The Miles Davis Quintet

Miles in France is the eighth installment in the celebrated Miles Davis Bootleg Series and this edition focuses on the birth of the Second Great Quintet in 1963 and 1964. The music heard here represents the sound of an end and a beginning coming through at once. The set contains 5 separate performances of the Miles Davis Quintet spread over 8 LPs or 6 CDs and the energy and depth of feeling in the transcendent playing hint at the special relationship Miles and the group had with the French nation that embraced them in a way their homeland would not. It contains over 4 hours of revelatory, unreleased live music featuring Miles backed by George Coleman (on the 1963 recordings), Wayne Shorter (on the 1964 recordings), Herbie Hancock, Ron Carter and Tony Williams. This set expands on the 1964 live album Miles in Europe which documented the Miles Davis Quintet’s performance at the Festival Mondial du Jazz in Antibes in July 1963. While that album included a single edited set across 2LPs, this includes all three very distinct performances from Antibes along with two never-before-released concerts from October 1964 in Paris, by which time Wayne Shorter had joined the band, so you could hear the Second Great Quintet come together before your ears. The audio has been lovingly mixed and mastered in the highest quality possible.