New master of a radio broadcast from the final European tour by the Second Great Quintet
November 1, 1967
Newport Jazz Festival in Europe
Kulttuuritalo, Helsinki, Finland
MILES DAVIS QUINTET
Miles Davis- trumpet
Wayne Shorter- tenor saxophone
Herbie Hancock- piano
Ron Carter- bass
Tony Williams- drums
introduction 0:00
Agitation (Miles Davis) 0:10
Footprints (Wayne Shorter) 8:06
'Round Midnight (Bernie Hanighen-Cootie Williams-Thelonious Monk) 17:14
Walkin' (Richard Carpenter) 26:37
Masqualero (Wayne Shorter) 35:20
closing announcement and titles 45:47
Yleisradio (YLE) broadcast
1967 was a busy year for the Davis quintet. In the spring there was a tour of the US (although disappointingly there is only one known live recording from this period) and a residency at the Village Vanguard where the quintet was expanded with the addition of saxophonist Joe Henderson, although this too went undocumented. The in-demand Carter was often depped during this period by Eddie Gomez, Albert Stinson, or Buster Williams. There were also recording sessions that yielded more than two albums, _Sorcerer_ in May and _Nefertiti_ in June and July, plus tracks that would end up on the compilation _Water Babies._
In late October the quintet joined promoter George Wein's Newport Jazz Festival in Europe, a package tour that included the Dave Brubeck Quartet, Thelonious Monk's octet, Nina Simone, the quartets of Roland Kirk and Charles Lloyd, Sarah Vaughan with the Bob James Trio, the Herbie Mann and Max Roach quintets, and Gary Burton's Quartet with rising guitar star Larry Coryell. There were seventeen stops on the tour, with the Davis group playing ten of them. Helsinki was the fifth date of the tour for the quintet, following Antwerp, London, Rotterdam, and Stockholm (Antwerp and Stockholm were released on _Live In Europe, 1967: The Bootleg Series, Vol. 1_ [Sony, 2010]), and the group were usually paired with the quintet of free jazz saxophonist Archie Shepp, featuring Jimmy Garrison and Beaver Harris in the rhythm section and two trombonists, Roswell Rudd and Grachan Moncur III.
This seems like an odd pairing; Davis had been critical of much of the free jazz movement- the so-called New Thing- and of Shepp. Miles and his quintet, who elected to play first, were still dressed in the sharp suits familiar from previous tours and, although they now played their set as one continuous, uninterrupted medley, there were still clear melodies and familiar theme-solos-theme structures, even if they were stretched to breaking point. This was a band at the height of their powers, an unparralleled creative unit drawing on all the elements of Davis's recent career: hard bop, modal, and even hints of the avant garde music of which Miles was so suspicious, with an interplay that bordered on telepathy (or, if you prefer, ESP). Writer and photographer Val Wilmer said of the band's London date, "the music was bittersweet perfection."
By contrast, Shepp- dressed in a colourful African style robe- and his group created a theatrical spectacle, performing a continuous set of high instensity free playing. While undoubtedly exciting, it was noted that many people left during Shepp's set. If the intent was for the two quintets to be complimentary it ultimately served to underline the split now occurring in the jazz world.
We posted a 15 minute excerpt from this show back in 2015 that included only Footprints and an incomplete Round Midnight, in less than optimal sound. As with the 1964 Helsinki show we presented a few months ago ( https://youtu.be/hSM2gYGDLOc ), this 1967 concert was recently rebroadcast by YLE radio and we now have the complete show, in much better audio. There were still some issues- Carter is not particularly well registered (indeed, he's barely audiable in the opening couple of minutes) and the overall sound still felt boxy. I've remastered the audio to help bring out the dynamics. Oddly, the rebroadcast duplicated two and a half minutes of Masqualero (basically Hancock's piano solo); this repeated section to the end of the concert also ran at a slightly different speed to the rest. I have corrected both these issues. I also cut down the lengthy spoken introduction.
This would be the final European tour for the quintet. When they returned to the US change was in the air. Between December of 1967 and June 1968 there were thirteen studio sessions, often featuring Hancock and Carter on electric instruments, hints of R&B rhythms and riffs, and with the quintet augmented by additional musicians. By autumn Chick Corea and Dave Holland had replaced Hancock and Carter, and soon after Williams vacated the drum stool for Jack DeJohnette. The 'Lost Quintet' were ready to help Miles write the next chapter of his musical adventures, where he'd meet the challenge of the New Thing head on.
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