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Miles Davis’ Legendary Plugged Nickel Recordings Arrive Today As Definitive 10LP & 8CD Box Sets via Columbia/Legacy Recordings

Landmark 1965 Club Engagement Returns to Vinyl & CD for First Time in 30 Years

Featuring New Liner Notes by Syd Schwartz & Classic Essay by Jazz Historian Bob Blumenthal; Includes 40-Page Booklet and Archival Photography

“A moment of magic from turbulent times… exhilarating in its dense majesty” 

– UNCUT

“An act of seductive deconstruction, five fierce musicians placing themselves in a state of eloquent high-wire crisis”

– MOJO, ★★★★★

“10 LPs worth of soft-touched experimentation, curious chord shifts, rough rhythmic twists, raw-nerved intensity and the guesswork of chance”

– JazzTimes

“The ability to revisit the exact moment that five musicians rewrote the language of modern music is a listening experience to be cherished" 

– Aquarium Drunkard

 

January 30, 2026 — Sixty years after Miles Davis and his Second Great Quintet detonated expectations across seven sets in a basement club in Chicago, The Complete Live at the Plugged Nickel 1965 is out today as a definitive physical edition—available now via Columbia Records and Legacy Recordings, the catalog division of Sony Music Entertainment. Widely hailed as one of the most illuminating live documents in jazz history, the complete Plugged Nickel performances capture Davis alongside Wayne Shorter, Herbie Hancock, Ron Carter, and Tony Williams at a moment when the band’s language was mutating in real time—elastic, volatile, and eerily telepathic.

 

Originally issued in 1995 as a limited-edition Mosaic Records LP box set and out of print for nearly three decades, The Complete Live at the Plugged Nickel 1965 is now available as a 10LP box set and 8CD box set, cut from digital and presented in deluxe packaging. The 10LP edition recreates the Mosaic musical presentation while expanding the story for a new era: a newly designed slipcase houses ten individual LP jackets and a 40-page booklet featuring new liner notes by Syd Schwartz and classic contextual writing by Bob Blumenthal, alongside archival photography and production credits that underscore the set’s stature as a cornerstone in Davis’ recorded legacy.

 

ORDER LINK HERE

 

The performances themselves are a study in controlled risk. In December 1965, the quintet arrived at the Plugged Nickel with a well-worn repertoire—standards, ballads, blues—and proceeded to turn it inside out. Across “My Funny Valentine,” “Stella By Starlight,” “Walkin’,” “So What,” “All Blues,” and more, the group bends tempo, fractures form, and reassigns roles mid-phrase, making even familiar material feel newly dangerous. Schwartz’s new notes explore the band’s radical spirit and the mythic aura surrounding the engagement, writing, “The Plugged Nickel tapes don’t just capture great performances. They document a band revolutionizing improvisation in real time, welcoming surprise, discarding certainty, and turning ‘wrong’ notes into revelations.”

"The collection’s reputation has only grown since its original release. MOJO calls it “an act of seductive deconstruction,” while UNCUT finds it “exhilarating in its dense majesty.” Today, it stands not only as a towering achievement of modern improvisation, but as an essential chapter in the story of Miles Davis as a bandleader: restless, rigorous, and always in pursuit of the next sound. It offers what Aquarium Drunkard calls “the ability to revisit the exact moment that five musicians rewrote the language of modern music.”

 

As an early pillar of the Miles Davis Centennial year, the release marks 100 years since Davis’ birth in 1926 and helps set the tone for a global celebration of an artist whose influence continues to intensify across music, style, art, and culture. In addition to the 10LP and 8CD box sets, one blistering complete set—Live at the Plugged Nickel: December 23, 1965 – Second Set—was previously released as a standalone 2LP edition for Record Store Day Black Friday and remains available now as an entry point into the larger collection.

 

Track Listing

LP1 - December 22, 1965 – 1st Set

  • Side A

    • If I Were A Bell 16:42

  • Side B

    • Stella By Starlight 13:09

    • Walkin’ 11:01

LP2 - December 22, 1965 – 1st Set (cont’d)

  • Side C

    • I Fall In Love Too Easily 11:43

    • The Theme 10:19

  • Side D - December 22, 1965 – 2nd Set

    • My Funny Valentine 16:33

LP3 - December 22, 1965 – 2nd Set (cont’d)

  • Side E

    • Four 15:05

    • When I Fall In Love 10:44

  • Side F

    • Agitation 13:13

    • ‘Round Midnight 8:42

LP4 - December 22, 1965 – 2nd Set (cont’d) & 3rd Set

  • Side G

    • Milestones 14:04

    • The Theme 0:38

    • I Fall In Love Too Easily 11:53

  • Side H

    • All Of You 14:38

    • Oleo 6:05

LP5 - December 22, 1965 – 3rd Set (cont’d)

  • Side I

    • No Blues 17:35

  • Side J

    • I Thought About You 11:03

    • The Theme 8:05

LP6 - December 23, 1965 – 1st Set

  • Side K

    • If I Were A Bell 13:29

    • Stella By Starlight 13:09

  • Side L

    • Walkin’ 11:01

    • I Fall In Love Too Easily 12:07

    • The Theme 2:50

LP7 - December 23, 1965 – 2nd Set

  • Side M

    • All Of You 10:39

    • Agitation 10:48

  • Side N

    • My Funny Valentine 13:52

    • On Green Dolphin Street 12:48

LP8 - December 23, 1965 – 2nd Set (cont’d) & 3rd Set

  • Side O

    • So What 13:36

    • The Theme 3:28

  • Side P

    • When I Fall In Love 13:39

    • Milestones 11:49

LP9 - December 23, 1965 – 3rd Set (cont’d)

  • Side Q

    • Autumn Leaves 11:56

    • I Fall In Love Too Easily 11:43

  • Side R

    • No Blues 20:06

    • The Theme 0:22

LP10 - December 23, 1965 – 4th Set

  • Side S

    • Stella By Starlight 14:16

    • All Blues 12:18

  • Side T

    • Yesterdays 15:00

    • The Theme 4:51

 

CD Tracklist

CD1 - December 22, 1965 – 1st Set

  1. If I Were A Bell 16:42

  2. Stella By Starlight 13:09

  3. Walkin’ 11:01

  4. I Fall In Love Too Easily 11:43

  5. The Theme 10:19

CD2 - December 22, 1965 – 2nd Set

  1. My Funny Valentine 16:33

  2. Four 15:05

  3. When I Fall In Love 10:44

CD3 - December 22, 1965 – 2nd Set (cont’d)

  1. Agitation 13:03

  2. ‘Round Midnight 8:42

  3. Milestones 14:04

  4. The Theme 0:38

CD4 - December 22, 1965 – 3rd Set

  1. All Of You 14:38

  2. Oleo 6:05

  3. I Fall In Love Too Easily 11:53

  4. No Blues 17:35

  5. I Thought About You 11:03

  6. The Theme 8:05

CD5 - December 23, 1965 – 1st Set

  1. If I Were A Bell 13:29

  2. Stella By Starlight 13:09

  3. Walkin’ 11:01

  4. I Fall In Love Too Easily 12:07

  5. The Theme 2:50

CD6 - December 23, 1965 – 2nd Set

  1. All Of You 10:39

  2. Agitation 10:48

  3. My Funny Valentine 13:52

  4. On Green Dolphin Street 12:48

  5. So What 13:36

  6. The Theme 3:28

CD7 - December 23, 1965 – 3rd Set

  1. When I Fall In Love 13:39

  2. Milestones 11:49

  3. Autumn Leaves 11:56

  4. I Fall In Love Too Easily 11:43

  5. No Blues 20:06

  6. The Theme 0:22

CD8 - December 23, 1965 – 4th Set

  1. Stella By Starlight 14:16

  2. All Blues 12:18

  3. Yesterdays 15:00

  4. The Theme 4:51

 

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