/DVD/2LP
- Tanglewood 1970-08-18 (disc three)
- Copenhagen, 1969-11-04 (DVD)

Bitches Brew Live
- Newport 1969 (lost quintet, but in quartet only, Wayne Shorter was stuck in traffic)
- Isle of Wight 1970 (this is also available on the DVD "Miles Electric: A Different Kind of Blue" from 2004, which was, I think, its first reissue since the LP that was quickly pulled - definitively worth searching, the concert is embedded in a documentary with interviews and the concert is smokin' hot and it's quite cool to see them at work before that huuuuuuge crowd)

Live at the Fillmore East (March 7, 1970)
- Wayne Shorter's very last gig with the band (lost quintet augmented by Airto Moreira)

At Fillmore: Live at the Fillmore East
- the initial double album edit ... still worth hearing I think, actually one of the best from this whole 1969-1975 period, I think - cutting away parts of each set did help make it a denser experience, though the purist in me needs the complete edition just as well, of course - I have similarly also kept my "Live Evil" two-disc edition ... I have those nice digipacks from around 2000 or so)

Olympia 11 Juillet 1973
- issued straight from the French radio ... there's one more set from the same band/tour in the huge Montreux box, of which I "only" (ha, busted my student's budget when it came out, evil sucker, that ... mostly 80s, not sure it's essential, but it offers quite a contrast to the often somewhat over-produced studio albums from the mid 80s - I don't include "Star Time" there, which I really enjoy for its power as much as for its elegance and suaveness)

A note on "Agartha" and "Pangaea": the 2013 Japanese BluSpec reissues kick the asses of the old US discs!

Also, from what became "We Want Miles", there was a second helping, Japanese only (Losin's MilesAhead site has all the details, as usual, the Japanese album is titled "Miles! Miles! Miles!"). For the big albums box Sony put out a few years back (I didn't get it, I have spent so much on all those metal-back boxes as they came out, one by one, since the late 90s), they made "We Want Miles" a two-disc set, adding the additional tracks (but omitting alternate the versions of a few other tracks) from that Japanese album. I was lucky to be able to buy that edition as a single disc a while back.

Also, I know the last few years are not actually the main topic here, but "Live Around the World" is a very, very nice compilation of late live material - much of it is so good one would wish for a larger package of more of the same!

---

And since I'm at it, some earlier (1948-1967) live releases that may or may not be known:

The Complete Birth of the Cool (Capitol, in a slipcase)
- this doesn't have the LP tracks remastered from the actual master (as the RVG edition reissue does - you need both!) but it includes the 1948 air-checks  that were preserved by this truly epochal band, for the first time in decent sound, I assume (I had an atrocious Italian LP before that).

The Miles Davis/Tadd Dameron Quintet in Paris Festival International de Jazz - May, 1949
- this is very nice, was released in France on CD in the late 80s or so (in that Henri Renaud produced series), a more recent Japanese reissue added a couple of tracks

Birdland 1951
- a glorious Blue Note CD, offering three broadcasts, all with stellar bands and Miles in shape that kicks ass of his own self on most studio sessions from that same time frame (roughly 1951-53) - highlight: having some good "Big Nick" Nicholas (yup, the guy Coltrane wrote "Big Nick" for, or named it after) - again, check Losin for specifcs

There are more broadcasts floating around from that time ... I have two Charly bootleg discs which cover two of the sessions on the Birdland 1951 disc (but in worse sound, and they omit the Big Nick session, which btw. also stars Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis - that's some massive tenor power there!), "At the Royal Roost 1948 - At Birdland 1950, 1951, 1953", and "The Birdland Sessions (Featuring Stan Getz)", there's also a box (or two) on the crappity label United Archives that covers most of this territory, but don't expect production values or valuable liners or anything such.

Live at the Hi-Hat, Boston
- a bootleg release, rec. 1955 (that seems to run in wrong speed if I'm not mistaken), but interesting (the one with Jimmy Forrest that was put out officially, from 1952 , is almost unlistenable, sound wise, and the 1953 jams with the Lighthouse All Stars on "At Last!" on Contemporary aren't exactly outstanding either)

Round About Midnight (Legacy Edition)
- this presented the famous 1955 live version of "Round Midnight" (the full set is now in the 1955-75 Newport Bootleg series set and was on some shady Storyville/Jazz Unlimited European releases ... don't get me wrong, Storyville is a fine label but they go the PD road every now and then, but I am a fan of their various longboxes dedicated to Ellington, Webster, Hines, Tatum, Armstrong, Teddy Wilson etc.), and more importantly, it also has the first official release of this: Gene Norman Presents concert at Pasadena Civic Auditorium, 1956-02-18

The Legendary Prestige Quintet Sessions
- this is a very nice box that contains the original quintet's (Coltrane, Garland, Chambers, Philly Joe) recordings for the label, with a nice booklet and the first official release of some more live rarities (the third one leaving the time frame an presenting Bill Evans on piano, from 1958 - glorious stuff!): 1955-11-17 Steve Allen "Tonight Show", 1956-12-08 Blue Note, Philadelphia, 1958-05-17 Café Bohemia, New York City (Bill Evans for Red Garland)

The Complete Amsterdam Concert
- this bootleg from 1957 with Barney Wilen and the René Urtreger trio (with Pierre Michelot and Kenny Clarke) is running on wrong speed on ALL releases ... and the speed fix really makes a huge difference here (Klook sounds out of it on the various released boots, with the right speed, everything suddenly makes sense)

Then there are the two official Columbia live albums "Miles & Monk at Newport" (initially a shared album with Monk, but from both, the full sets were released eventually) and "Jazz at the Plaza, Vol. 1" (Vol. 2 was by Duke Ellington and is nice as well).

The March 1960 tour through Europe was Coltrane's surplus ... he was more than ready to leave and exploring uncharted territory, but Miles had a hard time letting him go ... various official (more or less, from the source, but probably not really totally official in most cases) recordings have turned up:
- En Concert avec Europe 1 (Live in Paris) (Trema, Laserlight, now Fremeaux) - this is the most controversial one, the public definitely not ready for Trane, who is on fire!
- Live in Stockholm (Dragon) - this is the best known I think, and it's excellent
- So What - The Complete 1960 Amsterdam Concerts - the most recent of the bunch, mellow by comparison, probably the band was bit tired
- Miles Davis Quintet - Live in Zurich - 1960 (Swiss Radio Days Jazz Series Vol. 31) - mellow, too, but excellent - outstanding long version of "All Blues"!

The outstanding Scheveningen set is still just out as bootleg, alas ... but its version of "So What" was included on the LP-sized Anniversary edition of "Kind of Blue", which comes with lavish documentation, just as the large BB-box does (but the BB is essential to me much more than the KoB, which also has a silly blue vinyl edition and no rare music other than that oft-bootlegged live track ... I succumbed when the price went down to 45 or 50€ a while ago).

In October 1960, Miles toured Europe again, now with Sonny Stitt on alto and tenor. While Stitt was a great saxophone player, he has little new or thrilling or unexpected to offer ... the interesting thing is, a new musical axis has developed between Miles and pianist Wynton Kelly, and Miles himself is in very good shape and playing way more than in March (when he usually left the floor to Coltrane soon after having presented the theme). The Paris and Stockholm sets are on four discs (I think the Paris was also around as two doubles, maybe even as four singles) and offer both the March and October sets in full, the Amsterdam also has the respective October concert, but it's only two discs, not sure how complete it is (Losin may know, I must have checked but don't remember ... there's also "Coltrane Reference", the book, in case, but typing this takes long enough without running to the book shelves and searching Losin for each date).

In Person – Friday Night at the Blackhawk, San Francisco – Complete, Volume 1
In Person – Saturday Night at the Blackhawk, San Francisco – Complete, Volume 2
At Carnegie Hall
- three double discs, with Hank Mobley on tenor now (1961) - this is the perfect club band, plenty of in-the-pocket grooves from they rhythm section that would very soon branch out on its own as the Wynton Kelly Trio, when Davis disbanded ... the Carnegie Hall concert is a sentimental favourite, I must have owned three edition (first two separate discs or copies of, then a Henri Renaud produced old double and now the Sony/Legacy double) - some fantastic Mobley here, and again infectuous grooves (dig the rhythm section on "Teo"! if you don't move your feet, you're positively dead!) and on top of that, a live version of the Adagio from "Concierto de Aranjuez" that is probably even better than the studio version! (To this day I don't understand why Sony/Mosaic/Cuscuna/Belden et al have not produced one more six or seven disc set in the series of box-sets, covering the sans-Coltrane part of "Someday My Prince Will Come" and the above live materials and thus elevating them to the canonized status they deserve, next to the rest of Miles' music!)

Live at the 1963 Monterey Jazz Festival
Miles Davis in Europe
My Funny Valentine/Four & More
Miles in Tokyo
Miles in Berlin
- in 1963, Miles started a band again, first including some Memphis players (Frank Strozier, Harold Mabern), of which only George Coleman would remain for around a year or so ... other than the one studio album that kicks off this period ("Seven Steps to Heaven", titled after Victor Feldman's great tune, by the time of the sessions Feldman and LA drummer Frank Butler were in, but for the second half of the recordings, Herbie Hancock and Tony Williams were in place, with Ron Carter on bass all the way through, plus Miles and Coleman), Miles only recorded live ... the Monterey set was released in collaboration with Concord (there's a small series of Monterey albums from the same time, including Monk, Shirley Horn, Satchmo and a few more), the others were all put out on Columbia ... the boxed version ("Seven Steps: The Complete Columbia Recordings of Miles Davis 1963-1964", 7 CDs, MD box #3) contains bonus tracks on most of the sets. I have a soft spot for the concert that produced "My Funny Valentine" and "Four & More" (plus the bonustrack "Autumn Leaves"), there's lots of tension in the air (Miles had decided that the money of all band members would be donated - without asking the sidemen prior to his decision, it seems) and the playing is great, and this includes Coleman who is - similarly to Stitt, though more modern - a great player but not one actually feeding Miles with ideas and thrilling new input and such.
- the Tokyo set is one of three gigs documented with Sam Rivers on tenor - former boss of young Tony Williams, and actually kind of a misfit, but an interesting one (the other two sets were never officially released, both from the same tour in Japan, again check Losin for more info)
- the Berlin set is outstanding for sonics and atmosphere, and it's the first official document of the "second quintet", with Wayne Shorter in on tenor now

The Complete Live at the Plugged Nickel 1965
- something like a holy grail!

Live in Europe 1967 - The Bootleg Series Vol. 1
- more second quintet live, but not in an intimate venue in the US but in European concert halls ... excellent as well, but different for atmosphere

Live in Europe 1969 - The Bootleg Series Vol. 2
- the two summer 1969 sets from Antibes/Juan-les-Pins on the first two discs aren't quite up to the heights the "lost quintet" would reach later on (one of them was officially out in Japan btw), the third disc, now from the October/November European tour is again atypical in that the fender rhodes breaks down and Corea switches to acoustic soon ... there's Berlin from the same tour on the added DVD, which together with the Copenhagen DVD (on the Bitches Brew Anniversary Edition box) adds to the picture more than the rest of it ... I'm actually still hoping (in vain, I fear) for a second Bootleg series volume dedicated to this amazing line-up (dubbed "lost quintet" as it was never officially captured during its existence - Miles, Shorter, Chick Corea, Dave Holland, Jack DeJohnette)

and there we've reached the point where the above listing starts ...

[George]

Wow, thanks, king ubu!

A note on "Agartha" and "Pangaea": the 2013 Japanese BluSpec reissues kick the asses of the old US discs!

For what it's worth, for Agartha, the mastering on the 2006 - SICP 1230-31 / DSD Japan Mini LP Edition is the same as 2013 BluSpec. 

[king ubu]

Wow, thanks, king ubu!

For what it's worth, for Agartha, the mastering on the 2006 - SICP 1230-31 / DSD Japan Mini LP Edition is the same as 2013 BluSpec.

I'm usually not that into having this or that edition of any album ... but in this case, the fact that the old US editions were never replaced, was really a discgrace. Those 2006 may well be the ones I was in vain trying to find a while before those 2013 editions became available, which I then snatched up in no time!

[George]

I'm usually not that into having this or that edition of any album ... but in this case, the fact that the old US editions were never replaced, was really a discgrace. Those 2006 may well be the ones I was in vain trying to find a while before those 2013 editions became available, which I then snatched up in no time!

Smart move! What did they cost you? I guess they can only be bought from Japan, right?

[king ubu]

Smart move! What did they cost you? I guess they can only be bought from Japan, right?

After US/European reissues dried up toward the end of the noughties, I turned into a regular customer of cdjapan.co.jp ... checking my mailbox, they cost 2600 JPY each - not too bad. I usually go for cheaper series (roughly 900-1500 Yen per disc - those were doubles, so actually they where in that range!) and opt for the slowest not trackeable shipping option. If you have time to wait 4-8 weeks, that's fine, never had anything lost and hope that won't change.

[kishnevi]

I have this from the Europe Spring 1960 tour
[asin]B00N42F4EI[/asin]
SQ is variable, of course, the real defect is that Trapeze/Acrobat chose to present a limited number of songs, so despite the fact that several different dates are involved, the same material appears over and over.

[Bogey]

I just listened to this one yesterday, but did not have a chance to post:



I reviewd this one some time ago here, but I believe that these two Amazon reviews hit the bullseye:

This CD is highly recommended for both its artistic quality and historical statement.
An important historical document, plays fresh as new. This is a must have for Miles and Coltrane fans.


Translation: Sound quality sucks, but you gotta have it!   The handful of tracks with Bill Evans sitting in is reason enough.

Other live stuff that is a must in my book:
Complete Plugged Nickel
Blackhawk

Also
The Complete Birth of the Cool
Newport '58
Jazz at the Plaza

[Bogey]

Research and then press "pay now" button.

[SimonNZ]

Miles In Tokyo is the one I continue to think deserves a much higher place in the critical estimation, and is still far too often overlooked by even those who own a fair number of Miles discs.



edit: just listened to this yet again and think that I may as well go ahead and say that against some strong competition this is my favorite live Miles album

[Bogey]

Miles In Tokyo is the one I continue to think deserves a much higher place in the critical estimation, and is still far too often overlooked by even those who own a fair number of Miles discs.



edit: just listened to this yet again and think that I may as well go ahead and say that against some strong competition this is my favorite live Miles album

It is a beauty as well.  It is included in the Seven Steps box set above.