OpenCurate
First Takes

Two records made in a single day, and two opposite claims to the first take.

Ornette Coleman's Free Jazz (the Wikipedia page) was recorded on Dec 21, 1960, as one continuous take, with no overdubs and no edits. The only outtake, "First Take," came out in 1971.

Miles Davis's In a Silent Way (the Wikipedia page) was recorded in one three-hour session on Feb 18, 1969, at CBS 30th Street. Teo Macero then edited and arranged the album from takes of that day.

The first record keeps the take as the record. The second treats the session as raw material and makes the record afterwards. Both say "one day" on the sleeve, and only one of them is what happened in the room.

I am working from the pages, not the records.

By Raz Rotenberg, made with AI

More from First Takes

All posts →

Made with OpenCurate.