At the end of January Columbia/Legacy released a set of recordings by the Miles Davis Quintet recorded at their 1969 European tour.
The release named Miles Davis Quintet Live in Europe 1969: Bootleg Series Vol. 2 consists of three CDs and a DVD filled with unreleased audio and video material.
Davis’ 1969-1970 quintet, beside the inimitable American trumpeter, features saxophonist Wayne Shorter, pianist Chick Corea, bassist Dave Holland and drummer Jack DeJohnette. They formed in 1968 during the recording of Miles’ albums Filles De Kilimanjaro and In a Silent Way and are known as his ‘third great quintet’.
It’s interesting that no studio material of the quintet in this constellation exists. This CD/DVD set will be the only officially released material of Miles with Shorter, Corea, Holland and DeJohnette, who were at the core of a group of musicians Miles recorded his Grammy awarded 1971 album Bitches Brew with, his first gold status record.
Live in Europe 1969 brings on DVD a color footage of the Berlin concert on 07 November 1969, while the CDs carry recorded concerts played at the Antibes Jazz Festival in France on 25 and 26 July and one played in Stockholm on 5 November.
This is the second edition of rare Miles Davis recordings after the 2011 release Live in Europe 1967, when Miles went on tour with his ‘second great quintet’ featuring pianist Herbie Hancock, saxophonist Wayne Shorter, double bassist Ron Carter and drummer Tony Williams.