Legacy To Release Miles Davis/John Coltrane ‘Bootleg’ Set

By DownBeat I Dec. 8, 2017

Miles Davis (left) onstage with John Coltrane.
(Photo: ©Jean-Pierre Leloir)

Columbia/Legacy Recordings will release Miles Davis & John Coltrane–The Final Tour: The Bootleg Series, Vol. 6 on March 23.

Available in a four-CD box set, as well as digitally, this installment of the Miles Davis Bootleg series brings together, for the first time in an authorized edition with state-of-the-art production, five concert performances from the Spring 1960 Jazz At The Philharmonic European Tour, when Coltrane was a member of Davis’ band.

Showcasing the chemistry shared by Davis and Coltrane, The Final Tour offers five of the best recorded shows from that pivotal 1960 trek (Coltrane’s last as sideman): two shows from Paris’ L’Olympia Theater on March 21, two shows from the next night at Stockholm’s Konserthuset and one from Copenhagen’s Tivolis Koncertsal three days later, on March 24.

The box set was produced by the Grammy-winning team of Steve Berkowitz, Michael Cuscuna and Richard Seidel, and mastered by Sony Music engineer Mark Wilder. The set is authorized for official release by the Miles Davis Estate, the John Coltrane Estate and Columbia Records/Legacy Recordings.

Trumpeter Davis and saxophonist Coltrane were each implementing their own jazz revolutions during the 1960 tour. The electrifying sonic frisson produced by their sometimes-competing, sometimes-intertwining musical visions perplexed contemporary jazz fans—many of whom were just beginning to get acquainted with the recently released and now iconic Davis album Kind Of Blue.

“Much happened on that 1960 tour onstage and off, including powerful, emotionally charged performances in which one can hear the swinging, divergent energy of a band, and the unfiltered reactions of the European audiences: The crowd responses are indeed an inherent part of these historic performances,” music historian Ashley Kahn writes in the extensive liner notes for this set.

“The common judgement on this music is that it represents a great jazz ensemble audibly straining to hold itself together. … An equally convincing interpretation of the 1960 situation is that Miles and his quintet were redefining what a great band could sound like, and how much music it could contain—at one time, in one concert, even in one tune. It’s not that the bandmembers were so much apart, but rather that each were more themselves within the same unit—that divergence could co-exist and make music together.”

The collection features repertoire strongly associated with Davis, including “’Round Midnight,” “Bye Bye Blackbird,” “On Green Dolphin Street,” “Walkin’,” “All Of You” and “Oleo,” all of which the trumpeter had been performing for some time. Also included are live versions of two Davis-penned tunes from Kind Of Blue, “So What” and “All Blues.”

The ensemble includes Davis, Coltrane, pianist Wynton Kelly, bassist Paul Chambers and drummer Jimmy Cobb, all of whom had been performing together since the Kind Of Blue sessions.

The Final Tour closes with a rare contemporaneous audio interview with Coltrane conducted by Swedish DJ Carl-Erik Lindgren.

Originally broadcast on European radio in March 1960, the concert recordings that constitute The Final Tour have been long sought after and prized by collectors.

For vinyl collectors and audiophiles, Columbia/Legacy will release The Final Tour: Copenhagen, March 24, 1960 as a single 12-inch vinyl album.

A two-LP 12-inch vinyl edition of Miles Davis & John Coltrane–The Final Tour: Paris, March 21, 1960 will be reissued exclusively through Vinyl Me, Please as part of its new VMP Classics subscription featuring jazz, blues and soul reissues on 180-gram vinyl with exclusive listening notes.

The first five volumes of The Miles Davis Bootleg Series have enjoyed numerous honors and accolades. Live in Europe 1967: The Bootleg Series Vol. 1 (September 2011) received a 5-star review from DownBeat, where it was voted Historical Album of the Year in the 2012 Readers and Critics Polls. The set peaked at #3 on Billboard’s Top Jazz Album Charts.

Miles Davis Quintet–Live In Europe 1969: The Bootleg Series Vol. 2 (January 2013) was voted Historical Album of the Year in the DownBeat Readers and Critics Polls. Like its predecessor, the album also peaked at #3 on Billboard’s Top Jazz Album Charts.

Miles At The Fillmore–Miles Davis 1970: The Bootleg Series Vol. 3 (March 2014) was voted Historical Album of the Year in the 2014 DownBeat Critics Poll. The set peaked at #1 on Billboard’s Top Jazz Album Charts.

Miles Davis At Newport 1955–1975: The Bootleg Series Vol. 4 (March 2015) received a 4-star review in DownBeat and topped the Historical Album category of the magazine’s Critics Poll. The set won the 2016 NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Jazz Album.

Miles Davis Quintet: Freedom Jazz Dance: The Bootleg Series, Vol. 5 (October 2016) was the #2 Historical Album of the Year in DownBeat’s 65th Annual Critics Poll and the #6 Historical Album of the Year in DownBeat’s 82nd Annual Readers Poll.

Miles Davis & John Coltrane–The Final Tour: The Bootleg Series, Vol. 6 is available for pre-order now by clicking here. DB