The Miles Davis sextet maintained a steady touring schedule throughout the final three months of 1970, morphing from a relatively loose, borderline feral funk experiment into a taught road-tested ensemble with each successive gig. The scant amount of circulating tapes from this period enforce just how rapid the band’s evolution was. And though there were some truly incredible gigs along the way, the sextet’s four-night stand at the Cellar Door in Washington DC feels very much like a culmination of the journey.

Despite appearing in heavily edited form on the 1971 Live/Evil LP, and in a more comprehensive six-disc Cellar Door Sessions box in 2006, the released material is far from a complete document of the Cellar Door residency. By most accounts, the band performed a total of 12 sets (three per night), 10 of which Columbia recorded, and just six of those sets were released on the Cellar Door box. 352 minutes of material is a feast by any measure, but you can’t help but salivate over the remaining four unreleased/uncirculated sets of music.

Paul Tingen’s remarkably detailed analysis of the Cellar Door shows is a must-read (and frankly, makes my job unnecessary here), but here’s a crash course: For reasons unknown, Airto either wasn’t present or wasn’t mic’d for Wednesday‘s show, which may account for the more focused opening-night performance. The band had also been playing cavernous gyms and concert halls for months, so the intimate club setting allowed them to bring the volume down and play with some welcome nuance. “Funky Tonk” is a nightly highlight of these sets, but it’s especially potent here with some nasty wah’d trumpet from Miles. Head to the footnotes for a breakdown on the weird “Funky Tonk”, “Improvisation” and “Inamorata” naming convention.

Thursday night’s performance is a slow burner with some of Jarrett’s most inspired playing of the four-night stand. The peaks and valleys of “Honky Tonk” are clearer than ever thanks to phenomenal live engineering by Stan Tonkel and Teo Macero from their makeshift mobile studio in the basement of the club. “It’s About That Time” is exceptional here in a completely reimagined form – rivaling some of the best versions from the Lost Quintet.

The band hits its stride on Friday night, with the second and third sets captured on the Cellar Door box. The second set has more dynamics and subtlety and is altogether tighter than previous nights, with Miles once again in great form. His solos became more minimal toward the latter half of the year, and his playing is exceptionally dialed in and powerful here. The third set is wooly, playful and easily among the most confident sets we’ve heard from this lineup. Jarrett owns “Honky Tonk” from end to end, creating a universe in itself across 17 minutes – listen gobsmacked as he ignores Miles’ repeated cues into “What I Say” roughly halfway through. His “Funky Tonk” intro (titled “Improvisation”) is another delight in its bizarre splendor. Overall, the transitions are smooth and the set flows like a river, making it one of my personal favorites of the four nights.

While Miles claimed he phoned John McLaughlin the morning of the Saturday gig and asked him to drive up from New York to join the evening’s performance, some band members insist they knew from the start of the residency that the guitarist would join the final night’s lineup. Either way, Mahavishnu eases his way into the fold with the grace of an invited guest, subtly punctuating the tunes (none of which he knew) with increased ferocity as the set progressed, eventually trading riffs and playing off Henderson to great effect throughout the third set. And though the live material from Live/Evil is exclusively from the fiery Saturday sets, it’s amazing how loose and downright meandering the performances are when heard in context – a testament to Teo Macero’s visionary tape splicing technique that produced the final cuts on Live/Evil.

Setlists & Details

Below is a list of all sets recorded to eight tracks by Stan Tonkel and Teo Macero for Columbia. Presumably, third sets were performed on Wednesday and Thursday, but not recorded. Titles in bold appear on The Cellar Door Sessions 1970 box. – remaining titles are unreleased. On the Cellar Door box, Columbia refers to Jarrett’s solo at the start of “Funky Tonk” as “Improvisation” and “Funky Tonk” itself + the “Sanctuary” closing theme as “Inamorata.” All setlist info via the essential, Miles Ahead.

Wednesday, December 16, 1970
First Set 1. Directions 2. Yesternow 3. What I Say 4. Sanctuary (closing theme)
Second Set 1. Directions 2. Honky Tonk 3. What I Say 4. Sanctuary 5. It’s About That Time 6. Funky Tonk 7. Sanctuary (closing theme)

Thursday, December 17, 1970
First Set 1. Directions 2. Unknown Title (Jarrett and Moreira only) 3. Honky Tonk 4. Sanctuary 5. What I Say 6. Sanctuary (closing theme)
Second Set 1. What I Say 2. Honky Tonk 3. Sanctuary 4. It’s About That Time 5. Funky Tonk 6. Sanctuary (closing theme)

Friday, December 18, 1970
First Set 1. Directions 2. Yesternow 3. It’s About That Time 4. Sanctuary (closing theme)
Second Set 1. Directions 2. Honky Tonk 3. What I Say 4. Sanctuary (closing theme)
Third Set 1. Directions 2. Honky Tonk 3. What I Say 4. Sanctuary 5. Funky Tonk 6. Sanctuary (closing theme)

Saturday December 19, 1970
First Set 1. Directions 2. Honky Tonk 3. What I Say 4. Sanctuary (closing theme)
Second Set 1. Directions 2. Honky Tonk 3. What I Say 4. Sanctuary (closing theme)
Third Set 1. Directions 2. Funky Tonk 3. Sanctuary 4. It’s About That Time 5. Sanctuary

Live/Evil Edits

The following is an overview of how live material from December 19th was repurposed on the Live/Evil LP.

“Sivad” (15:13)
Constructed from edits of a December 19 performance and May 19, 1970 session at Columbia Studio B, New York, NY.

Timing	Source
00:00-00:01	“Directions” (2nd set) 0:00-0:01 (drum roll)
00:02-03:24	“Directions” (2nd set) 11:30-14:44 + “Honky Tonk” 00:00-00:08
03:25-04:14	“Honky Tonk” (studio, May 19, 1970) 00:00-00:49
04:15-09:11	“Honky Tonk” (2nd set) 05:23-10:20
09:12-15:12	“Honky Tonk” (2nd set) 15:13-21:14

“What I Say” (21:09)
Recorded December 19 and issued in unedited form.

Timing	Source
00:00-20:50	“What I Say” (2nd set) 00:00-20:50
20:51-21:09	“Sanctuary” (2nd set) 00:00-00:18

“Funky Tonk” (23:26)
Consists of multiple edits from the December 19 performance.

Timing	Source
00:00-02:54	“Directions” (3rd set) 00:47-03:41 (theme excised)
02:55-04:53	“Directions” (3rd set) 03:54-05:51 (theme excised)
04:54-16:14	“Directions” (3rd set) 06:20-17:39 (theme excised)
16:15-16:50	“Directions” (3rd set) 18:03-18:39
16:51-20:12	“Funky Tonk” (3rd set) 00:00-03:21
20:13-20:18	“Funky Tonk” (3rd set) 03:59-04:04
20:19-23:23	“Funky Tonk” (3rd set) 04:15-07:20

“Inamorata” (26:29)
A fascinating edit consisting of a medley of tunes recorded December 19 with the addition of a low-fi tape presumably recorded by a band member at an unknown gig for the final 3:19. This is where the somewhat confusing Funky Tonk” / “Inamorata” naming convention originates, as the bulk of this medley consists of “Funky Tonk”.

Timing	Source
00:00-16:34	“Funky Tonk” (3rd set) 07:21-23:55
16:35-16:47	“Sanctuary” (3rd set) 01:50-02:02
16:47-23:08	“It’s About That Time” (3rd set) 00:00-06:21
23:09-26:08	“It’s About That Time” 0:00-2:59* Overdub narration by Conrad Roberts first 0:43
26:08-26:28	“Sanctuary” 0:00-0:20*
	(*) The final two sections are not from The Cellar Door.