Miles Davis – European Tour ’56 with the Modern Jazz Quartet & Lester Young
Plus the complete 1955 Newport performance and a rare Birdland broadcast!
Featuring: Miles Davis, Lester Young, Pierre Michelot, René Utreger, Thelenious Monk, Gerry Mulligan, Kurt Edelhagen Big Band on 1 Track.
This fascinating release comprises live recordings made at the end of 1956, when Miles accepted an offer to tour Europe with a formation called the “Birdland All Stars”, which also included Lester Young and the Modern Jazz Quartet, along with European musicians such as pianist René Urtréger, bassist Pierre Michelot and drummer Christian Garros. We have here the one and only existing evidence of Miles playing with Lester Young and with the MJQ. It also presents a rare occasion to find Miles playing as the sole horn in a quartet format.
As a complement, we offer the complete 1955 Newport Jazz Festival performance, in which Miles played a famous version of “Around Midnight” backed by Thelonious Monk and Gerry Mulligan.
The two bonus tracks come from a rare Birdland broadcast featuring Miles with tenor saxophonist Bobby Jaspar. Tunes include jazz standards and Miles Davis’ compositions: How High the Moon, Lester Leaps In, Tune Up, What’s New, Indiana, Four, Walkin’, Lady Be Good, Hackensack, Around Midnight, Now’s the Time, All of You and a second version of Four.
“And then George Wein had an All-Star band that had Zoot Sims, Gerry Mulligan, Monk, Percy Heath, Connie Kay; he later added me. They played a couple of tunes without me and then I joined them on Now’s the Time, which was a tribute to Bird’s memory. And then we played Round Midnight, Monk’s tune. I played it with a mute and everybody went crazy. It was something. I got a standing ovation. When I got off the bandstand, everybody was looking at me, offering me record deals. All the musicians there were treating me like I was a God, and all for a solo that I had trouble learning a long time ago. It was something else, man, looking up and applauding for what I had done.” (Miles Davis (From the liner notes)
14 Tracks. Total Time: 74,15 min.