Who Opened for Miles Davis Hollywood Bowl Sept '81

[medjuck]

I just got a cd of Miles at the Hollywood Bowl, Sept. 25, 1981. I saw MIles at the Bowl in the early '80s with the Gil Evans Band as the opening act. Much to my disappointment they didn't play together. I'm presuming this is the concert on the cd but I'm not sure. None of the information I can find on the gig mentions any group but Miles' but there must of been another act-- there's only a little more than an hour of music on the cd which seems to be the entire Davis portion of the concert. Was anyone else here at the Evans/Davis concert and was it the on the on the cd?

[Ted O'Reilly]

I am very bad at dates, so I'm not sure, but Rob McConnell and the Boss Brass played at the Playboy Jazz Festival one year, and Miles played later.

I used to travel with the band as sorta sound consultant/road manager and was busy that day, but I do remember meeting Miles backstage. (And Bill Cosby, too).

I wouldn't say RMBB "opened for" Miles because it was a day-long thing, one act following another. Might Spyro Gyra, or Yellowjackets been there too? There was some very loud band on the front of the rotating stage, making it very difficult for the piano tuner to work on the back half, where the Boss Brass were setting up.

[medjuck]

Sounds like fun, but I think the Playboy festival is in the spring. I think I may have been in France in September '81 so I may be recalling a different concert. I'll check my old passports.

[Matthew]

From the records I have, it's listed as just Miles. Here is a link to a Fusion website that has a personal account.

[medjuck]

From the records I have, it's listed as just Miles. Here is a link to a Fusion website that has a personal account.

Thanks. I found this when I was googling for information. Might be the source of the cd. I tried to download it just to see the ticket he mentions but I couldn't get it to work. Hard to believe that even Miles could get away with just a 65 minute concert at the bowl with no supporting act. If I get near a library I'll check out the LA Times review by Leonard Feather which was apparently pretty nasty. Miles later agreed with Feather-- not quite sure why, concert is pretty good though I'm not a fan of later day Miles.

[Matthew]

I think why it was Miles only that evening was that it was part of the "Jazz at the Bowl" series, and if I remember correctly (age tends to play ticks on me now), that series only had one performer on the bill.