An impossibly rare boxing-style concert poster for a March 1960 jazz concert San Francisco’s Civic Auditorium, headlined by the Miles Davis Quintet (with John Coltrane.) This show, billed as Dimensions in Jazz For Swinging Moderns, was Coltrane’s second-to-last US date with Davis’s group; after a three week European tour, he left Davis’s band and went solo.

This era found Miles at his creative peak; just seven months earlier he’d released Kind of Blue, which Wikipedia notes is regarded by many critics as the greatest jazz record, Davis’s masterpiece, and one of the best albums of all time. Its influence on music, including jazz, rock, and classical genres, has led writers to also deem it one of the most influential albums ever recorded.  And four months after this show Davis issue another masterpiece, Sketches of Spain, part of which was recorded just six days after this concert.  Billed here as a quartet, Davis’s band was actually a sextet, with the addition of vibraphonist Buddy Montgomery.

Also on the bill was The Jazztet, featuring Benny Golson and Art Farmer, the Paul Horn Quintet, Virgil Gonsalves and his band, Jimmy Witherspoon and Nina Simone (added to the show after the poster was printed.)

The John Coltrane Reference notes that Davis’s set consisted of “So What,” “Walkin’,” “On Green Dolphin Street,” and “Round About Midnight.”  Ralph J. Gleason, reviewing the concert in the San Francisco Chronicle, felt that Davis’s solos were powerful, and Buddy Montgomery played “beautifully” but not very much.  He noted “Coltrane…is sometimes so complex that the audience cannot hear the solo for the notes.  However, patience and an open mind applied to his music is greatly rewarding.”

The Day-Glo poster displays well, and is in very good condition, with general light toning, staple holes in the top corners and a nail hole top-center, bends to the corners and a minimally noticeable horizontal crease across half the poster at the midpoint. There is some moisture staining visible on the back, only visible on the front in the top right corner. This will frame beautifully.  14″ x 22 1/4″.

The only Kind of Blue-era Miles poster we’ve seen.  With Recordmecca’s written lifetime guarantee of authenticity.