That Eric Alper

Six decades later, the music still wows, baffles, and inspires. What happened over two nights in a tiny, unassuming Chicago club under a bakery was a fascinating and unplanned documentation of a pivotal moment in the evolution of Miles Davis’s leadership and sound. Columbia Records and Legacy Recordings, the catalog division of Sony Music Entertainment, today announce the reissue of these legendary recordings: THE COMPLETE LIVE AT THE PLUGGED NICKEL 1965. Arriving January 30, 2026, as a cornerstone moment in the year-long celebration of Miles Davis’ Centennial to come next year, this comprehensive collection will be available as a 10LP or 8CD box set. Pre-orders begin today.

As a preview of the larger collection, a standalone 2LP set, Live At The Plugged Nickel: December 23, 1965 – Second Set, will be released for RSD Black Friday on November 28.

The recordings capture Miles Davis’s Second Great Quintet—featuring Wayne Shorter, Herbie Hancock, Ron Carter, and Tony Williams—at an inflection point. Wayne Shorter was just over a year into his tenure, and the group, fresh off of recording E.S.P., was solidifying into what would become the most transformative small group in jazz. What unfolded on the stage of the Chicago club was not just a performance, but a provocation. Sparked by a pact instigated by drummer Tony Williams to play “anti-music,” the band actively subverted expectations, turning their well-tread setlist inside out. As Miles would later put it, “We found ways to make the old music sound as new as the new music we were recording.” It is the sound of the Second Great Quintet becoming itself—alive, unstable, and always mid-mutation.

Originally released in 1995 as a Mosaic Records limited-edition LP box set, The Complete Live at the Plugged Nickel has been out of print for nearly three decades. The new 10LP edition recreates the Mosaic musical presentation and offers the complete performances—over seven hours of music—in a newly designed slipcase featuring ten individual jackets and a 40-page booklet. An 8CD edition will also be available. Both formats feature new liner notes by Syd Schwartz, who unpacks the radical spirit of the performances, as well as classic material by jazz historian Bob Blumenthal.

“The Plugged Nickel tapes don’t just capture great performances. They document a band revolutionizing improvisation in real time, welcoming surprise, discarding certainty, and turning ‘wrong’ notes into revelations,” remarks Schwartz in the new liner notes. “What unfolded on that stage has become one of the most mythologized stretches in post-bop history.”

The release has only grown in stature since its initial issue. The Guardian hailed it as “Maybe the best-ever representation of ‘the second great quintet’ at work…reinventing small-band jazz with an all-but-psychic flexibility of timing and on-the-fly harmonising.”

Sixty years later, The Complete Live at the Plugged Nickel 1965 returns, humming like a live wire and daring a new generation of listeners to rethink what’s possible.

Track Listing

LP1 – December 22, 1965 – 1st Set

● Side A

○ If I Were A Bell 16:42

● Side B

○ Stella By Starlight 13:09

○ Walkin’ 11:01

LP2 – December 22, 1965 – 1st Set (cont’d)

● Side C

○ I Fall In Love Too Easily 11:43

○ The Theme 10:19

● Side D – December 22, 1965 – 2nd Set

○ My Funny Valentine 16:33

LP3 – December 22, 1965 – 2nd Set (cont’d)

● Side E

○ Four 15:05

○ When I Fall In Love 10:44

● Side F

○ Agitation 13:13

○ ‘Round Midnight 8:42

LP4 – December 22, 1965 – 2nd Set (cont’d) & 3rd Set

● Side G

○ Milestones 14:04

○ The Theme 0:38

○ I Fall In Love Too Easily 11:53

● Side H

○ All Of You 14:38

○ Oleo 6:05

LP5 – December 22, 1965 – 3rd Set (cont’d)

● Side I

○ No Blues 17:35

● Side J

○ I Thought About You 11:03

○ The Theme 8:05

LP6 – December 23, 1965 – 1st Set

● Side K

○ If I Were A Bell 13:29

○ Stella By Starlight 13:09

● Side L

○ Walkin’ 11:01

○ I Fall In Love Too Easily 12:07

○ The Theme 2:50

LP7 – December 23, 1965 – 2nd Set

● Side M

○ All Of You 10:39

○ Agitation 10:48

● Side N

○ My Funny Valentine 13:52

○ On Green Dolphin Street 12:48

LP8 – December 23, 1965 – 2nd Set (cont’d) & 3rd Set

● Side O

○ So What 13:36

○ The Theme 3:28

● Side P

○ When I Fall In Love 13:39

○ Milestones 11:49

LP9 – December 23, 1965 – 3rd Set (cont’d)

● Side Q

○ Autumn Leaves 11:56

○ I Fall In Love Too Easily 11:43

● Side R

○ No Blues 20:06

○ The Theme 0:22

LP10 – December 23, 1965 – 4th Set

● Side S

○ Stella By Starlight 14:16

○ All Blues 12:18

● Side T

○ Yesterdays 15:00

○ The Theme 4:51

CD Tracklist

CD1 – December 22, 1965 – 1st Set

1. If I Were A Bell 16:42

2. Stella By Starlight 13:09

3. Walkin’ 11:01

4. I Fall In Love Too Easily 11:43

5. The Theme 10:19

CD2 – December 22, 1965 – 2nd Set

1. My Funny Valentine 16:33

2. Four 15:05

3. When I Fall In Love 10:44

CD3 – December 22, 1965 – 2nd Set (cont’d)

1. Agitation 13:03

2. ‘Round Midnight 8:42

3. Milestones 14:04

4. The Theme 0:38

CD4 – December 22, 1965 – 3rd Set

1. All Of You 14:38

2. Oleo 6:05

3. I Fall In Love Too Easily 11:53

4. No Blues 17:35

5. I Thought About You 11:03

6. The Theme 8:05

CD5 – December 23, 1965 – 1st Set

1. If I Were A Bell 13:29

2. Stella By Starlight 13:09

3. Walkin’ 11:01

4. I Fall In Love Too Easily 12:07

5. The Theme 2:50

CD6 – December 23, 1965 – 2nd Set

1. All Of You 10:39

2. Agitation 10:48

3. My Funny Valentine 13:52

4. On Green Dolphin Street 12:48

5. So What 13:36

6. The Theme 3:28

CD7 – December 23, 1965 – 3rd Set

1. When I Fall In Love 13:39

2. Milestones 11:49

3. Autumn Leaves 11:56

4. I Fall In Love Too Easily 11:43

5. No Blues 20:06

6. The Theme 0:22

CD8 – December 23, 1965 – 4th Set

1. Stella By Starlight 14:16

2. All Blues 12:18

3. Yesterdays 15:00

4. The Theme 4:51