A rare promotional mailer/handbill, advertising late 1958 dates by Count Basie, and early 1959 shows by Miles Davis and his Sextette, Maynard Ferguson, and others at New York’s preeminent jazz club, Birdland.

This was part of the legendary jazz collection of Rolling Stones drummer Charlie Watts (1941-2022); and sold at auction in 2023 by Christie’s, London.

Davis’s extraordinary sextet at the time included John Coltrane, Cannonball Adderley, Paul Chambers, and Jimmy Cobb, with Wynton Kelly replacing Red Garland on piano after just a couple of nights.  This band, with Bill Evans, would enter the studio just two months after this two week run of shows to begin recording Davis’s masterpiece, Kind of Blue, released in August 1959.

This card is addressed to musicologist and critic Marshall Stearns, founder of The Institute of Jazz Studies and author of The Story of Jazz (1956).  It was sold as part of Lot 524 in the Christie’s auction Charlie Watts: Gentleman, Collector, Rolling Stone.

An exceptional Miles Davis collectible, with superb provenance.  With Recordmecca’s written lifetime guarantee, and a copy of the Christie’s lot label.

5 1/8″ x 8″, on card stock.  Excellent condition, with very light overall toning.