05/16/2026
May 14, 1969 ~ Columbia Studios on 52nd Street, NYC
โ๐๐ช๐ต๐ค๐ฉ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ฅ ๐ซ๐ถ๐ด๐ต ๐ง๐ช๐ฏ๐ช๐ด๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ข ๐ด๐ฆ๐ด๐ด๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ ๐๐ฆ๐ต๐ต๐บ ๐๐ข๐ท๐ช๐ด,
๐ธ๐ช๐ง๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐๐ช๐ญ๐ฆ๐ด ๐๐ข๐ท๐ช๐ด, ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐๐ช๐ญ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ฉ๐ข๐ฅ ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ
๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ ๐ข๐ณ๐ณ๐ช๐ท๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ข๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ต๐ถ๐ฅ๐ช๐ฐ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐๐ฆ๐ต๐ต๐บโ๐ด ๐ด๐ฆ๐ด๐ด๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ.
๐๐ข๐ญ๐ฌ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐๐ช๐ญ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ช๐ฏ๐ต๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฅ๐ถ๐ค๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐๐ถ๐จ๐ฉ ๐๐ข๐ด๐ฆ๐ฌ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ข,
๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฐ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ฑ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ.
๐๐ข๐ฏ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ช๐ฎ๐ข๐จ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐บ ๐ข๐ธ๐ฆ?โ ~ Billy Cox
The sessions were produced by Miles Davis and Teo Macero, with Devon Wilson also paid for the date. In the liner notes to ๐ฝ๐๐ฉ๐ฉ๐ฎ ๐ฟ๐๐ซ๐๐จ - ๐๐๐ ๐พ๐ค๐ก๐ช๐ข๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ง๐จ,
Betty spoke about Devonโs role:
โ๐ ๐จ๐ถ๐ฆ๐ด๐ด ๐ด๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐๐ช๐ญ๐ฆ๐ด ๐จ๐ฆ๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐ถ๐ด๐ช๐ค๐ช๐ข๐ฏ๐ด ๐ต๐ฐ๐จ๐ฆ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ.โ
Other musicians involved included Harvey Brooks, John McLaughlin, Wayne Shorter, Herbie Hancock,
and Larry Young.
One question often asked about the session is why Jimi Hendrix wasnโt involved, given that Billy Cox and Mitch Mitchell were there. Betty later explained that she didnโt recall Miles asking him.
Addressing the persistent rumors of an affair with Jimi - or Milesโs assumption of one - Betty later recalled: โ๐๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ข๐ด๐ฏโ๐ต ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ๐บ ๐ซ๐ฆ๐ข๐ญ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ด ๐ฐ๐ง ๐๐ช๐ฎ๐ช. ๐๐ตโ๐ด ๐ซ๐ถ๐ด๐ตโ๐ช๐ต ๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ฆ๐จ๐ฐ, ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ฌ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ธ ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฏ? ๐ ๐จ๐ถ๐ฆ๐ด๐ด ๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ง๐ช๐จ๐ถ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ช๐ต ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ต๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ช๐ง ๐ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ฅ ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ข๐ง๐ง๐ข๐ช๐ณ ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ ๐๐ช๐ฎ๐ช ๐๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ณ๐ช๐น ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ข๐ง๐ง๐ข๐ช๐ณ ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ช๐ต๐ฆ ๐๐ณ๐ช๐ค ๐๐ญ๐ข๐ฑ๐ต๐ฐ๐ฏ.โ
The music captured a wild fusion bridge between rock, funk, and jazz. Tracks like โHanginโ Outโ and a fiery version of โBorn on the Bayouโ showcased Bettyโs powerful, unfiltered voice and vision.
Betty remembered the night she first sang one of her originals for Jimi: โ๐๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ด๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐บ ๐ด๐ฐ๐ฏ๐จ๐ดโฆ ๐๐ข๐ฏ๐จ๐ช๐ฏโ ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต, ๐ฉ๐ข๐ฏ๐จ๐ช๐ฏโ ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต, ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ตโ๐ด ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ธ๐ฆโ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐จ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฏ๐ข ๐ฅ๐ฐ. ๐๐ข๐ฏ๐จ๐ช๐ฏโ ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต, ๐ฉ๐ข๐ฏ๐จ๐ช๐ฏโ ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต, ๐ฃ๐ข๐ฃ๐บ ๐ซ๐ถ๐ด๐ต ๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ. ๐๐ฆโ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐จ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฏ๐ข ๐จ๐ฆ๐ต ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ญ ๐ฃ๐ญ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฑ๐ข๐ณ๐ต๐บ ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ ๐ฏ๐ช๐จ๐ฉ๐ต ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐จ, ๐ ๐ด๐ข๐บ ๐ธ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฏโ๐ต ๐จ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฏ๐ข ๐ด๐ต๐ฐ๐ฑ ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ต๐ช๐ญ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ณ๐ข๐ค๐ฌ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ฅ๐ข๐ธ๐ฏ. ๐๐ฐ ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ฏโ๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฌ ๐ข๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฌ๐ช๐ฏโ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต 9 ๐ต๐ฐ 5. ๐๐ฐ๐ณ๐จ๐ฆ๐ต ๐ข๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต ๐ช๐ต, ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ ๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ฃ๐ข๐ฃ๐บ, ๐ค๐ข๐ถ๐ด๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ฆโ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ฏ๐จ๐ช๐ฏโ ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต. ๐ ๐ด๐ข๐ฏ๐จ ๐ช๐ต ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐๐ช๐ฎ๐ช ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ ๐ฏ๐ช๐จ๐ฉ๐ต ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ข๐ณ. ๐๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ๐บ๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ฅ๐บ ๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐ต๐ฆ๐ญ๐ญ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ด๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ช๐ต. ๐๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ข ๐ญ๐ช๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ด๐ช๐ฏ๐ฆ. ๐๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐๐ฆ๐ท๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ. ๐๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ๐บ๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ฅ๐บ ๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ. ๐๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐๐ฆ๐ท๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ข๐ด๐ฌ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ด๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ช๐ต. ๐๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ด๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐จ๐ช๐ณ๐ญ ๐ข๐ด๐ฌ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ด๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ช๐ต. ๐๐ฐ ๐ ๐ด๐ข๐ฏ๐จ ๐ช๐ต ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐๐ช๐ฎ๐ช, ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ซ๐ถ๐ด๐ต ๐ญ๐ข๐ถ๐จ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฅ. ๐๐ฆ ๐ญ๐ข๐ถ๐จ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฅ. ๐๐ฆ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ๐บ ๐ญ๐ช๐ฌ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ช๐ต.โ
Another song recorded during the session was โPolitician,โ originally by Cream. Betty recalled, โ๐๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ณ๐ช๐ค ๐๐ญ๐ข๐ฑ๐ต๐ฐ๐ฏ/๐๐ข๐ค๐ฌ ๐๐ณ๐ถ๐ค๐ฆ ๐ด๐ฐ๐ฏ๐จ. ๐๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ข๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ฐ๐ฏ๐จ ๐ ๐ด๐ข๐บ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ญ ๐ด๐ฆ๐น๐บ, โ๐๐ฆ๐ต ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฃ๐ข๐ค๐ฌ ๐ด๐ฆ๐ข๐ต.โ ๐๐ฐ ๐ข๐ง๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฎ๐บ ๐ฎ๐ข๐ณ๐ณ๐ช๐ข๐จ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐๐ช๐ญ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ฃ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฌ๐ฆ ๐ถ๐ฑ, ๐ ๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐ญ๐ช๐ท๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐๐ข๐ญ๐ช๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฏ๐ช๐ข, ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ค๐ฆ๐ช๐ท๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ข ๐ค๐ข๐ญ๐ญ ๐ข๐ต ๐ข๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต 4 ๐ฐโ๐ค๐ญ๐ฐ๐ค๐ฌ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฏ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ด๐ฐ๐ฏ๐จ ๐ซ๐ถ๐ด๐ต ๐ด๐ต๐ข๐ณ๐ต๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ข๐บ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ. ๐๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ ๐ด๐ข๐ช๐ฅ, โ๐๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ฉ๐ข๐ด ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐๐ช๐ญ๐ฆ๐ดโฆ ๐๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐จ๐ฐ๐ต ๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฑ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ข๐บ๐ด, โ๐โ๐ฎ ๐ฏ๐ข๐ฎ๐ช๐ฏโ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ด๐ฐ๐ฏ๐จ โ๐๐ข๐ค๐ฌ๐ด๐ฆ๐ข๐ต ๐๐ฆ๐ต๐ต๐บ.โโ ๐๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ช๐ต ๐ค๐ข๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ง๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฎ ๐ฎ๐บ ๐ด๐ข๐บ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ, โ๐๐ฆ๐ต ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฃ๐ข๐ค๐ฌ๐ด๐ฆ๐ข๐ตโ ๐ฐ๐ฏ โ๐๐ฐ๐ญ๐ช๐ต๐ช๐ค๐ช๐ข๐ฏ.โ ๐๐ต ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ๐บ ๐ข๐ง๐ง๐ฆ๐ค๐ต๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฉ๐ช๐ฎ, ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ฌ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ธ ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฏ? ๐๐ต ๐ด๐ต๐ถ๐ค๐ฌ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ค๐ณ๐ข๐ธ๐ญ.โ
๐ฝ๐๐ฉ๐ฉ๐ฎ ๐ฟ๐๐ซ๐๐จ - ๐๐๐ ๐พ๐ค๐ก๐ช๐ข๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ง๐จ would not see the light of day until 47 years later, when it was officially released in June 2016.
After the May 14 session, Billy and Mitch headed straight to the Record Plant, where they joined Jimi Hendrix and other musicians to continue recording tracks that would also remain unreleased for decades.
