Miles in France - Miles Davis Quintet 1963 & 1964: The Bootleg Series, Vol. 8 Out Today via Columbia/Legacy Recordings

2LP break-out set features all recordings from Paris 1964 with The Second Great Quintet

"Imagine being Miles Davis in 1940s America. You studied at Juilliard, one of the most distinguished music schools in the world, and you’re widely regarded as one of the best jazz artists on the planet. But because you’re Black, you’re considered less-than, no matter your talent and gravitational pull. So it’s no wonder that Miles took solace in Paris, France, the city of light and love, a place where he felt seen as a person and not a color." 

- Marcus J. Moore, Miles In France liner notes

Today, Columbia Records and Legacy Recordings, the catalog division of Sony Music Entertainment, have released the newest box set in the Miles Bootleg Series — Miles in France - Miles Davis Quintet 1963 & 1964: The Bootleg Series, Vol. 8which includes all the music made at the 1963 Festival Mondial Du Jazz in Antibes (July 26-28 of that year) and the 1964 Paris Jazz Festival (October 1). The 1963 recordings feature George Coleman, Herbie Hancock, Ron Carter and Tony Williams - while the 1964 recordings feature Wayne Shorter’s arrival on tenor saxophone as the final member of the Second Great Quintet.

Miles In France arrives as a 6 CD and 8 LP set with more than four hours of previously unreleased music and new liner notes by journalist Marcus J. Moore. A 2LP break-out set, of just the 1964 recordings, is out today as well. The release is also available digitally in its entirety on DSPs. 

Listen to Miles In France here: https://milesdavis.lnk.to/FrancePR

Miles in France - Miles Davis Quintet 1963 & 1964: The Bootleg Series, Vol. 8 was produced by the multi-GRAMMY winning team of Steve Berkowitz, Richard Seidel and Michael Cuscuna (marking one of the last productions for Cuscuna, who passed away earlier this year) and mastered by multi-GRAMMY winning Sony Music engineer Vic Anesini at Battery Studios in NYC.

In the early 1960s, Miles came to France having altered the course of jazz. His 1959 landmark album Kind of Blue eschewed hard bop for a modal style that allowed room for a freer type of improvisation - an overcast slow-burner evoking ease and tension. But when compared with the studio version of Kind of Blue, the music coming out of the Quintet in Antibes and Paris had very little room for space and silence. The highs were dramatic and the lows were filled with powerful phrasing - adding fresh perspective to this landmark album in all of jazz.

Miles would return to the U.S. after these shows with a new sense of musical purpose, spurred on by the bands he took to France, reveling in the stages they played. By the time Miles recorded E.S.P. with the Second Great Quintet in 1965, he proved that he was the barometer by which jazz moved and evolved. Some 60 years removed from these recordings, and more than 30 since his passing, Miles is still the summit and pinnacle, the essence of audacity, the monument of all monuments.

MILES IN FRANCE SET LISTS

MILES DAVIS QUINTET

The Bootleg Series, Vol. 8

Festival Mondial Du Jazz, Antibes/Juan-Les-Pins, July 26, 1963

1. Introduction by André Francis (:46)

2. So What (9:46)

3. All Blues (11:59)

4. Stella By Starlight (14:13)

5. Seven Steps To Heaven (11:01)

6. Walkin’ (10:43)

7. My Funny Valentine (9:55)

8. Joshua (11:02)

9. The Theme (2:59)

10. Closing announcement by André Francis (0:37)

Festival Mondial Du Jazz, Antibes/Juan-Les-Pins July 27, 1963

1. Introduction by André Francis (:52)

2. Autumn Leaves (13:55)

3. Milestones (9:23)

4. I Thought About You (11:47)

5. Joshua (11:31)

6. All Of You (16:44)

7. Walkin’ (16:16)

8. Bye Bye Blackbird (16:49)

9. The Theme (6:06)

Festival Mondial Du Jazz, Antibes/Juan-Les-Pins July 28, 1963

1. Introduction by André Francis (1:21)

2. If I Were A Bell (12:46)

3. So What (12:41)

4. Stella By Starlight (15:47)

5. Walkin’ (18:19)

6. The Theme (:28)

Paris Jazz Festival, Salle Pleyel, October 1, 1964 (1st concert)

1. Autumn Leaves (12:49)

2. So What (9:39)

3. Stella By Starlight (11:05)

4. Walkin’ (9:07)

5. The Theme (0:38)

Paris Jazz Festival, Salle Pleyel, October 1, 1964 (2nd concert)

1. All Of You (16:05)

2. Joshua (12:35)

3. My Funny Valentine (12:18)

4. No Blues (13:13)

5. The Theme (1:05)

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