SKF NOTE: May 19, 1961, Miles Davis and the Gil Evans Orchestra performed their legendary concert at Carnegie Hall. In 1998 Columbia/Legacy released a 2-CD package of the entire concert with extra songs not included with any earlier releases of the concert.

The 1998 CD booklet includes a photo of the Miles Davis Quintet with the Gil Evans Orchestra onstage at Carnegie Hall. The liner notes list all the musicians onstage that night. Except there is a mystery. Elvin Jones is not among the musicians listed in the ’98 CD booklet. Yet, the CD booklet photo by Vernon Smith shows Elvin in the upper left of the photo sitting in the percussion section, a pair of maraccas in hand.

Last night I came across the Miles Carnegie Hall CD again while going through a box of CD’s hauled up from my basement. Renewing my quest to solve this mystery, to give Elvin credit where credit’s due, I found my answer. This time, 18 years since buying the CD, 55 years — almost to the day — since Miles’s Carnegie Hall Concert — I found the official Miles Davis web site credits Elvin Jones as a percussionist.

Has Columbia corrected their Miles Davis at Carnegie Hall CD booklets? Or will the photo mystery continue a while for future CD buyers?

— end —