Session details: Columbia 30th Street Studio (May 27, 1957)

Miles Ahead session details

May 27, 1957 (16 items; TT = 44:17)

Columbia 30th Street Studio, New York NY

Commercial for Columbia

Show chatter

Miles Davis (flh); Ernie Royal (tpt); Bernie Glow (tpt); Louis Mucci (tpt); Taft Jordan (tpt); Johnny Carisi (tpt); Frank Rehak (tb); Jimmy Cleveland (tb); Joe Bennett (tb); Tom Mitchell (tb); Willie Ruff (frh); Tony Miranda (frh); Bill Barber (tuba); Romeo Penque (fl, cl, oboe); Eddie Caine (cl, fl); Lee Konitz (as); Danny Bank (bcl); Wynton Kelly (p); Paul Chambers (b); Arthur Taylor (d); Gil Evans (arr, cond)

1	I Don't Wanna Be Kissed (rehearsal) (H. Spina-J. Elliott)	2:08
	They play (0:00-0:09). Evans: "Yeah, definitely, that's better now, my confidence is coming back..." (Splice) They play (0:14-0:29). Evans: "That plop, that's too hard, to have to fall like that." Unkn: "That is NOT your downbeat, your downbeat starts at the intro." Evans: "That's right, number one is my downbeat... Now I'm gonna do it this way now -- one, two, three, four, five, six... seven. OK? Right: one, two, three, four, five, six... seven. We'll play an F on the tune. No, Ahmad's medley, Ahmad's tune..." Avakian: "Ahmad's medley, take one..." Evans: "Ready? One, two, three..."
2	I Don't Wanna Be Kissed (take 3) (H. Spina-J. Elliott)	3:00
	Without overdubs
3	I Don't Wanna Be Kissed (master (takes 4/5/13)) (H. Spina-J. Elliott)	3:02
	The issued version includes an overdubbed tpt solo from August 22
4	I Don't Wanna Be Kissed (take 5) (H. Spina-J. Elliott)	2:56
5	I Don't Wanna Be Kissed (take 8) (H. Spina-J. Elliott)	3:13
6	I Don't Wanna Be Kissed (take 8 (remix)) (H. Spina-J. Elliott)	3:05
7	The Meaning of the Blues (rehearsal) (L. Worth-B. Troup)	2:49
8	Lament (J.J. Johnson) (rehearsal)	2:17
9	Lament (J.J. Johnson) (take 1)	2:20
10	Lament (J.J. Johnson) (take 2)	2:34
11	The Meaning of the Blues (master (take 2)) (L. Worth-B. Troup)	2:50
12	Lament (J.J. Johnson) (master (take 2/1))	2:18
	Take 2 (0:00-0:16), then take 1 (0:16-2:18)
13	Springsville (remake take 7) (J. Carisi)	3:15
14	The Duke (take 3 (with piano)) (D. Brubeck)	1:52
	At the end Evans says, "That leads us right into, ah, My Ship, and I wanna take the intro and the first eight of that..."
15	Miles Ahead (take 1 (with piano)) (M. Davis-G. Evans)	3:06
16	I Don't Wanna Be Kissed (take 4 (with piano)) (H. Spina-J. Elliott)	3:32
	Evans: "Ahmad's tune -- we're gonna wind it up with that." Davis (to Kelly): "I won't play in this part, I'll just play in E... Just play in E, Wynton. Wynton! Just play at E..." Avakian: "OK, let's go, real quick... Just go, no announcements, Gil..."


1 I Don't Wanna Be Kissed (rehearsal) 12" LP: Mosaic MQ11-164 CD: Columbia CXK 67397, Columbia CXK 90923, Sony SRCS 7945/50, Sony SICP 657/62
2 I Don't Wanna Be Kissed (take 3) 12" LP: Mosaic MQ11-164 CD: Columbia CXK 67397, Columbia CXK 90923, Sony SRCS 7945/50, Sony SICP 657/62
3 I Don't Wanna Be Kissed (master (takes 4/5/13)) 12" LP: Columbia CL 1041 (= CS 8633), Sony 88765 41386-1, Nippon Columbia YS-304, CBS/Sony SONP 50147, CBS/Sony SOPL 152, CBS/Sony 18AP 2053, CBS/Sony 23AP 2553, CBS/Sony 25AP 752, Mosaic MQ11-164 CD: Columbia CK 53225, Columbia CXK 67397, Columbia CXK 90923, Columbia Legacy 88883 75664, CBS/Sony 32DP 511, Sony SRCS 5697, Sony SRCS 9106, Sony SRCS 7945/50, Sony SICP 657/62, Sony SRCS 9703, Sony SRGS 4543, Sony SICP 811, Sony SICP 1202, Sony SICP 20052, Sony SICP 30212, Sony SICJ 30039, Sony SICJ 12, Sony SICP 30521/9, Columbia Legacy 86975 24922
4 I Don't Wanna Be Kissed (take 5) 12" LP: Columbia CJ 40784, Mosaic MQ11-164 CD: Columbia CK 40784, Columbia CXK 67397, Columbia CXK 90923, CBS/Sony 32DP 511, Sony SRCS 5697, Sony SRCS 9106, Sony SRCS 7945/50, Sony SICP 657/62, Sony SRCS 9703, Sony SRGS 4543, Sony SICP 811, Sony SICP 1202, Sony SICP 20052, Sony SICJ 12
5 I Don't Wanna Be Kissed (take 8) 12" LP: Mosaic MQ11-164 CD: Columbia CK 65121, Columbia CXK 67397, Columbia CXK 90923, Sony SRCS 7945/50, Sony SICP 657/62, Sony SRCS 9703, Sony SRGS 4543, Sony SICP 811, Sony SICP 30212, Sony SICJ 30039
6 I Don't Wanna Be Kissed (take 8 (remix)) 12" LP: Mosaic MQ11-164 CD: Columbia CK 53225, Columbia CXK 67397, Columbia CXK 90923, Sony SRCS 7945/50, Sony SICP 657/62
7 The Meaning of the Blues (rehearsal) 12" LP: Mosaic MQ11-164 CD: Columbia CK 65121, Columbia CXK 67397, Columbia CXK 90923, Sony SRCS 7945/50, Sony SICP 657/62, Sony SRCS 9703, Sony SRGS 4543, Sony SICP 811, Sony SICP 30212, Sony SICJ 30039, Columbia Legacy 86975 24922
8 Lament (J.J. Johnson) (rehearsal) 12" LP: Mosaic MQ11-164 CD: Columbia CK 65121, Columbia CXK 67397, Columbia CXK 90923, Sony SRCS 7945/50, Sony SICP 657/62, Sony SRCS 9703, Sony SRGS 4543, Sony SICP 811, Sony SICP 30212, Sony SICJ 30039
9 Lament (J.J. Johnson) (take 1) 12" LP: Columbia CJ 40784, Mosaic MQ11-164 CD: Columbia CK 40784, Columbia CXK 67397, Columbia CXK 90923, Sony SRCS 7945/50, Sony SICP 657/62
10 Lament (J.J. Johnson) (take 2) 12" LP: Mosaic MQ11-164 CD: Columbia CXK 67397, Columbia CXK 90923, Sony SRCS 7945/50, Sony SICP 657/62
11 The Meaning of the Blues (master (take 2)) 12" LP: Columbia CL 1041 (= CS 8633), Sony 88765 41386-1, Nippon Columbia YS-304, CBS/Sony SONP 50147, CBS/Sony SOPL 152, CBS/Sony 18AP 2053, CBS/Sony 23AP 2553, CBS/Sony 25AP 752, Mosaic MQ11-164 CD: Columbia CK 53225, Columbia CXK 67397, Columbia CXK 90923, Columbia Legacy 88883 75664, CBS/Sony 32DP 511, Sony SRCS 5697, Sony SRCS 9106, Sony SRCS 7945/50, Sony SICP 657/62, Sony SRCS 9703, Sony SRGS 4543, Sony SICP 811, Sony SICP 1202, Sony SICP 20052, Sony SICP 30212, Sony SICJ 30039, Sony SICJ 12, Sony SICP 30521/9, Columbia Legacy 86975 24922
12 Lament (J.J. Johnson) (master (take 2/1)) 12" LP: Columbia CL 1041 (= CS 8633), Sony 88765 41386-1, Nippon Columbia YS-304, CBS/Sony SONP 50147, CBS/Sony SOPL 152, CBS/Sony 18AP 2053, CBS/Sony 23AP 2553, CBS/Sony 25AP 752, Mosaic MQ11-164 CD: Columbia CK 53225, Columbia CXK 67397, Columbia CXK 90923, Columbia Legacy 88883 75664, CBS/Sony 32DP 511, Sony SRCS 5697, Sony SRCS 9106, Sony SRCS 7945/50, Sony SICP 657/62, Sony SRCS 9703, Sony SRGS 4543, Sony SICP 811, Sony SICP 1202, Sony SICP 20052, Sony SICJ 12, Sony SICP 30521/9, Columbia Legacy 86975 24922
13 Springsville (remake take 7) 12" LP: Mosaic MQ11-164 CD: Columbia CK 65121, Columbia CXK 67397, Columbia CXK 90923, Sony SRCS 7945/50, Sony SICP 657/62, Sony SRCS 9703, Sony SRGS 4543, Sony SICP 811, Sony SICP 30212, Sony SICJ 30039, Columbia Legacy 86975 24922
14 The Duke (take 3 (with piano)) 12" LP: Mosaic MQ11-164 CD: Columbia CXK 67397, Columbia CXK 90923, Sony SRCS 7945/50, Sony SICP 657/62
15 Miles Ahead (take 1 (with piano)) 12" LP: Mosaic MQ11-164 CD: Columbia CXK 67397, Columbia CXK 90923, Sony SRCS 7945/50, Sony SICP 657/62
16 I Don't Wanna Be Kissed (take 4 (with piano)) 12" LP: Mosaic MQ11-164 CD: Columbia CXK 67397, Columbia CXK 90923, Sony SRCS 7945/50, Sony SICP 657/62, Columbia Legacy 86975 24922

This is the fourth of four studio sessions scheduled for the recording of Miles Ahead.

The issued version of "I Don't Wanna be Kissed" includes overdubbed solo passages recorded during another session on August 22, 1957. All of these tunes involve some kind of post-production.

Throughout this session "I Don't Wanna Be Kissed" is referred to as "Ahmed's tune," "Ahmed's medley," and elsewhere as "Ahmed Smiles" or "Ahmed's Miles" (track sheets consistently misspell Jamal's name as "Ahmed"). The source of this arrangement is the version recorded by Ahmad Jamal and his trio with Ray Crawford (g) and Israel Crosby (b) on May 23, 1955 and released the same year on the LP Ahmad Jamal Plays (Parrot Records, no catalog number) and a year or two later on Chamber Music of the New Jazz (Argo LP 602), where the tune is simply titled "Medley." It is a medley: Jamal begins with "I Don't Wanna Be Kissed," and then modulates to another tune, "A - You're Adorable" by Sid Lippman, Buddy Kaye, and Fred Wise, composed in 1948 and sometimes called "The Alphabet Song." The arrangement here follows Jamal explicitly. On the issued master (take 4/5/13) the transition from "I Don't Wanna Be Kissed" to "A - You're Adorable" occurs at 2:13; and in all other complete takes the transition occurs at simlar places: at 2:13 in take 3; at 2:12 in take 5; at 2:27 in take 8; at 2:07 in take 8 (remix).

(The transition also occurs in one of the overdub solos Davis performed during the August 22, 1957 session. The Jamal influence is pervasive.)

The master take of J.J. Johnson's "Lament" is a composite of takes 2 and 1, not a separate take 3 as listed by Mosaic and Columbia. Thanks to Tommaso Urbano for this correction.

I am grateful to James Bohen for discussion about "I Don't Wanna Be Kissed."