In Person Friday and Saturday Nights at the Blackhawk, Complete

Critical reception

In its review of the four-disc compilation, The New York Times indicated that the set was "the gold standard for straight-ahead, postwar jazz rhythm". AllMusic, praising the "pristine" sound and "lovely" packaging suggested that "no Davis fan should be without these recordings purchased separately or as a set". The All About Jazz website said that the set was "so fastidiously remastered it sounds live in your living room".

Complete cover imagery

The original 1961 albums and the 2003 complete reissues (both the 4-disc and 2-disc) displayed a photograph by Leigh Wiener of Davis with his soon to be second wife, Frances Taylor, for whom the song "Fran-Dance" was composed. In a 2001 article in The New York Times, historian Robin D.G. Kelley drew attention specifically to this image, including Davis's position and the picture's use of lighting, as an example of Davis's camera awareness and manipulation of what Kelley termed a cultural "pimp aesthetic". Kelley argued that such iconic images of Davis help to demonstrate that Davis was a product and representation of "a masculine culture that aspired to be like a pimp, that embraced the cool performative styles of the players (pronounced 'playas'), the 'macks,' the hustlers, who not only circulated in the jazz world but whose walk and talk also drew from the well of black music". This restoration of the original cover art came after a number of years during which the album was issued using a cover with an atmospheric representation of the exterior of the Black Hawk taken during Davis's performance.

Complete track listing

The track listing for In Person Friday and Saturday Nights at the Blackhawk, Complete reproduces in its entirety the performances of Friday and Saturday nights, April 21 and 22, 1961. Because of space constraints and a desire not to divide sets, the producers of the box set put sessions 1 and 3 together on the first disc, placing the more energetic and lengthier 2nd set on Disc Two. For the two double-disc sets, the track listing for Friday Night: In Person at the Blackhawk in San Francisco, Complete is that of Disc One and Disc Two, below. For Saturday Night: In Person at the Blackhawk in San Francisco, Complete, it is that of Disc Three and Disc Four.

Except where otherwise noted, all songs by Miles Davis:

Disc One

1. "Oleo" (Sonny Rollins) – 6:56
2. "No Blues" – 17:13
3. "Bye Bye (Theme)" – 2:54
4. "If I Were a Bell" (Frank Henry Loesser) – 12:43
5. "Fran-Dance" – 7:38
6. "On Green Dolphin Street" (Bronislau Kaper, Ned Washington) – 12:12
7. "The Theme" – :44

Disc Two

1. "All of You" (Cole Porter) – 15:47
2. "Neo" – 10:18
3. "I Thought About You" (Johnny Mercer, Jimmy Van Heusen) – 5:04
4. "Bye Bye Blackbird" (Mort Dixon, Ray Henderson) – 9:46
5. "Walkin'" (Richard Carpenter) – 14:16
6. "Love, I've Found You" (Reverend C.L. Moore, Danny Small) – 1:54

Disc Three

1. "If I Were a Bell" (Loesser) – 12:44
2. "So What" – 12:14
3. "No Blues" – 6:27
4. "On Green Dolphin Street" (Kaper, Washington) – 12:04
5. "Walkin'" (Carpenter) – 12:24
6. "'Round Midnight" (Bernie Hanighen, Thelonious Monk, Cootie Williams) – 7:29
7. "Well, You Needn't" (Monk) – 8:02
8. "The Theme" – :18

Disc Four

1. "Autumn Leaves" (Joseph Kosma, Johnny Mercer, Jacques Prévert) – 11:45
2. "Neo" – 12:29
3. "Two Bass Hit" (Dizzy Gillespie, John Lewis) – 4:36
4. "Bye Bye (Theme)" – 3:27
5. "Love, I've Found You" (Moore, Small) – 1:57
6. "I Thought About You" (Mercer, VanHeusen) – 5:31
7. "Some Day My Prince Will Come" (Frank Churchill, Larry Morey) – 9:38
8. "Softly, as in a Morning Sunrise" (Oscar Hammerstein II, Sigmund Rombert) – 8:41

Original CD editions track listing

Except where otherwise noted, all songs by Miles Davis.

Friday Night

1. "Walkin'" (Carpenter) – 14:21
2. "Bye Bye Blackbird" (Dixon, Henderson) – 9:55
3. "All of You" (Porter) – 15:44
4. "No Blues" – 8:53
5. "Bye Bye/The Theme" – 2:42
6. "Love, I've Found You" (Moore, Small) – 1:54

Saturday Night

1. "Well, You Needn't" (Monk) – 8:16
2. "Fran-Dance" – 7:40
3. "So What" – 12:43
4. "Oleo" (Rollins) – 5:18
5. "If I Were a Bell" (Loesser) – 11:10
6. "Neo" – 12:39

Original 1961 vinyl editions track listing

Except where otherwise noted, all songs by Miles Davis.

Friday Night

Side A

1. "Walkin'" (Carpenter) – 14:20
2. "Bye Bye Blackbird" (Dixon, Henderson) – 10:02

Side B

1. "All of You" (Porter) – 10:30
2. "No Blues" – 9:09
3. "Bye Bye/The Theme" – 2:36
4. "Love, I've Found You" (Moore, Small) – 1:59

Saturday Night

Side A

1. "Well, You Needn't" (Monk) – 4:42
2. "Fran-Dance" – 6:06
3. "So What" – 12:44

Side B

1. "Oleo" (Rollins) – 5:12
2. "If I Were a Bell" (Loesser) – 8:40
3. "Neo" – 12:51

Performance

Production