Why was Miles Davis's voice so raspy?

I read the first few chapters of a bio on Miles and I plan to read the book about his electric years soon. I can't seem to find any explanation of why his voice was so raspy. Was it just like that naturally? Or due to medical problems?

Just wonderin'...

 

I read once that the rasp was due to damage to his vocal cords he recieved from a punch to the throat in a fist fight after a gig.

 

In his autobiography, Miles claimed that the rasp was a result of an incident where he shouted at someone in an argument just as he was recovering from throat surgery.

 

Yes, I remember reading that too in his autobiography.

 

Bare Trees is correct. According to the biography "So What", by John Szwed, Davis had an operation to remove polyps from his larynx in October 1955. The story on how he damaged his voice soon afterwards will probably always be disputed. I've read that he argued with a club owner, or a cop, or someone in his band - so who knows?

I have an audio tape of Miles on the Steve Allen TV show from November 17 1955. They are talking between tunes and Allen asks Miles what's wrong with his voice. Miles simply whispers "surgery" in an incredibly raspy voice and Allen changes the subject. Probably the look Miles gave him scared him off.

There are radio broadcasts from the late '40s up to 1955 floating around where you can occasionally hear Miles' voice before he damaged it.

 

If I may loosely quote Miles from his autobiography.

"... in Febuary or March 1956, that I had my first throat operation and had to disband the group while recovering. During the course of the conversation I raised my voice to make a point and f***ed up my my voice. I wasn't even supposed to talk for at least ten days, and here I was not only talking, but talking loudly. After that incident my voice had this whisper that has been with me ever since"

Miles, Miles Davis with Quincy Troupe, really a great read. Highly recommended.

Brian

 

I was told long ago it was due to Miles getting in a shouting match with Teo while his throat was healing from a surgical procedure.

 

His voice was shot before he went to Columbia, per the studio patter from earlier albums.

 

In any case, I heard it was from an argument with a producer. I misspoke to say it was Teo.

 

Maybe he made the mistake of getting onto Buddy Rich's bus...

 

The Paris 1949 gig that was later on a Columbia release has Miles announcing the name of a song, as he notoriously began refusing to do not long afterwards.

 

Anger and a few other things...

 

Coc-H+Cl− + NaHCO3 → Coc + H2O + CO2+ NaCl












Crack cocaine

 

I was just watching a documentary last night and they said it was the surgery.
I don't know when the surgery was. 50s?

 

I read that he returned to blowing hard too soon after surgery (thats blowing as in trumpet)

 

Sorry, but that's ********. The "got into a shouting match after polyp surgery" story is well attested, including by Miles himself (who never shied of admitting his own drug use).

 

From yelling at whitey, maybe?

 

I believe some books used to say that the surgery itself was to blame, but recently the common story seems to be that he raised his voice too soon after the surgery, although I don't think we'll ever be certain what conversation this was.

 

The fires of Hell are tough on vocal cords.

 

I didn't mean to offend any delicate sensibilities. I apologize to you, Miles Davis, crack cocaine and the trumpet

 

Gargled liquid glass.

 

There is a story somewhere from one of the musicians who worked with him that he was able to speak somewhat normally. Occasionally Miles would not realize they were in the room and would be talking in close to a normal voice, then would revert to the rasp. Can't remember where I read it, but it doesn't seem too far removed from Miles' personality that he might exaggerate the rasp as part of his 'cool' image.

 

I remember Miles saying "I've had a sore throat for 30 years" on the show Night Music in the 80's.