Miles had an incredible ability to reinvent himself.
He sure did, but mostly in an organic way, reacting to the scene and the general shifts in the “industry,”
Hey, jumping in a little later, but since I was trying at one point in my life to be a real jazz trumpeter, Miles Davis has always been a target of study. I’m afraid I lost interest in him once he started his “electric” years, but there is a host of material he put out before that which illustrates why he was such a great influence. When I listen to Miles, I’m generally not listening so much for great trumpet chops, like incredible technique - he did have good technique that you can hear more of in his earlier bop-centered stuff - but what I listen for is careful choice of notes, innovating melodies, interaction with other players, and being at the center of jazz changing from more of a dance, swing, big band, and bop music to a more deliberately thoughtful approach. Yeah, I know, I’m going to hear from other jazz fans about the fact that there was plenty of deep, thoughtful stuff going on before Miles, but the people around the period that produced Miles, Monk, Mingus, Coltrane, Hancock, etc were more pointedly deliberaely brain-focused, at least to my ears.
I think some of Miles Davis’ best work are recordings he did with composer/arranger Gil Evans. Just to make sure I had the correct dates, I asked AI, and the response was pretty darn good: “Miles Davis and arranger/composer Gil Evans collaborated on four major studio albums between 1957 and 1963, creating seminal “Third Stream” jazz recordings. The core albums, often recognized as a trilogy plus one, are Miles Ahead (1957), Porgy and Bess (1959), Sketches of Spain (1960), and Quiet Nights (1963).” So whether you like Miles’ playing, hearing Evans’ arranging is great fun.
Maybe a Miles fan can fill in more of the story or correct me. Wasn’t Miles at some music festival and stayed in the stands to watch the more modern acts… saw Sly and the Family Stone and witnessed the enthralled audience… his next recording was Bitches Brew. Not sure of the musical connection but that is what I understand transformed his approach.
Peace
Bruce in Philly
I have never encountered that story. I did read that due to marrying Betty he became introduced to Sly’s music, and Hendrix’s music, and listened to “Stand” and “Dance to the Music” LPs over and over.
I did read him wanting to be popular with the young black audience in a way that he had no longer been, and he saw the BIG money that rock and soul acts were making and wanted to have that sort of commercial appeal and compensation again. He made some misteps. “On the Corner” was so dense and in some ways ahead of the “game” that it did not have the effect he wished. I personally experienced more forward thinking white guys like me into his work of the time than I saw black guys into it. I still listen to those albums of material up through ‘75. I’m glad he went for it. . . I love that music he did before his “retirement.” And it has had a deep influence on music that I love.
Very interesting. From what I’ve seen you post before, I never would have guessed you would have liked Miles’ later years. But I really like how you described it and maybe I’ll take a chance and try some on for size. There have been several artists that I couldn’t stand in earlier years that now I give them more credit than before.
One thing I AM very aware of, and have studied to a large degree, is the civil rights movement of the 1960s (actually started about 1860 and hasn’t finished yet). Several jazz artists, like Nina Simone, Herbie Hancock, Chick Corea, and many others, wanted to express their art in ways that would resonate with the movement. Charles Mingus and Billie Holiday were earlier participants ahead of their times.
Since we’re talking Miles here, how about a few tracks you really like from his electric years, and if you’re so moved, why you like them?
I returned to the United States in late ‘71 after over five years living in Africa as a tween and teen, at age 17. I had been listening to local Ethiopian and then southern African music, and the music played on the BBC, and was into Cream and Hendrix mostly via BBC. When I listened to what my small town American peers were listening to and what was on the radio I didn’t really connect, and then I found two Miles Davis LPs at the library that I checked out several times, “Filles De Kilimanjaro” and “In a Silent Way.” Those two records awakened something in me, it reminded me a bit of African music, and of Hendrix, and had this mysterious allure that I could not resist. That started me off on a journey that piggybacked off the three jazz albums I already had digested (three Atlantic LPs that were given as part of a box of records care package to Swaziland Peace Corps volunteers my father directed, and which one volunteer didn’t want and gave to me). Following Miles and his sidemen drew me into the burgeoning fusion genre, and following persons Miles spoke so highly of like Duke and Bird brought me back into hard bop, bebop and swing. I never course corrected. After decades of jazz I just don’t view other genres with the same passion and value I’m afraid.
I would recommend listening to “Mademoiselle Mabry” on Filles de Kilimanjaro as an entry point. This is in many ways a permutation of Hendrix’s “The Wind Cries Mary” and shows how that rock ballad was a vehicle for a new jazz ballad performance. It has such a sense of gravitas and a sort of roughened beauty that really appealed to me then and still appeals to me. Then I’ll recommend two tracks from Get Up With It, “He Loved Him Madly” and “Ife.” “He Loved Him Madly” as a drawn out dirge with langorous guitars and a sedate expanding soundscape . . . it was very influential, a catalyst for Eno and many other non-jazz figures. “Ife” has a hypnotic groove with a propulsive bass line and I always get swept up in its stops and starts and the wave of improvisations over the blanket of beat. One final recommendation is “Go Ahead John” on Big Fun. At first I was captivated back when that 2 LP was first released by the incendiary barrage of McLaughlin’s guitar wark and the propulsion of DeJohnette’s drumming (made even more driving by the “switcher” that Teo Macero used to bounce it back and forth between left and right). . . but as the years went by I become so attached to and fascinated with the mid-section where MIles plays blues phrases in call and response–with himself–in ways that evoke a Kansas City style dreaminess and inventiveness. That section to this day just pulls me right in and takes hold.
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Re: Civil Rights. I grew up in innercity Philadelphia ages 2 to 11 in a poor white neighborhood that swiftly became a mostly black neighborhood as the years went on. My father was a minister with a predominantly black congregation by the time we left for Ethiopia in ‘66 when he was recruited by the Peace Corps to be an associate director (that’s a simplification of a longer story). He unavoidably became involved in the Civil Rights movement, including a sort of “Freedom Rider” experience to deliver gifts from his church to a denomination in Mississippi. (He told me later in my life that “if looks could kill” I would have been fatherless at an early age due to the hate-filled attention he received on that trip). A vivid time in my memories!
Good golly! I asked and you DELIVERED! Fantastic stories and thanks for the recommendations and explanations of what to listen for. I guess the only difference between us is that I didn’t go so far in moving out of a genre I liked from the beginning - only further in. I’ve even added some genres I didn’t used to care for - like country and even some rap - but certainly in smaller doses than my preferred genres. It’s also interesting how you would list John McLaughlin who I never really liked early on with Jack DeJohnette, who I have always loved. But recently I’ve been listening to more McLaughlin and finding I like him now better than I used to. I guess it’s called age, and experience.
Thanks again for the great replies.
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Well McLaughlin is not in my top ten outside his career-making short time with Miles, but Miles did know how to utilize his power and they made compelling (to me) music together.
I can appreciate a lot of different musics from Willie Nelson to Erykah Badu to Bad Bunny to Opeth. . . but my time is limited and they don’t command my time and attention the way jazz always has and always will. I’m loyal to my loves, whether its my family, friends and certainly lovers, and I’m loyal to my musical loves and don’t waste my time elsewhere. That’s what it feels like when I could be listening to jazz–a waste of my time. Just my own thing, I know what I would rather concentrate on.