Stanley Crouch on Miles's fusion period

Based on his latest book, I consider Crouch to be extremely intelligent and knowledgable about all things jazz. That said, I also assume that he's a "jazz purist" who loathes rock music, based on the venom in his dismissal of Miles's fusion period.

 

Stanley Crouch is a grouch - no two ways about it. But the level of venom in his writing about Miles' electric period makes me question if he really understood ANY of Miles' music - ever. Someone here already posted that they basically ignore Crouch's rants and that's my approach. But to try to perpetuate the fiction that Miles "sold out" with the electric stuff is just infantile thinking at best. Yes - Miles chose to use more "modern" instrumentation, but the music created in this period remains some of his most ambitious and confrontational. Its understandable that plenty of folks don't like it, but it is certainly not "easy listening jazz" of the true "sell out", Kenny G. variety.
------ Chris

 

I always found Stanley Crouch to be incredibly pretentious and take his statements with a grain of salt. That whole "purist" mentality stifles creativity by making artists second guess themselves and less likely to experiment and take chances.

While I agree that Miles' electric period is an acquired taste, he made some of the best of music of his life during that era.

My guess is if Miles were still alive today, his would response would be "who the **** is Stanley Crouch?!??"

 

He makes no mention of Crouch in his autobiography, Miles.

 

And, as I noted above, there are significant musical continuities between the Miles Smiles/Nefertiti period (that is literally worshipped by Crouch and Marsalis) and the In a Silent Way/Bitches Brew period. Much of the music on Miles Smiles, Sorcerer, and Nefertiti is very similar to that on the fusion records, it just wasn't played on the dreaded electric instruments. As a matter of fact, the "lost" quintet continued to play versions of second-quintet standards such as "Masqualero" well into the Bitches Brew era.

I will say that I find Crouch to be a very knowledgeable, funny, and witty guy when he is discussing Louis Armstrong or swing or bop in the Ken Burns documentary. His love for and knowledge of that era of the music is very obvious. I just think he has a real blind spot when it comes to fusion, one that is based primarily on non-musical factors such as "selling out" or even the contrast between Miles's fusion-era "hippie" outfits as opposed to his Kind of Blue-era Italian suits and "cool" image, which fit more closely into Crouch's preconceptions about how jazz artists should present their image.

 

That seems very plausible. Even the most insightful individuals have their personal biases. I don't know this, but it's possible that race played a factor, too, as in "Miles changed himself for Mighty Whitey" [Clive Davis and others who stood to profit from Miles appealing to a larger (rock) audience]. Sheer speculation on my part, mind you.

 

One could just as easily make the argument that "Miles changed himself for whitey" by recording the relatively easy-listening (compared to Milestones, anyway) Gil Evans albums in the late 50s. And they would be just as wrong.

 

I don't think that oversight was accidental!

 

I enjoy Stanley Couch's writings. I'm not sure why anyone would expect to agree with everything they read from a reviewer. Wouldn't reading someone who merely echoes all your own opinions be an empty exercise?

That said, I think it's possible that Miles Davis was selling out -- going for a slice of that golden boomer pie that appeared with the post-Beatles album and concert market -- and making beautiful, uncompromised music while reaching out to the electrified masses. It's silly to suggest Miles wasn't concerned about money and image, yet however mercenary his original impulse I wouldn't want to be without IN A SILENT WAY, JACK JOHNSON or BIG FUN.

Sometimes I think his final pre-sabbatical concerts, issued as AGHARTA and PANGAEA, really are the last word in music, period. What is to be said after such apocalyptic, primal sounds?

 

Not much, apparently, as evidenced by Miles's five-year retirement from music after those concerts.

 

It would be interesting to find out if Crouch wrote anything about Miles' electric period while it was happening. He was a big supporter of the avant garde when he came to NYC from CA in the 70's with David Murray, but turned his back on that scene when he hooked up with Lincoln Center. His book on avant garde music, Outlaws and Gladiators, was never published. So maybe he's changed his stripes on Miles also. His appearance in Miles Electric is so provocative that I can't believe the film makers didn't egg him on a bit to make it juicier.
Regarding Wynton, absolutely wrong to dismiss his contemporary musical credentials. Although he is now mostly into repertory and education he also was connected with the avant garde scene in the 70's. He played in Lester Bowie's Trumpet Choir after leaving Art Blakey, but never recorded with them. Again, the Lincoln Center connection. I personally don't care for what he's doing now but unless you know what he knows I wouldn't be too quick to dismiss him.
Finally, on the issue of selling out. I was ranting one evening about how Dave Holland has become so conservative over the years when my wife responded 'Yeah, becoming a jazz musician. Now that's a great career move'. Easy to dismiss these musicians for trying to earn a living unless you've actually done it yourself.

 

Stanley Crouch is more-or-less a contrarian. And like most Devil's Advocates, it's hard to tell if they really mean what they say and write.

Miles Davis' entire career prior to Bitch's Brew was one radical experiment after another: from be-bop to orchestrated Gil Evans stuff to modal jazz. The argument that Davis turned to fusion as a money-making move is a weak one.

 

On comparing Miles going Electric to Dylan: I think Miles was a lot more calculated. Dylan's 60s period was such a whirlwind, I legitimately think Bobby just dug the Electric sounds and wanted to be a part of the excitement that was going down. His motivations may have been purer and combined with his genius and what many regard as the peak of his creativity, Dylan transition to Electric was seamless, beautiful, and exciting. Of course the general public wasn’t quite ready, which makes for an obvious parallel to Miles’ situation. The traditionalists were alienated.

However Miles himself will tell you (via the Bio) that he was making a conscious effort to get into the youth scene, and remain relevant. I think you have to consider Miles was at a much different stage in his career. Dylan was at his commercial and creative peak, Miles was in his forties, previously considered the vanguard of entire movements, a lightning rod of creativity and progress, he was still making great music but he was starting to realize that he was now maybe not on the pulse of what was going down in music. I don’t have any doubt that Miles had legitimate respect for the art of say Jimi Hendrix. Crouch’s position seems to make light of what Jimi and company were doing, and that chasing after that vibe was foolish at best. Miles move to electric was calculated, but that doesn’t mean that it didn’t result in some great music.

Being one of the true artists of the 20th Century Miles was able to create some real magic regardless of the format, not in spite of it. In a Silent Way, Bitches Brew, Jack Johnson, the two live albums from the Winter 75 Japan dates are all a testament to Miles ability to forge compelling, beautiful and raw music. That period however is not without fault, there is plenty of excess and less than stellar moments to be found, not every live album of the era is groundbreaking, or even entertaining to my ears, and there is ample room to criticize a fair amount of Miles’ electric era. That may be more a product of Miles running out of creative juice, inspiration etc. It happens to all of the great prolific artists eventually. To be fair some of these sessions use the sounds of the day to cover for the lack of creative fire. Lastly Miles walking away from and playing less and less horn is tough to swallow for any fan.


I would agree that both Miles and Dylan put their own stamp on electric music and left us all the better for it. How they got there was different, and Miles transition might have not been as innocent or “noble”.

Clay

 

I just wanted to quote that because those thoughts are worth repeating.

 

I think there's more validity to your point that they plugged in at different stages in their careers. I disagree that we can say how innocent or noble either was, and I'd even disagree that it matters. Some of the best art is neither.

 

If Miles really wanted to sell out, wouldn't he have just released instrumental versions of hit rock and roll songs? He could have done 3 minute songs that would have gotten plenty of radio play. One or two tracks per side can make his fusion period hard to get into for those that are new to Miles. That doesnt seem like selling out.

 

Selling out is a myth. There's a story that jazz musicians tell about the guy who tries to put his music over for years without success, so he decides to do something that he knows will sell. He thinks it's crap, but he puts the presentation together and brings it to the record company A&R dude who says 'That's great stuff, we could have used it last week'.
By the way, how many versions of Time After Time are there on the Montreux box set?

 

I would agree that intent, ultimately doesn't have to reflect an outcome, Especially in the case of true artistic genius, lesser artists work may be more strained or transparent. It can be worth noting or reseaching but at the end of the day its the recorded work that matters, the outside influences that facilitated its creation are of intrests to folks like us who disect their favorite artists, But doesn't mean the music doesn't meet the mark. Perhaps the music discussed on this board has left such a mark, that we seek to understand it better by learning the context, and history that lie behind the works. What we all seem to agree on is that Crouch has been so prejudiced by these outside factors he has lost site of the artistic output.

 

I don't gave an answer to your Time after Time question, but doesnt that box collect like 30 years of material?

 

He did, but 15 years later.

 

By that time he was pretty old.