1970 wasn’t just a pivotal year in the Miles Davis electric timeline – it was a universe away from what the quintet was up to just 4 months prior. Three main factors contributed to the drastic change in tone: Dave Holland switched over to electric bass, Chick Corea began running the Fender Rhodes signal through both an Oberheim ring modulator and Echoplex tape delay, and Brazilian percussionist extraordinaire Airto Moreira joined the live lineup. The effect was stunning: a deeper, harder, more complex groove, and a sonic palette that would blow the minds of the headiest psychedelic warrior.
12.16 – 12.19.1970 The Cellar Door
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…
Explore this show11.15.1970 Philadelphia
The Miles Davis sextet takes a break from its late 1970 college tour to destroy the Electric Factory in Philadelphia.
Explore this showLate 1970 Unknown Venue
A tape of mystery origin such as this one is a rarity in the Miles Davis electric timeline, but we do have a few clues as to the date and venue. The inclusion of “Untitled Original 701004” suggests the performance predated the November 15th Philadelphia gig, by which point the song had been dropped from…
Explore this show10.15 – 10.18.1970 Fillmore West
The Miles Davis septet returned to Bill Graham’s Fillmore West in October 1970 a dramatically different band than the one that shared a 4-night stand with the Grateful Dead earlier in the year. Gone was the effects-laden headiness, unpredictability, and unrelenting intensity that defined those April shows, replaced here by four identical sets built around…
Explore this show10.1970 The Tonight Show
Much like the band’s blistering appearance on the Dick Cavett show a few months prior, the exact recording date of this NBC Tonight Show performance is unknown. Given the septet performed at UCLA on October 10th, it’s safe to assume they recorded this appearance around that date; it officially aired on October 30th. And like…
Explore this show10.4.1970 Seattle
This audience tape from the Seattle Jazz Spectacular captures the band three days after Miles attended the funeral of Jimi Hendrix on October 1st. The date was also a bit of a reunion for Miles and a couple of former sidemen, with the Bill Evans trio opening the Sunday night gig and Herbie Hancock’s proto-Mwandishi…
Explore this show8.29.1070 Isle of Wight
When Dave Holland and Chick Corea joined the Miles Davis live band in August of 1968, the bassist was shocked that the crowd numbered just a few dozen for their opening night in San Francisco. “My expectation of Miles was that him being a great artist, everyplace he played would be absolutely packed. That was…
Explore this show8.18.1970 Tanglewood
The septet’s performance at the Tanglewood Music Center was the finale in a series of “Fillmore at Tanglewood” shows produced by Bill Graham in the summer of 1970. In one of the better pairings of the year, the band shared the bill with The Voices of East Harlem choir and the Graham-managed Santana, and given…
Explore this show8.2.1970 Nassau, Bahamas
This brief, but complete tape from the CBS Records Convention in the Bahamas is a bit of an anomaly. The septet performed a truncated set to an audience of CBS Records personnel and despite no photos, video, or first-hand accounts of the event, this soundboard recording mysteriously appeared decades after the fact. Brief sets weren’t…
Explore this show7.25.1970 Madison Square Garden
On the heels of a mind-melting 8 minutes on the Dick Cavett Show, the Miles Davis septet rolled into Madison Square Garden billed as an “Extra Added Attraction” for headliners Blood, Sweat & Tears. As evidenced by this distant audience tape, the cavernous, likely partially-full boxing arena did the band no favor – even the…
Explore this show7.22.1970 The Dick Cavett Show
Though the exact recording date remains a mystery (it was likely filmed between July 19-22, 1970), this performance of “Directions” from the Dick Cavett show aired on July 22nd to what was surely a gobsmacked television audience. Until footage is released from the ABC Television archive, this low-fi recording is all that remains. The choice…
Explore this show7.6.1970 Central Park
Miles returned to the Wollman Rink in Central Park for the 1970 Schaefer Beer Music Festival nearly a year to the day his quintet performed on the same stage. The Miles Davis septet shared the bill with the Buddy Miles Big Band for matinee and late sets at 7 and 9:30pm, and while there’s no…
Explore this show6.17 – 6.20.1970 Fillmore East
Following a late April swing through the Bay Area and five hyper-productive sessions at Columbia B (Miles’ last studio dates until March ’72), the Miles Davis Septet returned to the Fillmore East for a four-night stand opening for Laura Nyro – the band’s first performances with Keith Jarrett in tow. While Miles’ previous pairing at…
Explore this show4.24.1970 Greek Theater, Berkeley
Just 12 days after blowing minds at the Fillmore West, the Miles Davis sextet dove back into the festival circuit with an afternoon set at the University of California Jazz Fest in Berkeley. Did the band hang out in the bay area between gigs; did they drop in and jam at Keystone Korner; maybe check…
Explore this show4.9 – 4.12.1970 Fillmore West
Having sized up Bill Graham’s Fillmore audience with two nights at Fillmore East the month prior, the Miles Davis sextet arrived at Fillmore West well-prepared for a four-night run opening for the Grateful Dead. They were also riding high on the release Bitches Brew, unleashed just days prior on March 30th, and by all accounts…
Explore this show3.6 + 3.7.1970 Fillmore East
Shortly after the Bitches Brew sessions, Columbia head Clive Davis introduced Miles Davis to Bill Graham, rock impresario and owner of the Fillmore East and Fillmore West. These two nights at Fillmore East were the first of five residencies Miles’ sextet/septet performed at Graham’s East & West venues through 1971 for a total of 20…
Explore this show2.21.1970 Ann Arbor
1970 wasn’t just a pivotal year in the Miles Davis electric timeline – it was a universe away from what the quintet was up to just 4 months prior. Three main factors contributed to the drastic change in tone: Dave Holland switched over to electric bass, Chick Corea began running the Fender Rhodes signal through…
Explore this show
the Heat Warps 