Stormy Mondays: A Touch of Miles

Back in late 1969 and early 1970, the Miles Davis Quintet boasted a line-up that included Chick Corea on keys, Jack DeJohnette on drums, Dave Holland on bass and the lone hold out from the great Quintet of the mid sixties, Wayne Shorter on tenor. This powerhouse ensemble helped the trumpeter/band leader extraordinaire ford the gap between his adventurous acoustic music and the cutting edge electric explorations that would turn the jazz world on its head. But the band never recorded in the studio and didn’t make an appearance on an official release until the archival release, Live at the Fillmore East in 2001, and has long been known as the Lost Quintet.

A bunch of high quality shows are in wide circulation, particularly 11/3/69 and 11/7/69, from a European tour, and recently another gig from that tour has surfaced: 11/9/69 in Rotterdam. Apparently, it was recorded for Radio Netherlands but was swallowed up in the vast vaults of the BBC, only to find its way back to light nearly 40 years from the performance date. The set is a single suite, as most shows were during this period, a run from Directions > Bitches Brew > Sanctuary > Masqualero; the recording is crystal clear and the performance is incredibly intense, a real nail biter of a gig. This is a gem of music history people, so sit back and as always, enjoy!