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Miles Ahead session details

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February 19, 1953 (4 items; TT = 19:15)
Beltone Studio, New York NY
Commercial for Prestige

Miles Davis (tpt); Sonny Truitt (tb); Al Cohn (ts); Zoot Sims [John Haley] (ts); John Lewis (p); Leonard Gaskin (b); Kenny Clarke (d)

1 Tasty Pudding (A. Cohn) 3:19
2 Willie the Wailer (A. Cohn) 4:25
3 Floppy (A. Cohn) 5:59
4 For Adults Only (A. Cohn) 5:32


1 Tasty Pudding
78 rpm: Prestige 884
10" LP: Prestige PRLP 154, Prestige PRS-36009-1
12" LP: Prestige 7025, Prestige P-012 (12 LP), Victor SMJ-6523, Victor VIJ-5090/5101 (12 LP)
CD: Fantasy OJC-053, Victor VICJ-23603, Prestige 8PCD-012, Victor VICJ-40225/32, Victor VICJ-2012, Victor VICJ-60421, Victor VICJ-41507, Universal UCCO-9304

2 Willie the Wailer
10" LP: Prestige PRLP 154, Prestige PRS-36009-1
12" LP: Prestige 7025, Prestige P-012 (12 LP), Victor SMJ-6523, Victor VIJ-5090/5101 (12 LP)
CD: Fantasy OJC-053, Victor VICJ-23603, Prestige 8PCD-012, Victor VICJ-40225/32, Victor VICJ-2012, Victor VICJ-60421, Victor VICJ-41507, Universal UCCO-9304

3 Floppy
10" LP: Prestige PRLP 154, Prestige PRS-36009-1
12" LP: Prestige 7025, Prestige P-012 (12 LP), Victor SMJ-6523, Victor VIJ-5090/5101 (12 LP)
CD: Fantasy OJC-053, Victor VICJ-23603, Prestige 8PCD-012, Victor VICJ-40225/32, Victor VICJ-2012, Victor VICJ-60421, Victor VICJ-41507, UCCO-9304

4 For Adults Only
10" LP: Prestige PRLP 154, Prestige PRS-36009-1
12" LP: Prestige 7025, Prestige P-012 (12 LP), Victor SMJ-6523, Victor VIJ-5090/5101 (12 LP)
CD: Fantasy OJC-053, Victor VICJ-23603, Prestige 8PCD-012, Victor VICJ-40225/32, Victor VICJ-2012, Victor VICJ-60421, Victor VICJ-41507, Universal UCCO-9304


All compositions and arrangements are by Al Cohn. Rather than a relying on a Davis-led group, or a collection of sidemen selected by Davis himself, Bob Weinstock seems to have chosen this group himself. Given the chaos of the January session with Sonny Rollins and "Charlie Chan," this seems like a wise choice. Cohn and Sims were both rising stars who had played with Woody Herman in the late 1940s; like most white tenor saxophonists of their day, they were identified with the Lester Young sound. Davis may have chafed at being put in this company, but he was not really in a position to complain.

"Tasty Pudding" includes a two-chorus Davis solo backed with nice unison passages by the saxophones; Lewis has a half-chorus solo before the theme is re-stated.

On "Willie the Wailer," after the elaborately-arranged melody is stated a couple times, the solos are by Davis and Cohn (two pairs of one chorus each).

The "Floppy" theme is much simpler, and the solo order is Davis (4x), Lewis (1x), Truitt (1x), Sims (1x), Cohn (1x); after the solos there's a chorus of eights and another of fours involving the saxophonists.

"For Adults Only" is a catchy medium-tempo number, with solos by Sims (2x), Cohn (2x), and Davis (4x).

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