Miles Davis

thumb|right|For me, music and life are all about style. Miles Dewey Davis III (May 26, 1926 – September 28, 1991) was an American jazz musician, trumpeter, bandleader, and composer. Quotes Quotes are arranged in chronological order 1950s I’ll play it and tell you what it is later. In So What: The Life of Miles Davis John Szwed Random House 2012 9781448106462, and in many other booksSometimes rendered as: I'll play it first and tell you what it is later. During a recording session for Prestige, on the album "Relaxin' with the Miles Davis Quintet" (1956). I can't tell... All those white tenor players sound alike to me. Assessing saxophonist Buddy Collette for one of DownBeats "Blindfold Test" columns, c. 1957, in response to "Cycle," the opening track from Collette's Man of Many Parts; as quoted in The Encyclopedia of Jazz (1960) by Leonard Feather, p. 478 Is that what you wanted, Alfred? Miles Davis asking Blue Note producer Alfred Lion's approval of a recorded performance in Rudy Van Gelder's studio. Miles' was included at the end of "One For Daddy-O" on the Cannonball Adderley album Somethin' Else (March 9, 1958). Quoted in: Jazz Journal International, (1983), p. 12. The music has gotten thick. Guys give me tunes and they're full of chords. I can't play them...I think a movement in jazz is beginning away from the conventional string of chords, and a return to emphasis on melodic rather than harmonic variation. There will be fewer chords but infinite possibilities as to what to do with them. About the new modal style. Interviewed by The Jazz Review (1958); Quotes in Paul Maher, ‎Michael K. Dorr (2009) Miles on Miles: Interviews and Encounters with Miles Davis, p. 18. "You can't play anything on a horn that Louis hasn't played." and "I love Pops" (Louis' nickname) … Louis has been through all kinds of styles. That's good tuba, by the way. You know you can't play anything on a horn that Louis hasn't played — I mean even modern. I love his approach to the trumpet; he never sounds bad. He plays on the beat — with feeling. That's another phrase for swing. I also love the way he sings. In The Jazz Review with Nat Hentoff (1958); also in When I Pick Up That Horn, That's All: The life and music of Louis Armstrong Nat Hentoff Gadfly March/April 2000 http://www.gadflyonline.com/archive/marchapril00/archive-louisarmstrong.html, Miles Davis and American Culture Missouri Historical Society Press Series Gerald Lyn Early Missouri History Museum 2001 9781883982386 75, Miles on Miles: Interviews and Encounters with Miles Davis Musicians in Their Own Words Series Paul Maher, Michael K. Dorr Chicago Review Press 2009 9781556527067 17, and in many other books On Louis Armstrong in a Playboy magazine interview. 1960s When they make records with all the mistakes in, as well as the rest, then they'll really make jazz records. If the mistakes aren't there too, it ain't none of you. As quoted in "Mastersounds Heard Again in New Album; Miles Davis At the Blackhawk (Columbia C2L 20)" by Russ Wilson, Oakland Tribune (December 9, 1961), p. 9. I love Pops, I love the way he sings, the way he plays - everything he does, except when he says something against modern-jazz music. In Playboy to Alex Haley (1962); also in Milestones: The music and times of Miles Davis since 1960 Jack Chambers Beech Tree Books 1983 9780688046460 209, The Playboy Interviews Alex Haley Murray Fisher Ballantine 1993 9780345383006 15, The Miles Davis companion: four decades of commentary Gary Carner Gary Carner Schirmer Books 1996 9780028646121 19, and in Miles Davis and American Culture Missouri Historical Society Press Series Gerald Lyn Early Missouri History Museum 2001 9781883982386 205 What am I supposed to say to that? That's ridiculous. You see the way they can ____ up music? It's a mismatch. They don't complement each other. Max and Mingus can play together, by themselves. Mingus is a hell of a bass player, and Max is a hell of a drummer. But Duke can't play with them, and they can't play with Duke. Now, how are you going to give a thing like that some stars? Record companies should be kicked in the ___. Somebody should take a picket sign and picket the record company. Assessing the Ellington/Mingus/Roach recording of the Ellington-Tizol composition "Caravan", from Money Jungle; in DownBeats "Blindfold Test" (June 18, 1964); reproduced in The Encyclopedia of Jazz in the Sixties (1966) by Leonard Feather, p. 29. Take it off! That's some sad ____, man. In the first place, I hear some Charlie Parker cliches. . . . They don't even fit. Is that what the critics are digging? Them critics better stop having coffee. If there ain't nothing to listen to, they might as well admit it. Just to take something like that and say it's great, because there ain't nothing to listen to, that's like going out and getting a prostitute. [Leonard Feather: This man said he was influenced by Duke Ellington.] I don't give a ____! It must be Cecil Taylor. Right? I don't care who he's inspired by. That ____ ain't nothing. In the first place he don't have the - you know, the way you touch a piano. He doesn't have the touch that would make the sound of whatever he thinks of come off. I can tell he's influenced by Duke, but to put the loud pedal on the piano and make a run is very old-fashioned to me. And when the alto player sits up there and plays without no tone . . . That's the reason I don't buy any records. Reviewing "Lena" from Taylor's Nefertiti, the Beautiful One Has Come in DownBeats "Blindfold Test" (June 18, 1964); reproduced in The Encyclopedia of Jazz in the Sixties (1966) by Leonard Feather, p. 29. 1970s My ego only needs a good rhythm section. In Milestones: The music and times of Miles Davis since 1960 Jack Chambers Beech Tree Books 1983 9780688046460 261"My ego only needs a good rhythm section" is also the title of an interview/article by Stephen Davis for The Real Paper (21 March 1973) On being asked what he looked for in musicians. Coleman Hawkins told me never to play with someone older than me, and I never have. With older players, there's no force, no drive. With younger players, it's not that you know it all, or I know it all—it's I'm trying to learn it all. As quoted in Jazz-Rock Fusion: The People, The Music (1978) by Julie Coryell and Laura Friedman, p. 40 I know what the power of silence is. When I used to play in clubs, everybody was loud; there was a lot of noise. So I would take my mute off the microphone, and I would play something so soft that you could hardly hear it... and you talk about listening. Roy Eldridge did that. He's one of my favorites. As quoted in Jazz-Rock Fusion: The People, The Music, p. 40 The only thing I'm interested in is the music and the musicians. I don't acknowledge applause 'cause I'm giving them something. They're not giving me anything with their applause. Can I write that down? As quoted in Jazz-Rock Fusion: The People, The Music, p. 40 Billie Holiday—she was the nicest woman in the world, you know. All she wanted to do was sing. They picked on her and picked on her to get money out of her. You do drugs 'cause you like to, not 'cause it's a life-style.... They picked on Billie so much. She said, "Miles, come and see me in Long Island." She was in love with one of my kids and his curly hair—he used to ride my bicycle and watch the horse at Aqueduct. She said, "Miles, if they'd just leave me alone; they could have the house—everything." You know the way singers shake their asses now. Billie didn't have to do that. Her mouth was so sensuous; she was pretty and she would say certain words and her mouth would quiver, and she always had this white gardenia and long gloves. As quoted in Jazz-Rock Fusion: The People, The Music, p. 41 1980s If somebody told me I only had an hour to live, I'd spend it choking a white man. I'd do it nice and slow. In: Jet (25 March 1985) During an interview, after growing aggravated about questions on the subject of race. He never wasted a melody. He never wasted a phrase. He and Duke Ellington changed the whole sound. There is no way to describe it because there's nobody on this earth that can do that anymore. What he did to the texture of an orchestration, what he did with a pop song is like writing an original piece. Students will discover him. They'll have to take his music apart layer by layer. That's how they'll know what kind of genius he was. As quoted in "Gil Evans: The Art of Musical Transformation" by Scott D. Reeves, in Annual Review of Jazz Studies (2002), p. 33 Speaking with UPI on March 21, 1988, one day after the death of his friend and collaborator, Gil Evans. For me, music and life are all about style. Miles, the Autobiography (1989) (co-written with Quincy Troupe, p. 398.) I've changed music four or five times. What have you done of any importance other than be white? Miles, the Autobiography (1989) (co-written with Quincy Troupe, p. 371.) At a White House reception in honor of Ray Charles in 1987, this was his reply to a society lady seated next to him who had asked what he had done to be invited. Why'd you put that white bitch on there? In Miles Davis Quincy Troupe Miles: The Autobiography Simon and Schuster 1989 0-671-63504-2, A Miles Davis reader Smithsonian Readers in American Music Bill Kirchner Bill Kirchner Smithsonian Institution Press 1997 255, and Visions of Jazz: The First Century Gary Giddins Oxford University Press 1998 9780199715206 347 To George Avakian after seeing the cover chosen by Columbia for Miles Ahead. 1990s When you are creating your own shit, man, even the sky ain't the limit. Miles Miles Davis Quincy Troupe Simon and Schuster 1990 9780671725822 206; also in The Miles Davis companion: four decades of commentary Gary Carner Gary Carner Schirmer Books 1996 9780028646121 218 Davis was questioning the increasing length of John Coltrane solos, and Coltrane answered "I don't know how to stop." Don't play what's there, play what's not there. Quoted by Dave Holland in Ian Carr w:Ian Carr Miles Davis: A Biography Miles Davis: A Critical Biography William Morrow and Company New York US 1982 176 0-688-01321-X (as: ...Miles knew how to inspire and direct his musicians as these comments from the two Britishers, McLaughlin and Holland, show. ... And Dave Holland: 'What he means is...he's saying "Don't play what's there. Play what's not there"... He's saying, "Don't play what your fingers fall into. Don't play what you would play on an E minor 7th. Don't play that. Play something else. Don't play what you go for. Play the next thing."). Repeated in Roderick Nordell Sketches of Miles The Christian Science Monitor 24 October 1991 https://www.csmonitor.com/1991/1024/24161.html (as: Bassist Dave Holland recalled another nudge to creativity: "Don't play what's there. Play what's not there."), in Mike Zwerin w:Mike Zwerin Miles: Playing in a Minor Key, for Now International Herald Tribune Paris 17 July 1991 1, 3 (as: "Don't play what's there," Miles has said, "play what's not there."), in Mike Zwerin Miles on Film Spin 6 9 December 1990 30 0886-3032 (as: "Don't play what's there," he has said, "play what's not there."). A legend is an old man with a cane known for what he used to do. I'm still doing it. On being called a legend. Quoted in Mike Zwerin Miles: Playing in a Minor Key, for Now International Herald Tribune Paris 17 July 1991 1, 3 as: Legends make legendary remarks, although he doesn't look at it that way. "A legend," he once told me, "is an old man with a cane known for what he used to do. I'm still doing it."; also in: The Yale Book of Quotations Fred R. Shapiro Yale University Press 2006 9780300107982 189 2000s Try taking the fucking horn out of your mouth. In Crazy Rhythm: From Brooklyn and Jazz to Nixon's White House, Watergate, and Beyond Leonard Garment Da Capo Press 2001 9780786752270 406, So What: The Life of Miles Davis John Szwed Random House 2012 9781448106462, , and in many other books It's that goddamned motherfucking 'Machine Gun.' Charles R. Cross, Room Full of Mirrors: A Biography of Jimi Hendrix (2005), 1-4013-0028-6. Davis' response when questioned on what he heard in the music of Jimi Hendrix. He could very well be the Duke Ellington of Rock 'n' Roll. In A Change is Gonna Come: Music, Race & the Soul of America Craig Hansen Werner University of Michigan Press 2006 9780472031474 53 as: he can be the Duke Ellington of our times.And in Miles on Miles: Interviews and Encounters with Miles Davis Musicians in Their Own Words Series Paul Maher, Michael K. Dorr Chicago Review Press 2009 9781556527067 262 as: Do you know who Prince kinda reminds me of, particularly as a piano player? Duke! Yeah, he's the Duke Ellington of the eighties to my way of thinking. On Prince About Miles Davis A lot of Negro style-the style of a man like Miles Davis or Ray Charles or the style of a man like myself is based on a knowledge of what people are really saying and on our refusal to hear it. You pick up on the beat, which is much more truthful than words. 1969 interview in Conversations with James Baldwin edited by Louis H. Pratt and Fred L. Standley (1989) Another place I worked a lot was the Open Door, where we used to go to hear Miles. I didn't go to hear Miles; I went to see his wardrobe, because he had gorgeous clothes. He always played into the drapes and showed complete contempt for the audience. 1994 interview in Conversations with Toni Cade Bambara edited by Thabiti Lewis (2017) I would like to hear more of the consummate melodic master, but I feel that big business and his record company have had a corrupting influence on his material. The rock and pop thing certainly draws a wider audience. It happens more and more these days, that unqualified people with executive positions try to tell musicians what is good and what is bad music. It’s tempting for the musician to prejudice his own views when recording opportunities are so infrequent but I for one am determined to resist the temptation. Bill Evans, on about Miles Davis's change of style to jazz fusion. http://jazztimes.com/articles/20128-miles-davis-and-bill-evans-miles-and-bill-in-black-white. Miles said he looked on his need for constant change as a curse. However, Miles, along with Duke Ellington, in terms of looking for models of how you strategize with a band, have been there constantly in the background for me. Not the Beatles as a construct for a group, not Led Zeppelin, not the Floyd. My guides have always been Miles and Duke. Robert Fripp, on how Miles Davis influenced his leadership in King Crimson. As quoted in a Rolling Stone interview "The Crimson King Seeks a New Court" by Hank Shteamer (15 April 2019). And on one particularly weighty draft he turned in, I told him to go home that night, pour a drink, and listen to some Miles Davis. I told him the thing about Miles Davis is the silences. The notes he doesn’t play. So with that in mind, go take another swing at your draft, find me some silences, and then I’ll get to work. Barack Obama (c. December 2020) recalling advice he'd once given his chief speechwriter. As quoted in "Barack Obama has created a playlist to accompany A Promised Land" by Walker Caplan, The Hub: News, Notes, Talk (21 December 2020). When the world speaks of Miles, the legend, they have no idea who the man really was. The Miles I knew was sensitive and ailing, bruised by the hurts this life metes out. With trembling lips, he told me of the years during his childhood in East St. Louis when he'd been called Blackie by his friends and even some of his family, gazed down upon as a nobody, rendered invisible by his dark hue. He told me of the time, at age thirteen, when he'd been seduced by a grown woman, forced into his first sexual encounter with a friend of a relative. He spoke of the time when his father, a well-to-do dentist, had wanted him to follow in his career path, until a teacher who'd recognized Miles' gift intervened. "Forget it. Little Davis is not going to be any dentist," that teacher told Miles' father. "He's going to be a musician." The first time Miles blew that horn, he'd found his consolation. In playing that trumpet, he did the only thing he knew how, the one thing that made him feel worthy. That is the Miles I knew and, in time, grew to cherish. Cicely Tyson Just As I Am: A Memoir (2021) by Tyson (with Michelle Burford). p. 168 I don't excuse Miles' conduct any more than I dismiss my willingness, consciously or unknowingly, to indulge it. We mortals breathe incongruity. That I chose to stay with Miles is still, in many ways, confounding to me. And yet I've come to realize that Miles' behavior felt sorely familiar, a song, blaring and dissonant, that I'd learned in my early years. [...] My father had taught me the music. And my mother, in her own way, had emphasized each measure, hummed along with the clamor even as she railed against it. "Men will be men," she'd sometimes mutter, following a feud with my father, her way of rationalizing his adultery. [...] And in my Upper East Side high-rise, a world away from the slum of my girlhood and yet overlapping with it, Miles would be Miles. Cicely Tyson Just As I Am, pp. 326-327 Most jazz musicians are happy just to achieve some popularity, but Miles Davis was a genuine icon. Famously fashionable even in his early days – a Davis biography was subtitled ‘The Man in the Green Shirt’ after a particularly stylish album cover – his adoption of jazz-rock in the 1970s and ’80s made him a superstar, bewitching audiences with not just his spare, declamatory trumpet-playing, but also his brooding persona. Dubbed the ‘Prince of Darkness’, he prowled about the stage in extravagantly hip garb, mercurially cueing his heavily amplified ensemble, creating a delicious aura of mystery and occasional menace. Musically, Davis’s foray into fusion divided his fans. Older listeners preferred the Davis of the ’50s and ’60s, whose brilliant bands reinvented and extended the bebop tradition as well as launching such seminal talents as John Coltrane and Herbie Hancock. But change seemed the driving principle of Davis’s artistic and personal life, and embracing rock seemed a necessary progression. 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