Jump to content

Miles and "Maria"


medjuck

Recommended Posts

I'm listening to a live Miles set from July 13, 1957 and while playing Bye Bye Blackbird he quotes from Leonard Bernstein's "Maria" not just once but twice. What's strange is that West Side Story hadn't even begun it's out of town try-outs by then.  Did Miles hear it early because of Frances' being in the original cast? Did she bring some music home? Did he attend early rehearsals? 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 hours ago, bertrand said:

I totally missed this box. What's in it?

The New Miles Davis Quintet, Cookin, Steamin', Workin', Relaxin' plus a 4th disc of previously bootlegged live recordings.  Concord first released it as a longbox in 2006 but it has been since released in a tradition cube and vinyl.

2 hours ago, mjzee said:

He also quotes "Maria" on the Legendary Quintet Sessions box

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I remembered I have a bootleg vinyl called Miles Tones on Jazz Bird (Jaz-2005) with two versions of Blackbird, allegedly both from Cafe Bohemia.

1) 5/17/58 with Coltrane and Bill Evans. This one indeed has two Maria quotes.

2) 7/13/57 with Rollins (incomplete) - I don't hear a Maria quote.

Now the dates could be wrong, it's a boot. Or there could be other takes of the tune on that day.

I will check out the Losin site later, but right now it seems that all we know is that by 5/17/58, Miles had heard the piece. We also need a more specific timeline on West Side Story.

This kind of reminds me of the discussion of Blakey's Golden Boy bring from the 1963 or 1964. If it was 1963, it means Blakey had early access to the music, which is plausible. In an interview, Wayne says Golden Boy preceded The Body and the Soul, which would place it in 1963.

PS: This bootleg may well have the dates mixed up. That is clearly Coltrane, not Rollins, on a version of Four allegedly from 7/13/57.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...