Who is Miles Davis?

Bear with me. This past Sunday I was driving my mother out to see the progress I've made on the reconstruction of the house my wife and I bought. My wife is six months pregnant with our first child, a son and my mother has suggested approximately 1,000 names that she either likes or dislikes. This time around she suggests the name Miles. I told her that I don't think my wife would go for the name because she knows that I'd only want to name him that in honor of Miles Davis. (whose music she isn't overly fond of) My mother, 57, continues to ask me, "Who is Miles Davis?"

I told her that he was an influential jazz musician that I really enjoy. And that he played the trumpet. I was quite surprised that she had never heard of the man before. Had I been asked this question by someone who is interested in music I would have answered much differently. My response would have been something along these lines.

Miles Davis is probably the most unique musician I've ever heard. He had a long career and never stayed in the same place too long. He helped create, define and eventually move on from several different sub genres of jazz. I would be willing to guess that if you take the time to listen to his music you will find something that you will absolutely fall in love with.

So who is Miles Davis? Is he the subject of a joke in an Adam Sandler movie? Is he that guy Don Cheadle portrayed last year? Or is he something else?

Now if you were to describe Miles Davis to someone with no prior knowledge of the man, how would you do it? What would you say to try to get the person to pursue his music? Did you once ask someone this same question and get referred to an album or a period of his career? Looking forward to hearing the responses.

 

He is one bad mother%$&%*#!

 

Reminds me of this classic:

Do You Think It's Weird That Half The People in My Office Have Never Heard of Adele?

 

I would tell people to listen to this:

If they like it, I'd advise them they probably won't like Miles Davis

 

My son is named Miles....

And the fact that one can be a great artist and a bad person is the kind of contradiction it is useful to wrestle with.

Philo

 

He's the most important musician of the 20th century.

 

We named our current cat Miles. The previous kitty was named Bird

 

Send them to Wikipedia.

 

Just play her Kind Of Blue.

 

Show me a great artist and I'll show you a broken soul. Thus it has been and thus it always will be.

As for answering the question posed by the OP, it's simple:

GOOGLE IT

 

Or better yet a few sides of Bitches Brew.

 

Or maybe they just liked the original Match Game.

 

I know this has been said a million time or more, but Miles could get more mileage out of a single note than just about any human on earth. I saw him at Filmore West around 1970 and throughout the whole show he only blew what seemed like a handful of note but GOOD GOD they were massive notes. Totally mind blowing.

 

A jazz musician who was never content to stand still in any one style for very long, kept pushing the boundaries of the music again and again.

 

One badass mother****er

 

He abused you?

 

The Man with the Horn

 

I don't think Miles was a bad person at all. He was a troubled soul like anyone of us. Politicians, terrorists....there you go.

 

The Cheadle movie was a sensationalistic representation of one small fraction of Miles' life. He was so much more than that. It would take at least four or five movies that length to show what he did.
Miles was a man of contradictions. Could be a total a-hole, and then a good person.
Miles is a nice name.

 

I guess he asked himself the very same question several times.

 

I think I'd read someone what you just wrote! (although I would begin with "one of the most unique musicians").

What you recounted reminded me of when I went off the see Miles on what was I think his very last tour date at the Vienne Jazz Festival, France (just before the La Vilette, Paris all-star bash). I asked my 50 year old boss of the advertising agency where I worked, if I could leave an hour early as I had to drive down to Vienne to see a concert. "Who are you going see" he asked. With pride and glee I replied "Miles Davis!!" . "Oh yes" he replied "He's a great pianist". I immediately corrected him and he was suddenly aware how culturally unaware and dumb he had revealed himself to be (the head of an ad agency in the second city of France fer crissakes! ).
Anyway, it was a beautiful warm evening in a Roman amphitheatre, with blue a clear blue sky that turned into a golden sunset as Miles played. He toot-tooted around and gave the crowd the occasional wave as that great band (with Kenny Garrett and Rickey Wellman) belted out their terrific funk.

 

The Man In The Green Shirt

The standard by which all other musicians should be judged, with a very few exceptions like Ennio Morricone.

 

Certainly better than Kilometers.

 

given the scope of his career... who wasn't he?

 

Sorry to nitpick, but...no such thing.



Apart from that, you're right.