Miles & Me: Miles Davis, the man, the musician, and his friendship with the journalist and poet Quincy Troupe Paperback – Illustrated, September 25, 2018

A very 'short' book--and I am glad it is.This amounts to very short chapters that are reflections of the author's (often time abusive) relationship to Miles--none too interesting.He also postulates some strange thoughts (ie, 'Musicians and black youth don't listen to the blues' -- That might be true about black youth, definitely NOT so for musicians! blues is the root of most American music)Most reprehensibly, he resurfaces an unsubstantiated rumor about Miles being gay. 1) who cares, 2) don't spread rumors and 3) most importantly HE NAMES NAMES of important people Miles is RUMORED to have had sex with--very, very uncool. If you know Miles well enough to write a book about him, you ought to know better.Stick to the Miles autobiography that he wrote with Miles--at least Miles 'drove' that book whereas this one needed a driver other than the author.

Bought this as a valentine's/anniversary gift for my husband and he loved it!

Brilliant!

Quincy Troupe's memoir, "Miles & Me", offered an intimate portrait of jazz legend Miles Davis from his friend’s perspective, yet its structure often leaves the reader confused and left to their own imagination to find what really happened. Through Troupe's own experiences and interactions with Davis, the use of imagery and ethos, the book attempts to offer insight into the musician's life. But relying too much on differing stories weakens the book's ability to thoroughly explore its topic.Troupe's narrative frequently veers off course, leaving readers isolated. At one point, he reflects on his early encounters with Davis, stating, "Our first meeting was like that, unscripted, unheralded, sudden." While this line captures some emotion of their initial interaction, it is unclear as to how Quincy felt and struggles to have a narrative direction. This is shown on the next page where Troupe discusses his admiration for Miles’s music. This change left me confused. Troupe's reliance on these moments fails to create a sustainable narrative, resulting in a disjointed reading experience that leaves readers confused.Furthermore, Troupe's focus on personal stories instead of deep analysis worsens the book's structural flaws. He recounts, "I can remember him [Davis] saying to me, 'Man, you're the only cat who ever got me to talk about my music like this.' I felt honored, of course." While these moments of intimacy and ethos may offer glimpses into Davis's personality, they didn’t add much to our understanding of how Quincy felt other than ‘honored’. Instead, it serves as a distraction.Additionally, Troupe's tendency to indulge in poetic tangents obscures the book's structural flaws. For instance, he describes Davis as "like a tree whose roots run deep into the earth." While vivid, this metaphor offers little insight into who Davis was to Quincy. Instead, it detracts from the book's ability to stimulate deeper thought, leaving me grappling with its shallowness.In conclusion, "Miles & Me" struggled to explore the relationship between Quincy and Miles. Troupe's reliance on disjointed anecdotes, personal musings, and poetic flourishes only pushes the book's ability to offer meaningful insights into the life and legacy of Miles Davis, instead of who Miles Davis was to him. "Miles & Me" often left me to my own imagination and ideas of the story to paint the picture in my head, and as a result left me confused and felt unclear about many details in the story.

Love it

Awesome book

This Book ....I Read Yrs Go.Fascinating and Excellent Read. I was Spell Bound.

After reading his autobiography, thus book is highly recommended as a follow up as it goes into Miles as a person from a viewpoint other than his own. I loved it.