Miles Davis' 20-year association as an artist at impresario George Wein's renowned Newport Jazz Festival is a thriving tradition that will be celebrated with the release of MILES DAVIS AT NEWPORT 1955-1975: THE BOOTLEG SERIES VOL. 4. The four-CD box set, comprised of live performances by Miles' stellar band lineups in 1955, 1958, 1966, 1967, 1969, 1971, 1973, and 1975, in Newport, Rhode Island, New York City, Berlin, and Switzerland.
The newest entry in Columbia/Legacy Recordings' critically-acclaimed Miles Davis Bootleg Series, NEWPORT 1955-1975 clocks in at 296 minutes, nearly four hours of which is previously unreleased. From Miles' debut performance at NJF in 1955 (a hastily arranged jam session featuring Thelonious Monk and Gerry Mulligan, that immediately led to the trumpeter's Columbia signing), to his final public perform¬ance of the '70s in 1975 (at Lincoln Center during NJF-NY, the singular "Mtume" named for Miles' favored percussion¬ist of that decade), the box set traces the ascendance of Miles' music as the ne plus ultra of jazz. The full-length concert performances alone of Miles' famed "Kind Of Blue" Sextet (with Cannonball Adderley, John Coltrane, Bill Evans, Paul Chambers, and Jimmy Cobb), and second great quintet in '66 and '67 (with Wayne Shorter, Herbie Hancock, Ron Carter, and Tony Williams) represent templates that reverberate in jazz and popular music to this day.
| Disc: 1 |
|---|
| 1. Spoken Introductions by Duke Ellington and Gerry Mulligan |
| 2. Hackensack |
| 3. 'Round Midnight (previously released) |
| 4. Now's The Time |
| 5. Spoken Introduction by Willis Conover (previously released) |
| 6. Ah-Leu-Cha (previously released) |
| 7. Straight, No Chaser (previously released) |
| 8. Fran-Dance (previously released) |
| 9. Two Bass Hit (previously released) |
| 10. Bye Bye Blackbird (previously released) |
| 11. The Theme (previously released) |
| Disc: 2 |
| 1. Gingerbread Boy |
| 2. All Blues |
| 3. Stella By Starlight |
| 4. R.J. |
| 5. Seven Steps To Heaven |
| 6. The Theme / Closing Announcement by Leonard Feather. |
| 7. Spoken Introduction by Del Shields |
| 8. Gingerbread Boy |
| 9. Footprints |
| 10. 'Round Midnight |
| 11. So What |
| 12. The Theme |
| 13. Closing Announcement by Del Shields |
| Disc: 3 |
| 1. Miles Runs The Voodoo Down (previously released) |
| 2. Sanctuary (previously released) |
| 3. It's About That Time / The Theme (previously released) |
| 4. Band warming up / voice over introduction |
| 5. Turnaroundphrase |
| 6. Tune In 5 |
| 7. Ife |
| 8. Untitled Original |
| 9. Tune In 5 |
| 10. Mtume |
| Disc: 4 |
| 1. Directions |
| 2. What I Say |
| 3. Sanctuary |
| 4. It's About That Time |
| 5. Bitches Brew |
| 6. Funky Tonk |
| 7. Sanctuary |
