Sammy Davis, Jr. Live Recordings 1949-1988

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Sammy Davis, Jr. (ldr), Morty Stevens (con), Sammy Davis, Jr. (v, tap)

m, n performed as medley.

Sammy Davis, Jr. (v) on a-k, m-n; (tap) on l.

Jack Benny, Tony Curtis, Sammy Davis, Jr., Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra (v)

Jack Benny (v) on b; Tony Curtis (v) on b; Dean Martin (v) on b; Frank Sinatra (v) on b.

These performance were at the SHARE benefit with proceeds to the Children Guidance Centre. The recording as a whole is mostly Dean Martin with a a few songs by Frank Sinatra. "Taking A Chance On Love" contains parody lyrics and features Sammy with Jack Benny, Tony Curtis and others.

Sammy Davis, Jr., Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra (ldr), Ken Lane (p), Sammy Davis, Jr., Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra (v)

Dean Martin (v) on b; Frank Sinatra (v) on b.

Sammy Davis, Jr., Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra (ldr), The Henry Brandon Orchestra (acc), Matty Malneck (con), George Rhodes (p), Sammy Davis, Jr., Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra (v)

Dean Martin (v) on f, h-i; Frank Sinatra (v) on f-g, i.

Sammy Davis, Jr., Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra (ldr), The Henry Brandon Orchestra (acc), Matty Malneck (con), George Rhodes (p), Sammy Davis, Jr., Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra (v)

Dean Martin (v) on e, g-h; Frank Sinatra (v) on e-f, h.

Sammy Davis, Jr., Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra (ldr), The Henry Brandon Orchestra (acc), Matty Malneck (con), George Rhodes (p), Sammy Davis, Jr., Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra (v)

Dean Martin (v) on f, h-i; Frank Sinatra (v) on f-g, i.

Sammy Davis, Jr. (ldr), The Dick Stabile Orchestra (acc), George Rhodes (arr, con, p), Reunald Jones (t), Terry Rosen (g), Michael Silva (d), Johnny Mendoza (bo), Sammy Davis, Jr. (vib, v)

e, f, g;   h, i, j, k, l, m, n;   p, q performed as medleys.

George Rhodes (arr) on t; (p) on a-d, o-u; Reunald Jones (t) on a-d, o-u; Terry Rosen (g) on a-d, o-u; Michael Silva (d) on a-g, o-u; Johnny Mendoza (bo) on a-d, h-u; Sammy Davis, Jr. (vib) on t; (v) on a-s, u.

Gary Fishgall's biography of Davis notes that his stint at the Cocoanut Grove began in October, and that Reprise recorded his opening night's performance. However, another online source lists this performance as recorded on December 14, 1962. While the master numbers seem to fit this date slightly better, master numbers appear not to have always been assigned according to recording date by Reprise.

Sammy Davis, Jr., Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra (ldr), The Antonio Morelli Orchestra (acc), George Rhodes (con, p), Sammy Davis, Jr. (v)

Sammy Davis, Jr., Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra (ldr), The Antonio Morelli Orchestra (acc), George Rhodes (con, p), Sammy Davis, Jr., Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra (v)

George Rhodes (con) on a-b; (p) on a-b.

Sammy Davis, Jr., Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra (ldr), The Count Basie Orchestra (acc), George Rhodes (con), Count Basie (p), Michael Silva (d), Johnny Mendoza (bo), Sammy Davis, Jr., Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra (v), Johnny Carson (bkv)

c, d, e, f, g performed as medley.

The Count Basie Orchestra (acc) on a-b, h-i; Count Basie (p) on a-b, h-i; Dean Martin (v) on i; Frank Sinatra (v) on i; Johnny Carson (bkv) on i.

Sammy Davis, Jr. (ldr), Leighton Noble and His Orchestra (acc), Laurindo Almeida (g), Sammy Davis, Jr. (v)

m, n, o, p, q, r, s;   u, v performed as medleys.

Leighton Noble and His Orchestra (acc) on e; Laurindo Almeida (g) on i-j.

A collection of live performances (of varying audio quality) taken from around 1966. "You're Gonna Hear From Me" features custom-made self-referential lyrics to open Davis' performance.

When singing "My Funny Valentine", Sammy implies the performance is around St Valentine's Day, dating this to around February 1966. He also introduces Laurindo Almeida on "Speak Low", mentioning that they are about to record an album together, indicating that the recording is pre-June 1966.

A reference to Sinatra's then recently-released chart-topper "Strangers In The Night" dates "One For My Baby" to later that year. Sammy's engagement in Lake Tahoe commenced in August. "Where or When" was probably recorded there, as Davis refers to Leighton Noble and His Orchestra, the house band at Harrah's Casinos in Lake Tahoe during the late 60s.

Sammy Davis, Jr. (ldr), The Antonio Morelli Orchestra (acc), George Rhodes (arr, con, p), Reunald Jones, Jr. (t), Benny Powell (tb), John Derose (g), Aaron Bell (b), Buddy Rich, Michael Silva (d), Sammy Davis, Jr. (vib, v)

d, e, f, g, h, i, j, k, l;   n, o, p, q, r, s, t performed as medleys.

George Rhodes (arr) on z, ac, ae; Buddy Rich (d) on ae; Sammy Davis, Jr. (vib) on ae.

These recordings were complied from 6 of Sammy's shows at the Sands Hotel.

Sammy Davis, Jr. (ldr), The Antonio Morelli Orchestra (acc), George Rhodes (con, p), Reunald Jones, Jr. (t), Benny Powell (tb), John Derose (g), Aaron Bell (b), Michael Silva (d), Sammy Davis, Jr. (v)

These two are bonus tracks provided on the Rhino CD reissue of the album "That's All". The songs were recorded amongst the 6 shows taped by Reprise engineers.

Sammy Davis, Jr., Buddy Rich (ldr), The Buddy Rich Big Band (acc), Ernie Freeman, George Rhodes (arr, con), Bob Faust, Chuck Foster, Tony Scodwell, John Sottile (t), John Boyse, Bob Braun, Jim Trimble (tb), Jay Corre, Marty Flax, Tom Hall, Sam Most, Steve Perlow (sax), Barry Zweig (g), Gerry Walters (b), John Bunch (p), Buddy Rich (d), Sammy Davis, Jr. (v)

Some sources claim "Birth Of The Blues" was also recorded at this session, however the 'unreleased' bonus track on the 1996 DCC CD release is actually from the live recordings in May 1966 that became the "That's All" album.

"Please Don't Talk About Me When I'm Gone" features a 40-second interlude beginning at 1:03 in which Sammy rants on a couple of topics including his tight pants, the south of France and "diff'rent strokes for diff'rent folks". It's unknown if this was a UK- or US-only feature on LP. The segment has been edited out of all CD reissues with the exception of the 2004 Warner Jazz CD reissue of "The Sounds of '66".

Sammy Davis, Jr., Buddy Rich (ldr), The Buddy Rich Big Band (acc), Ernie Freeman, George Rhodes (arr, con), Bob Faust, Chuck Foster, Tony Scodwell, John Sottile (t), John Boyse, Bob Braun, Jim Trimble (tb), Jay Corre, Marty Flax, Tom Hall, Sam Most, Steve Perlow (sax), Barry Zweig (g), Gerry Walters (b), John Bunch (p), Buddy Rich (d), Sammy Davis, Jr. (v)

Sammy Davis, Jr. (ldr), Sammy Davis, Jr. (v)

f, g, h, i performed as medley.

These performances are live recordings. Although they are listed in the MGM master catalogue as being bought by MGM from Motown in August 1971, given that the Blood, Sweat and Tears medley (f, g, h, i) was given the master number 72L 3208 by MGM, the recordings may in fact belong with the also unissued live performances MGM recorded in late 1971, which start with master number 72L 3209.

"It Must Be Her" is listed as an instrumental take, with no details as to whether Davis contributes.

A track listed as "Lorado and Talk" is most probably a recording of a Davis monologue along with Sammy singing "Streets of Laredo", which he usually did in while performing his quick draw gun routine.

Sammy Davis, Jr. (ldr), George Rhodes (arr, con), Sammy Davis, Jr. (v)

i, j, k, l, m, n, o, p performed as medley.

The above unissued recordings are listed in the MGM master listings as live performances in Las Vegas from around August 1971. Having just signed for MGM in August 1971, engineers were presumably sent to record Davis in action. Sammy was appearing at the Sands Hotel in early September, so it is assumed these were the performances captured.

On the 18th September, Sammy became ill following a show and was rushed to hospital suffering from what was diagnosed as an enlarged and misaligned liver.

Sammy Davis, Jr. (v)

This performance was at the Operation PUSH (People United to Save Humanity) Exposition, which opened in Chigaco on 27th September, 1972. Rev. Jesse Jackson arranged for Sammy to perform alongside Motown luminaries and celebrities such as Marvin Gaye, The Temptations, Cannonball Adderley, Roberta Flack, Gladys Knight, Nancy Wilson and the Jackson 5.

Having recently embraced (literally) Richard Nixon at the 1972 Republican National Convention in August, Sammy was widely booed while on stage. The performance appears in a documentary film made about the PUSH concert, called "Save The Children".

Sammy Davis, Jr. (ldr), George Rhodes (arr, con), Sammy Davis, Jr. (v)

Both these recordings are live performances found on a K-Tel LP. Beyond this, there is no record of these songs - at least there is no listing for them amongst MGM or Warner masters. They remain something of a mystery!

Sammy Davis, Jr. (ldr), The Australian All-Stars (acc), George Rhodes (arr, con), Sammy Davis, Jr. (v, tap)

d, e;   l, m, n, o, p, q, r performed as medleys.

Sammy Davis, Jr. (tap) on f.

Davis performed two concerts at the Sydney Opera House in August, 1977. The shows were recorded by RCA engineers and material was released over three LPs, two by RCA itself and one released by Warner Bros. Master numbers listed here are only for those recordings which were released at some point by Warner Bros.

The exception to this is the "Frank Sinatra Medley" (l, m, n, o, p, q, r), which has a Warner master number, yet didn't appear on the Warner Bros. release. This is because the medley was planned for the album, but was removed in September, 1977, a month before the October 28th release date.

VAA-7523 is listed for "Talk To The Animals". However, the recording used is actually Davis' Reprise recording (KA-6072) from July, 1967, with audience applause added.

Sammy Davis, Jr. (ldr), George Rhodes (arr, con), Sammy Davis, Jr. (v)

This is the only performance from Sammy's recordings at the Sydney Opera House to appear solely on Warner Bros' "A Live Performance of His Greatest Hits" LP. It does so with the Mike Curb Congregation back-up vocals (from Sammy's studio recording of the same song) apparently added in post-production over the top of Sammy's live performance.

(The same album also inexplicably inserted Sammy's studio recording of "I Can Do That" with applause added, instead of using the live recording of "I Can Do That" used in the RCA Victor release.)

Sammy Davis, Jr. (ldr), The Australian All-Stars (acc), George Rhodes (arr, con), Sammy Davis, Jr. (v)

b, c, d;   h, i, j, k, l performed as medleys.

These performances recorded during Davis' two performances at the Sydney Opera House in August 1977.

George Rhodes (con), Sammy Davis, Jr. (v)

k, l, m, n, o, p performed as medley.

This performance was the closing night of Davis' run in Melbourne. It was filmed and broadcast on Australian televison by Channel Nine as "Sammy Davis Jr In Concert". The show was hosted by Don Lane, and featured in interview with Davis in his dressing room before the show.

Sammy Davis, Jr. (ldr), George Rhodes (arr, con), Clayton Cameron (d), Sammy Davis, Jr. (v, tap)

d, e, f;   g, h, i, j;   k, l performed as medleys.

Sammy Davis, Jr. (v) on a-n, p-r; (tap) on n-o.

Sammy Davis, Jr., Frank Sinatra (ldr), Morty Stevens (con), Fip Ricard (t), Frank Accardo (g), James Leary (b), George Genna (p), Clayton Cameron (d), Sammy Davis, Jr., Frank Sinatra (v)

e, f, g, h;   j, k, l, m, n, o, p, q, r, s, t, u, v, w, x, y, z performed as medleys.

Sammy Davis, Jr. (v) on a-k, m-o, q, s-t, v, x-z; Frank Sinatra (v) on j-m, o-p, r-s, u, w, y-z.

Morty Stevens (con), Sammy Davis, Jr., Liza Minelli, Frank Sinatra (v)

g, h, i, j, k, l, m, n, o, p, q, r, s, t, u, v, w performed as medley.

Sammy Davis, Jr. (v) on a-h, j, m, p, s, v-w; Liza Minelli (v) on g, i, l, o, r, u, w; Frank Sinatra (v) on g-h, k, n, q, t, w.

These selections recording during the run of "The Ultimate Event" in Detroit. The "Style" medley was performed on 1st December, 1988, but the exact date of Sammy's solo performances are not known.

The selections, packaged with behind-the-scenes footage, were broadcast on radio and pay-per-view TV on 10th February, 1989 and released on VHS on 9th July, 1989.

Sammy Davis, Jr., Buddy Greco, Frank Sinatra (v)

Buddy Greco (v) on f; Frank Sinatra (v) on d-f.

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