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An Impression of Miles Davis

I have happily taken stick for my opinions about Miles Davis and (some of) his music for well over half a century.

He was excellent when it came to picking superb sidemen and arrangers.

He was saturated with sexism (judged by his behaviour).

His ability as a trumpeter drops into the shadows compared with great trumpeters.... Dizzy Gillespie, Freddie Hubbard and many others. Arguably he is not even not in the same class.

Thats my opinion. Now shoot me down...I'm well used to it.
 
He knew when to play, what to play, and what not to play. He also led the way producing some of the most important and influential music of the 20th century. Music should never be about technique, that mindset led to all the awful ‘widdly widdly widdly’ hair metal and fusion of the ‘80s. Miles understood that perfectly.

PS By doing a passible Miles impression (including understanding how much is enough) the door upthread exists on a higher intellectual plane than 92.4% of rock music. I certainly rank it higher than say Led Zeppelin.
 
As much as I like Miles Davis he wasn’t the best of players but he didn’t need to be; he served his music.
 
The most technically proficient trumpeters in past came from Cuba. Raphel Mendez is one, though as far as I know, he did not play jazz. He ran technical rings around everyone else I have heard.

A modern example of a trumpet 'genious' is Wynton Marsalis. His (blindingly great) technique is never used to show off- and always compliments the music. So many young trumpeters I have heard are outstanding, and show great promise.

Miles, on the other hand, decided to (as they say) 'lay out' (i.e. not blow his horn) when he realised that his techincal ability was too challenged. Credit to him in this respect.
 
eguth said:
A modern example of a trumpet 'genious' is Wynton Marsalis. His (blindingly great) technique is never used to show off- and always compliments the music.
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He has spent an entire life being ultra-safe, conservative and traditional though, the polar opposite of Miles who kicked at every boundary and created whole new genres. Marsalis plays the music of the past, Miles never did that, and never even liked returning to things he had created from nothing himself.
 
Wynton Marsalis has a very, very fixed view on what 'Jazz' is. Luckily, it is not a view shared by everyone.
 
I saw him at the Usher Hall a couple of years ago. It was OK but the inclusion of Nicola Benedetti on violin was excellent.

I suppose that Miles' private life was the polar opposite of that of Marsalis. I do like the first Marsalis CD though, not the rest.
 
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I suppose that Miles' private life was the polar opposite of that of Marsalis. I do like the first Marsalis CD though, not the rest.[/QUOTE]

I am unclear about whether it is OK on pfm to quote only part of a quote when replying. Now that I have seen Tony L do it I will do so more often, because I think it leads more effectively to the point (or points) that one wishes to reply to.

Have you heard the Marsalis CD 'Live at the House of Tribes'? I think this is likely to become a classic. One of the finest small band performances I have ever heard.

I don't own and have never owned a CD player. I ordered 'House of Tribes' CD in the British Library Listening Rooms. Hearing it made me (almost) buy a CD player so that I could listen to it at home incessantly- night and day. Luckily I didn't buy one, so my overclogged room with (frightfully overcrowded) LPs does not get even more claustrobulbic and I still have enough space to write my Will and tidy up my affairs without being prevented from writing my Will and tidying up my affairs even more claustrobulbically by a CD player.
 
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