In Person Friday and Saturday Nights at the Blackhawk, Complete

In Person Friday and Saturday Nights at the Blackhawk, Complete
Box set by Miles Davis
Released	June 3, 2003
Recorded	April 21 & 22, 1961
Genre	Jazz, hard bop, post bop, modal jazz
Length	117:29 ("Friday"), 123:51 ("Saturday")
Label	Sony International, Columbia, Legacy
Producer	Irving Townsend (1961) Bob Belden and Michael Cuscuna (reissue 2003)
Miles Davis chronology
Friday Night in Person at the Blackhawk in San Francisco, Complete (2003) In Person Friday and Saturday Nights at the Blackhawk, Complete (2003) Saturday Night in Person at the Blackhawk in San Francisco, Complete (2003)

In Person Friday Night at the Blackhawk, San Francisco, Vol. 1 (CJM 1988 reissue shown) In Person Saturday Night at the Blackhawk, San Francisco, Vol. 2
Live album by Miles Davis Quintet
Released	September 1, 1961[1][2]
Recorded	April 21-22, 1961
Length	53:29, 57:46
Label	Columbia CL 1669 / 1670 (mono), CS 8469 / 8470 (stereo)
Producer	Irving Townsend

In Person Friday and Saturday Nights at the Blackhawk, Complete, also called The Complete Blackhawk, is a 2003 four-disc collection of the 1961 live performances of the Miles Davis Quintet at the Black Hawk nightclub in San Francisco. These sets, performed with recording in mind,^[3] forged new ground for jazz musician Miles Davis, who had never previously been recorded live in a club with his combo.^[4] Material from the four sets was first released simultaneously by Columbia Records on two albums in September 1961, titled In Person Friday Night at the Blackhawk, San Francisco, Volume 1 and In Person Saturday Night at the Blackhawk, San Francisco, Volume 2. Although those albums were subsequently rereleased several times, the complete sets were not commercially available until Sony Records realised a digital mastering of this collection. Simultaneous to this release, the material was made available as two separate double-albums, entitled Friday Night: In Person at the Blackhawk in San Francisco, Complete and Saturday Night: In Person at the Blackhawk in San Francisco, Complete.^[5]

The complete collection, which included liner notes from the original release by Monterey Jazz Festival co-founder Ralph J. Gleason as well as additional notes by jazz trumpeter Eddie Henderson, was critically and commercially well received. The collection peaked at #9 on Billboard's "Top Jazz Albums" chart.

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	(Vol. 1) [6]
Allmusic	(Vol. 2) [7]
Allmusic	[8]
PopMatters	(positive)[9]

In its review of the four-disc compilation, The New York Times indicated that the set was "the gold standard for straight-ahead, postwar jazz rhythm".^[10] AllMusic, praising the "pristine" sound and "lovely" packaging suggested that "no Davis fan should be without these recordings purchased separately or as a set".^[5] The All About Jazz website said that the set was "so fastidiously remastered it sounds live in your living room".^[4]

Complete cover imagery

The original 1961 albums and the 2003 complete reissues (both the 4-disc and 2-disc) displayed a photograph by Leigh Wiener of Davis with his soon to be second wife, Frances Taylor, for whom the song "Fran-Dance" was composed. In a 2001 article in The New York Times, historian Robin D.G. Kelley drew attention specifically to this image, including Davis's position and the picture's use of lighting, as an example of Davis's camera awareness and manipulation of what Kelley termed a cultural "pimp aesthetic".^[11] Kelley argued that such iconic images of Davis help to demonstrate that Davis was a product and representation of "a masculine culture that aspired to be like a pimp, that embraced the cool performative styles of the players (pronounced 'playas'), the 'macks,' the hustlers, who not only circulated in the jazz world but whose walk and talk also drew from the well of black music".^[11] This restoration of the original cover art came after a number of years during which the album was issued using a cover with an atmospheric representation of the exterior of the Black Hawk taken during Davis's performance.

Complete track listing

The track listing for In Person Friday and Saturday Nights at the Blackhawk, Complete reproduces in its entirety the performances of Friday and Saturday nights, April 21 and 22, 1961. Because of space constraints and a desire not to divide sets, the producers of the box set put sessions 1 and 3 together on the first disc, placing the more energetic and lengthier 2nd set on Disc Two.^[4] For the two double-disc sets, the track listing for Friday Night: In Person at the Blackhawk in San Francisco, Complete is that of Disc One and Disc Two, below. For Saturday Night: In Person at the Blackhawk in San Francisco, Complete, it is that of Disc Three and Disc Four.

Except where otherwise noted, all songs by Miles Davis:

Disc One

1. "Oleo" (Sonny Rollins) – 6:56
2. "No Blues" – 17:13
3. "Bye Bye (Theme)" – 2:54
4. "If I Were a Bell" (Frank Henry Loesser) – 12:43
5. "Fran-Dance" – 7:38
6. "On Green Dolphin Street" (Bronislau Kaper, Ned Washington) – 12:12
7. "The Theme" – :44

Disc Two

1. "All of You" (Cole Porter) – 15:47
2. "Neo" – 10:18
3. "I Thought About You" (Johnny Mercer, Jimmy Van Heusen) – 5:04
4. "Bye Bye Blackbird" (Mort Dixon, Ray Henderson) – 9:46
5. "Walkin'" (Richard Carpenter) – 14:16
6. "Love, I've Found You" (Reverend C.L. Moore, Danny Small) – 1:54

Disc Three

1. "If I Were a Bell" (Loesser) – 12:44
2. "So What" – 12:14
3. "No Blues" – 6:27
4. "On Green Dolphin Street" (Kaper, Washington) – 12:04
5. "Walkin'" (Carpenter) – 12:24
6. "'Round Midnight" (Bernie Hanighen, Thelonious Monk, Cootie Williams) – 7:29
7. "Well, You Needn't" (Monk) – 8:02
8. "The Theme" – :18

Disc Four

1. "Autumn Leaves" (Joseph Kosma, Johnny Mercer, Jacques Prévert) – 11:45
2. "Neo" – 12:29
3. "Two Bass Hit" (Dizzy Gillespie, John Lewis) – 4:36
4. "Bye Bye (Theme)" – 3:27
5. "Love, I've Found You" (Moore, Small) – 1:57
6. "I Thought About You" (Mercer, VanHeusen) – 5:31
7. "Some Day My Prince Will Come" (Frank Churchill, Larry Morey) – 9:38
8. "Softly, as in a Morning Sunrise" (Oscar Hammerstein II, Sigmund Rombert) – 8:41

Original CD editions track listing

Except where otherwise noted, all songs by Miles Davis.

Friday Night

1. "Walkin'" (Carpenter) – 14:21
2. "Bye Bye Blackbird" (Dixon, Henderson) – 9:55
3. "All of You" (Porter) – 15:44
4. "No Blues" – 8:53
5. "Bye Bye/The Theme" – 2:42
6. "Love, I've Found You" (Moore, Small) – 1:54

Saturday Night

1. "Well, You Needn't" (Monk) – 8:16
2. "Fran-Dance" – 7:40
3. "So What" – 12:43
4. "Oleo" (Rollins) – 5:18
5. "If I Were a Bell" (Loesser) – 11:10
6. "Neo" – 12:39

Original 1961 vinyl editions track listing

Except where otherwise noted, all songs by Miles Davis.

Friday Night

Side A

1. "Walkin'" (Carpenter) – 14:20
2. "Bye Bye Blackbird" (Dixon, Henderson) – 10:02

Side B

1. "All of You" (Porter) – 10:30
2. "No Blues" – 9:09
3. "Bye Bye/The Theme" – 2:36
4. "Love, I've Found You" (Moore, Small) – 1:59

Saturday Night

Side A

1. "Well, You Needn't" (Monk) – 4:42
2. "Fran-Dance" – 6:06
3. "So What" – 12:44

Side B

1. "Oleo" (Rollins) – 5:12
2. "If I Were a Bell" (Loesser) – 8:40
3. "Neo" – 12:51

Personnel

Performance

• Miles Davis – trumpet
• Hank Mobley – sax (tenor)
• Wynton Kelly – piano
• Paul Chambers – bass
• Jimmy Cobb – drums

Production

• Bob Belden – reissue producer
• Steven Berkowitz – A&R
• Stacey Boyle – tape research
• Harold Chapman – engineer
• Michael Cuscuna – reissue producer
• Howard Fritzson – reissue art director
• Ralph J. Gleason – liner notes
• Eddie Henderson – reissue liner notes
• Patti Matheny – artist coordination
• Seth Rothstein – project director
• Darren Salmieri – artist coordination
• Chuck Stewart – photography
• Irving Townsend – producer
• Mark Unterberger – packaging manager
• Leigh Wiener – cover photo
• Mark Wilder – audio remixing, audio mastering
• Kyle Wofford – artist coordination

Further reading

• In Person Friday Night At The Blackhawk, Complete, Volume I review at All About Jazz
• In Person Saturday Night At The Blackhawk, Complete, Volume II review at All About Jazz

References

External links

• Complete discography information and song samples from Sony's official site
• In Person Friday Night at the Blackhawk at AllMusic
• In Person Saturday Night at the Blackhawk, Vol. 2 at AllMusic
• In Person Friday Night at the Blackhawk, Complete, Vol. 1 at AllMusic
• In Person Saturday Night at the Blackhawk, Complete, Vol. 2 at AllMusic