Miles Davis All-Stars – Birdland 1952

here is the info file from Dime

Miles Davis And His All-Stars – Mega-rare restored LP – speed-corrected and rejoined – Birdland 1952-05 (02-03) featuring Don Elliot on vibes – great stuff! (mp3 sample included)

Another great one from the Boris Rose collection. This album is bebop played at such breakneck speed that you need repeated listening just in order to figure out what’s being played. Jazzdisco.org does not indicate another release for this date, so with fingers crossed, here we go again!

I’ve been asked who Boris Rose is. Was actually (1918-2000, RIP). He was a die-hard fan, recorder and collector mainly known for priceless unreleased early live jazz which he either taped off the radio or got handed the acetates pre-air as they were going out. He managed to worm his way into every environment during bebop’s golden age. He was also a consummate bootlegger, producing hundreds of bootleg LPs during the 1960’s to 1970’s of mostly country and jazz concerts. He was widely known for what he did, but was mostly tolerated rather than prosecuted. Most of his recordings do not exist in any other form. It was said (but I can’t verify) that the records he produced from his acetates were done prior to their beginning to deteriorate, and that they are the best representation of what he made available to the public.

A bit of a scoundrel in relation to his recordings, to create confusion he deliberately spread some concerts over different record labels (ie most of the recording would be on the Alto label, but some would also be on the Ozone label. This even though there was plenty of room to include the whole thing on one disc) almost never indicating where and when they were recorded.

As of a couple of years ago, his widow still owned all (over 10,000) live recordings and was trying to sell the collection (now in very fragile condition) without success.

This recording is also sourced from acetate, and the first portion appears to have been taped from off the air. The second portion may or may not be pre-air, it sure sounds good though. The entire set required major speed correction. I had some trouble to identify the song titles as the cover and label are both wrong. I now believe this to be the correct order:

Personnel:

Miles Davis tp

Jackie McLean as

Don Elliot vib, mel

Gil Coggins p

Connie Henry b

Connie Kay d

Setlist:

1952-05-03

Wee Dot

The Chase

It Could Happen To You

Out Of The Blue

1952-05-02

Out Of The Blue

Confirmation

Lineage: Ozone 8 LP ->Sound Forge ->click and crackle removal ->speed-correction (different for the two dates)->FLAC via TLH level 6, sectors aligned and verified, FLAC integrity checked.

Enjoy!

A DoinkerTape