Miles Davis Told Teo Macero the Melody Was Too Hard, and Macero Kept the Tape Rolling: The Day the Quintet Cut Eddie Harris's "Freedom Jazz Dance"

On October 24, 1966, Miles Davis's quintet went into Columbia's 30th Street studio and recorded "Circle," "Orbits," "Dolores" and "Freedom Jazz Dance." The last was Eddie Harris's tune, which Harris had cut a year earlier for Atlantic on The In Sound, with Ron Carter on bass, the same Carter who now sat in Miles's rhythm section. Producer Teo Macero let the tape run, so the full session reel survives: a 23-minute rehearsal on the 2016 box set Freedom Jazz Dance: The Bootleg Series, Vol. 5, against the 7-minute master that reached Miles Smiles. On the reel, Miles complains that the melody is too hard for him, and Macero answers, "Yes you can." He also advised Herbie Hancock to sit on his left hand and play only right-hand lines.