Descrizione
You’re holding in your hands the first of three volumes dedicated to the recordings made by Miles Davis, between 1956 and 1958 at Café Bohemia, located at 15 Barrow Street, Greenwich Village, New York City.
The restaurant (misspelled Restraurnt on the sign) was managed by the Italian-American Jimmy Garofalo, and was opened in 1955. In a very short time the Café Bohemia became a sort of Mecca for Jazz modernists, and several albums were recorded there by some of the most interesting artists at the time (Art Blakey, Charles Mingus, Kenny Dorham, George Wallington). By the way, Oscar Pettiford, (who was the artistic director for the Jazz Club at the beginning) dedicated his own composition to the restaurant, calling it Bohemia After Dark. Moreover, the Café Bohemia was one of the headquarters of the Mutual Network Bandstand U.S.A. Radio Broadcasts. Every week the emcee Guy Wallace, often surrounded by guests, was recording and broadcasting some incredible live acts directly from the Bohemia. And Miles Davis was part of these shows eight times between September 15, 1956 and May 17, 1958.
Here you’ll find, for the first time in history, the whole bulk of Miles’ recordings (around 120 minutes, released into three volumes) which were broadcast by the Mutual Network. Some of this material was published throughout the years on unofficial records, but most of these tracks are issued here forthefirsttime.Inanycase,thematerialisreleasedwith the best possible sound quality and with corrected speed (most of the previous releases were running at the wrong speed,outoftune). Wehopeyou’lljumpintothistimeandspacemachine,aswetriedtoreproducethesoundofthaterainthemostfaithful way. To improve and philologically respect that world of sound, we have decided to also leave all the announcements (by Guy Wallace and his guests) in their full version.
Some very interesting and unpredicted aspects emerge from these announcements, which will help the listener to better feel that era, both socially and historically.
So, turn the radio on and immerse yourself in the atmosphere of the second half of the 50s with the previously unheard music of the Miles Davis Quintet at its best.
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Avete tra le mani il primo dei tre volumi dedicati alle registrazioni effettuate da Miles Davis, tra il 1956 e il 1958 al Café Bohemia, situato al 15 di Barrow Street, nel Greenwich Village, a New York.
Il ristorante (che recava un evidente errore di ortografia nell’insegna – Restraurnt) era gestito dall’italo-americano Jimmy Garofalo e fu inaugurato nel 1955. In breve tempo il Café Bohemia divenne una sorta di Mecca per i modernisti del jazz, e diversi album furono registrati da alcuni degli artisti più interessanti del tempo (Art Blakey, Charles Mingus, Kenny Dorham, George Wallington). Inoltre, Oscar Pettiford, (che nei primi tempi ricopriva l’incarico di direttore artistico del Jazz Club) vi dedicò anche una composizione, intitolandola «Bohemia After Dark».
Il Café Bohemia era inoltre una delle sedi da cui si trasmetteva il programma Bandstand U.S.A. sulle onde del Mutual Network Radio Broadcasts. Ogni settimana il presentatore Guy Wallace, spesso accompagnato da ospiti, registrava e trasmetteva alcuni incredibili live direttamente dal Bohemia. Miles Davis fece parte di queste trasmissioni per ben otto volte, tra il 15 settembre 1956 e il 17 maggio 1958.
Qui troverete, per la prima volta nella storia, l’integrale delle registrazioni di Miles (circa 120 minuti), a suo tempo trasmesse dal Mutual Network.
Parte di questo materiale è stato pubblicato nel corso degli anni su dischi non ufficiali, ma la maggior parte compare per la prima volta su vinile se non addirittura è di fatto completamente inedito. In tutti i casi, il materiale viene qui pubblicato con la migliore qualità sonora possibile e con velocità corretta (la maggior parte delle versioni precedenti giravano alla velocità sbagliata, ovvero stonate rispetto alla tonalità originale d’esecuzione).
Su tratta di una vera macchina che viaggia nel tempo e nello spazio, in quanto abbiamo cercato di riprodurre il suono di quell’epoca nel modo più fedele possibile. Per migliorare e rispettare filologicamente quel mondo del suono, abbiamo deciso di pubblicare anche tutti gli annunci (di Guy Wallace e dei suoi ospiti) nella loro versione completa. Alcuni aspetti molto interessanti e imprevisti emergono da questi annunci, che aiuteranno l’ascoltatore a vivere al meglio quell’epoca, sia da un punto di vista sociale sia storico.
Quindi, accendete la radio e immergetevi nell’atmosfera della seconda metà degli anni ’50 con la musica precedentemente inedita del Miles Davis Quintet al suo meglio.
Miles Davis (tp); John Coltrane (ts); Red Garland (p); Paul Chambers (b); Philly Joe Jones (d)
Guy Wallace (Radio Broadcast announcer)
Track List:
Side A
- Announcement by Guy Wallace 2:01
- Well You Needn’t 5:48
- It Never Entered My Mind 5:02
- A Gal in Calico 4:43
- Stablemates 3:48
Side B
- How Am I to Know? 3:03
- The Theme 1:34
- Woody’n You 3:58
- Walkin’ [Gravy] 7:10
- All of You 2:25
Technical note:
Unfortunately, the sole surviving (obviously) mono tape transcriptions of these recordings were not always in good shape, but we improved the quality with state-of-the-art equipment and remastering tools.
To present the complete performances we have used the best available sources, considering that the material was recorded through a period of three years by different technical crews and completely different miking techniques and positioning. This resulted in a slight change in audio quality. This is the best and most complete collection of the legendary Café Bohemia recordings aired by the Mutual Network for Bandstand U.S.A. Radio Broadcast.
Thanks to Piergiorgio Cupellini, Elisa Gabrielli, Paola Giordano, Igor Ebuli Poletti, and Fabio Sala.
Special thanks to Bob Belden, Jan Lohmann, Peter Losin, and Teo Macero.
Speed corrected and remastered by Enrico Merlin
Executive producer, Massimo Corvino for Groove Back Records
Liner notes by Enrico Merlin, with special help from Giovanni Principe and Ginger Minneman
Cover picture by Marvin Koner, shot between May 25 and June 10, 1956, outside the Café Bohemia
Artwork concept and album design by Roberto Mares
Complete recordings with radio speaker announcements and voiceovers included.
