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- MILES DAVIS:
The music legend
is remembered
© September 2016
Hard to believe, but it’s been 25 years since Miles Davis made his transition on September 28, 1991. Just weeks before his death, Miles appeared at Detroit’s Chene Park with new band members. At a Miles concert, you saw the old, the young, Blacks, Whites, Asians, and kids brought along by relatives to witness a musical treat.
Miles is acknowledged as one of the greatest jazz musicians and innovators to come along. Unless you’re a music historian of sorts, you may not realize how Miles helped to expand the boundaries of jazz. During the 1960s, traditional jazz, which had always been popular, was beginning to lose some of its appeal. At the time, it was getting competition from Motown, the Beatles, rock, Sly and the Family Stone, Hendrix, the California sound, the Memphis sound, and other sounds.
But as he had done before, Miles took jazz in a new direction. Unfortunately jazz purists didn’t understand what he was doing. If he was alive today, Miles would say, “Man, it’s 2016, not 1916, and you can’t play music the way it was played then.”
The first inkling of a new direction form Miles came with the album, “In A Silent Way.” But it was Miles’ “Bitches Brew” that really shook things up. At the time, it became the largest selling jazz album in history. More importantly, it’s appeal went beyond jazz. After the success of “Bitches Brew,” Miles was still looking for a specific sound.
Miles wanted the funky bass of the Motown Sound. But James Jamerson was under contract to Motown. So he picked a Jamerson protege, Michael Henderson. Henderson had been playing for Stevie Wonder when Miles checked him out at a New York club playing for Stevie.
Miles’ groups and his sound continued to evolve. He hit the jackpoint with bass wiz Marcus Miller. Miller was also a great writer and producer, who had penned many great songs with Luther Vandross.
Miles wanted to add guitar players who could “rock it” to his new sound. He initially picked John McLaughlin, the brilliant English guitarist. He later added other guitar standouts like Pete Cosey and sax standouts like Kenny Garrett. The rhythm section around Miles changed, but his trumpet playing was often what you would expect of traditional jazz. The result was called “Fusion.” Fusion would eventually lay the groundwork for “Contemporary Jazz.”
Miles had his critics, mainly jazz purists. But, something had to happen with traditional jazz. The public’s listening habits were changing. Their attention spans were getting shorter and, they wanted to hear music with a beat—something they could move to. They no longer wanted to just sit and listen to 15 or 20-minute tracks. Miles answered that need. You could say he saved jazz from its own limitations.
Miles. In his own words:
On His Approach To Musicians In His Band
“I don’t lead musicians, man. They lead me. I listen to them to learn what they can do best. Like Daryl Jones would play a bass line, and he may forget it. I won’t. I’ll say, ‘Daryl, you did this last night, do it again.’ He’ll go, ‘What?’ I’ll say, ‘It’s right here on the tape of the show.’
On Wynton Marsalis
“We were playing at this outdoor amphitheater that was jam-packed. All of a sudden, I feel this presence coming up on me, this body movement, and I see that the crowd is kind of wanting to cheer or gasp or something. Then Wynton whispers in my ear—and I’m still trying to play—“They told me to come up here.”
“I was so mad at him for doing that shit like that, I just said, “Man, get the fuck off the stage.” He looked a little shocked when I said it to him like that. And then, I stopped the band. Because we were playing some set pieces and when he came up like that, I was trying to give the... <<<<<< N.B from Jumbotweet: auto-truncated at 4K characters on index page - Click here or on the "view" link to see entire jumbotweet! http://www.jumbotweet.com/ltweets/view/148793