Miles Davis - Amsterdam 1957

This concert has been bootlegged many times ... on Celluloid or most recently on Lonehill. Here's Peter Losin's entry on his Miles Ahead page, which notes: "All of the issued versions are quite a bit flat."

So then, here's the fixed version - and trust me, the difference in sound quality is amazing here! Klook finally sounds just right, not half-drunk and totally off like on the way-too-slow versions you find on all them bootlegs!

These are the original FLAC as prepared by a dear friend ... further info comes with the files - shout outs to everyone involved in this!

Buy the official releases of these musicians, do get the Sonorama releases of the previously unreleased Barney Wilen albums Moshi Too and Jazz in Camera, a studio session co-led by Barney with trumpeter Donald Byrd.

Barney Wilen (ts), Miles Davis (t), René Urtreger (p, hidden), Pierre Michelot (b), Kenny Clarke (d)
during the concert in  the Concertgebouw, Amsterdam, December 8, 1957

Miles Davis
Amsterdam (The Netherlands), Concertgebouw
December 8, 1957

Miles Davis - trumpet
Barney Wilen - tenor saxophone
René Urtreger - piano
Pierre Michelot - bass
Kenny Clarke - drums

1. Woody 'n' You (Dizzy Gillespie) 4:58
2. Bags' Groove (Milt Jackson) 7:05
3. What's New (Bob Haggart) 3:35
4. But Not for Me (George Gershwin) 6:41
5. A Night in Tunisia (Dizzy Gillespie) 7:18
6. Four (Miles Davis) > The Theme (Miles Davis) 4:25
7. Walkin' (Richard Carpenter) 6:37
8. Well, You Needn't (Thelonious Monk) 5:27
9. 'Round About Midnight (Thelonious Monk) 5:28
10. Lady Bird (Tadd Dameron) > The Theme (Miles Davis) 5:40

TT: 57:18




















: : dime notes : :

Pitch was approx. 47 cents flat.  

In addition to the notes above: Miles already performed in Europe in November 1956 with the same trio plus Lester Young and the Modern Jazz Quartet.
He travelled alone, without his band, on both occasions.

: : losin note : :

Davis and the René Urtreger Quartet made this trip to Amsterdam during the otherwise-uninterrupted stay at Club St. Germain in Paris. The Celluloid LP and CD notes do not list either version of "The Theme."

Pictures of master tape from ebay auction:
OBJECT OF THIS AUCTION: Genuine master tape (reel) of the Amsterdam Concert on December 8th 1957.Featuring Miles Davis (tp), Barney Wilen (ts), René Urtreger (p), Pierre Michelot (b) and Kenny Clarke (d). Recorded and broadcasted by VARA Radio in Holland. The tape starts with an announcement in Dutch: “VARA radio recorded this concert on December 8th 1957. it contains sufficient exiting music to put together an historical 1 hour program…” 01. Woody ‘n’ You 5:03 - 02. Bags Groove 7:00 - 03. What’s New 3:38 - 04. But Not For Me 6:49 - 05. A Night In Tunisia 7:15 - 06. Four 4:28 - 07. Walkin’ 6:34 - 08. Well You Needn’t 5:26 - 09. Round About Midnight 5:33 - 10. Lady Bird 5:30 - THE WINNING BIDDER WILL RECEIVE THIS MASTER TAPE (REEL) AND A COPY OF THE DIGITAL TRANSFER ON A DVD The reel is in excellent condition and the sound quality is very good. Please refer to the transfer specialist’s technical information: “The tape in question was a 10.5 inch reel of 1/4" Agfa tape, purportedly recorded in Amsterdam on the 8th of December, 1957. The recording was done in mono at 7.5 inches per second. As there were no alignment tones on the tape, I utilized a standard MRL tape at 7.5 IPS to set the playback equalization. The playback machine was an Otari MX-5050BII. Normally, in the case of a mono tape such as this one, I would use the better sounding output (left or right) from the Otari. But for some reason, in this case the sound was always superior when I mixed the two outputs together (accomplished by busing within ProTools). The result was always fuller and less "hollow" than that of either channel on it's own. The phasing sound evident in the cymbals was apparent in the individual channels and no worse when the channels were combined, which leads me to think that this anomaly was introduced at the time of the original recording or if and when a copy was made. The converter was a Digidesign 192 set up for 24 bit/192kHz. The file format was BWF. The nominal reference level (and I say nominal because the playback level of the Otari was set "by eye") was -14dbFS. The tape was played in one pass into ProTools and the result was a single 1.97GB Broadcast File. This file was subsequently exported as a 16 bit/44.1kHz AIFF file and burned with IDs as a reference CD-A.” IMPORTANT UPDATE: Q: I found your annoncement while making a dicographic research about Barney Wilen on the net. I was his french manager between 1985 and 1996, and consequently very close from him those years. The story of this tape (and his different official or bootleg editions) remains full of mistery for the jazzfans. And of course - though kwowing that your will certainly not answer this question - I wonder who you are and how this tape is now in your hands ? What is surprising and very moving for me is that, being of course very familiar with Barney Wilen's handwriting, I am almost 100% sure that the liner notes appearing on the tape cover were written by Barney himself. Did you had any grapholigic expert evaluation on that point ? I'm sure such an evaluation could increase the value of this rare item. I'm unfortunately not in position to buy it myself, but if you have any other Barney Wilen items (like LPs, posters, etc..), please keep me informed. Sep-28-05 A: Thank you very much for this most informative question. You are not wrong by assuming that I prefer to keep your first question unanswered. All I can say is that this tape was given to me by Barney Wilen himself and that I therefore have all the reasons to believe that it is an original. Concerning Mr. Wilen's handwriting on the cover of the tape: I did not ask for a graphologist's expertise simply because I assumed that it was his.