1 Once upon a Summertime (take 2/4)
12" LP: Columbia CL 2106 (= CS 8906), Analogue Productions APJ 8851-45, Nippon Columbia YS-420, CBS/Sony SONP 50163, CBS/Sony SOPU 84, CBS/Sony 20AP 1407, Mosaic MQ11-164
CD: Columbia CK 65293, Columbia CXK 67397, Columbia CXK 90923, CBS/Sony 32DP 516, Sony SRCS 5703, Sony SRCS 9318, Sony SRCS 7945/50, Sony SICP 657/62, Sony SRCS 9734, Sony SIGP 2, Sony SICP 819, Sony SICP 4018, Sony SICJ 30058, Columbia Legacy 86975 24922

2 Song No. 2 (take 4/8)
12" LP: Columbia CL 2106 (= CS 8906), Analogue Productions APJ 8851-45, Nippon Columbia YS-420, CBS/Sony SONP 50163, CBS/Sony SOPU 84, CBS/Sony 20AP 1407, Mosaic MQ11-164
CD: Columbia CK 65293, Columbia CXK 67397, Columbia CXK 90923, CBS/Sony 32DP 516, Sony SRCS 5703, Sony SRCS 9318, Sony SRCS 7945/50, Sony SICP 657/62, Sony SRCS 9734, Sony SIGP 2, Sony SICP 819, Sony SICP 4018, Sony SICJ 30058, Columbia Legacy 86975 24922

This is the last of three sessions with the Gil Evans Orchestra looking for the successor to Sketches of Spain. These much-maligned 1962 studio sessions were prompted by the "bossa nova" craze started by Stan Getz and Charlie Byrd's Jazz Samba album. The album (and many others like it) were popular among swingers in the early 1960s. Earlier sessions (July 27 and August 13) yielded only four short tunes; after this the project was put on hold until this session -- and things did not improve when it resumed. Leonard Feather spoke for many when he complained in a Down Beat essay on Gil Evans that Columbia was "scrap[ing] the bottom of its corporate barrel" with this project. (Feather's four-star review in the March 12, 1964 issue of Down Beat began, "This is a curious and not entirely satisfying album...") Davis was furious when the record came out, shunning Teo Macero and Columbia's New York studios for more than three years. When Gregg Hall asked Davis in 1974, "What was the reason why you didn't speak to Teo [Macero] for two and a half years one time?", Davis answered, "'Cause he fucked up Quiet Nights..." (Down Beat, July 18, 1974, p. 18).

After the flurry of Columbia studio activity and live recording in the spring of 1961, Davis was relatively inactive during 1961-1962. He was evidently unhappy with Hank Mobley, though he did not replace him until sometime the following year. J.J. Johnson was added to the group as another solo voice, and the Sextet was booked at the Club Renaissance, Los Angeles (October 12-19; Philly Joe Jones on drums); Minor Key Club, Detroit (December 7-10); Jazz Gallery, New York (December 21, 1961-January 3, 1962); Howard Theatre, Washington (January 12-18 -- Philly Joe Jones on drums, and Johnson apparently did not make this gig); Indiana University Auditorium (March 24 -- a benefit for the Indiana NAACP for which Davis did not show!); April 17-22, Village Vanguard, New York; May 19-28, Mardi Gras, Kansas City; June 1-10, Music Box Theatre, Los Angeles; June 12-July 1, Blackhawk Supper Club, San Francisco; July 4-10, The Penthouse, Seattle; August 16-19, Minor Key, Detroit; August 24-25, La Comédie Canadienne, Montreal (Davis filled in for an ailing Sonny Rollins for the August 25 matinée); September 17-22, Showboat, Philadelphia; November 13-19, Village Vanguard, New York. A four-night engagement at the Music Box Club, Cleveland (December 6-9) was canceled and rescheduled for December 27-30. Mobley is still listed as the saxophonist at the end of 1962.