Guest
October 6, 1964 The First Annual Helsinki Jazz Festival Messuhalli, Helsinki, Finland MILES DAVIS QUINTET Miles Davis- trumpet Wayne Shorter- tenor saxophone Herbie Hancock- piano Ron Carter- bass Tony Williams- drums Autumn Leaves (Jacques Prévert-Johnny Mercer-Joseph Kosma) 0:00 So What (Miles Davis) 11:14 Stella by Starlight (Ned Washington-Victor Young) 19:00 Walkin' [incomplete] (Richard Carpenter) 27:53 The Theme (Miles Davis) 33:02 closing announcement 33:21 end credits 33:42 Originally broadcast by HNK FM radio Re-broadcast by Yleisradio (Yle) Back in 2015 I posted a nineteen minute excerpt from a 1964 Miles Davis show in Helsinki, in listenable but fairly grainy sound, presumably taken from a contemporaneous radio broadcast ( ). The good news is that in 2019 this show was re-broadcast and we now have it (almost) complete and in excellent quality. By October 1964 the Hancock/ Carter/ Williams team had been together some 17 months, proving themselves to be a solid, inventive, inspired, and challenging creative partnership, although the in-demand Carter had taken leave for a spell with Sonny Rollins. Miles had found the saxophone chair harder to fill- George Coleman had quit the band earlier in the year and a Japanese tour with Sam Rivers proved to be a clash of styles, albeit an intriguing one. There were even press reports that Miles was replacing the saxophone in his band in favour of guitarist Grant Green. Finally, in September, Miles got the man he wanted when the tenor saxophonist from Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers, Wayne Shorter, joined the band. Davis now had a compelling front line partner and the line up for what is often regarded as one of the finest groups in jazz history, The Second Great Quintet, was complete. Shorter had only been in the band a few weeks when Miles led them on a tour of Europe, including a date in West Germany that was released as _Miles In Berlin_ (CBS, 1967), followed by concerts in Paris, Stockholm and Copenhagen. The group then visited Finland on the Tuesday of the first Helsinki Jazz Festival, sharing the bill with Coleman Hawkins, Howard McGhee, Kenny Clarke, Sister Rosetta Tharpe, and The Dave Brubeck Quartet- a piece from Brubeck's set was filmed and later included in the superb _Jazz Icons_ series of DVDs. It's a relatively brief set, just four tunes plus the customary sign off theme, but it's a great one, with the rhythm team playing their usual games expanding and contracting time, and Shorter bringing a tough, questing tubulance to his solos. Miles was at the height of his powers for most of the 1960s and this date proves no exception- he's obviously relishing playing with his young rhythm section and the dramatic contrast with Shorter is his most challenging and satisfying partnership since Coltrane. The sound on this re-broadcast is excellent for the vintage, a mono recording with the horns sounding clear, Williams' dynamics well handled and a real sense of the ambience of the venue, but the real treat here is how well Carter has been recorded- warm and resonant even in his upper register, his lines really sing unlike the dull thud that often plagues unofficial recordings. Only Hancock suffers slightly in the mix, particularly in the opening Autumn Leaves. Shorter veers from thoughtful and intense to wild but cogent, the rhythm section erupting and cooling underneath him and he stamps his authority on the music very early in his tenure. The original tape that circulated included only the opening two pieces, this rebroadcast restores the remainder of the set but is still not quite compelete- Walkin' is truncated by a clumsy edit that eliminates Shorter's solo and probably the opening of Hancock's. Still, what is here is of very high quality and a major upgrade for fans of the Second Great Quintet. If you enjoy these posts and would like to thank us for our efforts you can buy us a coffee: Thank you!
