Live In Milan 1964

Miles Davis

Tracklisting:

1. Autumn Leaves
2. My Funny Valentine
3. All Blues
4. All Of You
5. Joshua - into - The Theme.

Recorded: October 11, 1964 at Teatro dell' Arte, Milan, Italy.

Total Time: 60:00 mins. (approx).

The group on this CD was most probably the second-greatest Miles Davis quintet ever. When this Milan concert was recorded, the band had just recently formed. The core musicians (Davis, Hancock, Carter and Williams) had been working together ever since the recording of the album "Seven Steps To Heaven" on May 14, 1963 (which was Herbie Hancock's very first recording session with Miles). However, after John Coltrane's departure from the group, Miles had a very difficult time finding a tenor saxophonist to his liking. After separate stints with the quintet by Hank Mobley, George Coleman and Sam Rivers, Wayne Shorter took over the tenor chair in September 1964.

The concert at the Teartro dell' Arte in Milan was part of a European tour that also included shows in Germany, France, Denmark and Finland. The show featured a fairly-typcial program for the period, with three standards ("Autumn Leaves", "My Funny Valentine" and "All Of You"), two originals from the early years ("The Theme" from Miles' Prestige period and "All Blues" from the classic "Kind Of Blue" album) and a relative novelty, Victor Feldman's "Joshua", which Miles had first recorded for his "Seven Steps To Heaven" LP. Miles Davis' electric era still seems distent when you hear the music on this CD, but the experimental feeling is already there and can be heard and enjoyed throughout this hour-long performance.

Technical Specifications: This RLR Records release contain sessions culled from rare and unissued non-professional recordings and so technical quality is not quite up to today's standards. Because of their historical value and the importance of the musicians involved, every effort has been made to improve the sound quality using modern technology.