Miles on Miles: Interviews and Encounters with Miles Davis (Musicians in Their Own Words)

this book is similar to coltrane on coltrane and likewise consists of interviews - conducted with miles. there is too much emphasis on drugs and not enough on music, the opposite of the coltrane interviews. since miles was not accessible, these articles are as close as we can get to the true miles. the authors indulge in quincy troupe and alex haley bashing akin to extinguishing some one else's candle thinking yours will shine more brightly. most interviewers don't understand miles the protagonist, some might say antagonist. in other words, miles indulges in the aframerican tradition of taking the opposite view or just saying things to rattle the other person's dogma. miles often said negative things about freddie hubbard, such as he has no soul or he almost has a sound. in the case of the latter referring to the tradition of seeking your individual voice. yet, he obviously admired him because he noted that he didn't want freddie to hear him sounding bad and he got freddie his first recording gig. also, he noted that all of the young players sound like freddie, although he admired the most inventive player of the era, woody shaw who is also said to sound like freddie. miles stood out among the many phenomenal players of his age because of his instantly recognizable and individual sound that his father advised him to obtain. there were many great trumpet players before or during miles' era including the ten innovators mentioned by dizzy gillespie. fats navarro had an ethereal sound like miles and clifford brown led to lee morgan and freddie - through dizzy. booker little, donald byrd, clark terry, kenny dorham, bill hardman, eddie gales, don cherry and others were some of the trumpet players on the scene. as miles noted he got his mute playing from diz, reinforcing the idea that there are individual players but there is a collective consciousness or lowest common denominator as they used to say in the 60s. miles reportedly stated that john coltrane played the same thing over and over, but he mentioned him as having a catching sound and as an innovator, appearing to contradict himself. the critics missed badly with charlie parker and john coltrane and didn't do much better with miles. two or the reviews show no understanding of what the music is about and exaggerate the change in miles' music. in fact, miles is like a rock; his tone, attack, phrasing and approach do not change over the years despite the changes going on around him. his best group was with coltrane, cannonball adderley, philly joe jones, red garland and paul chambers and as he once said nobody ever had a group like that. it's hard to find anything earth shaking that's happened in music recently and today we hear the musicians playing the same old thing over and over that we [miles plus] played 40 years ago. to paraphrase miles, the individual voice, originality and innovativeness seem lost with no venues to create anew. miles stated jazz is dead and unlike lazarus doesn't appear arousable..

BEST MILES DAVIS INTERVIEWS IN PRINT

Originally a birthday/Father’s a day gift. Dad loves the book. Fast service!

"Miles On Miles," is a book that does something rare in our times, it allows an important man the opportunity to explain himself and his art; and in the case of a complex artist like Miles Davis this was much needed. Paul Maher and Michael Dorr have compiled 28 interviews with Miles that span his entire career, and the subject matters embrace Music, Jazz Labels, Music Critics, Race, Art, and America. The author's deftly prepare the reader with an incisive introduction that readies us to consider what truly lay beyond and inside an artist who had been labeled with dubious monikers such as, " Prince of Darkness" and "Picasso of Invisible Art." The interviews are refreshing, especially in today's politically correct era. Sure, Davis is at times surly, but he is forthright and willing to examine his own motives and drives; he is not interested in trying to get people to like him, Davis is a serious artist who can't worry about pleasing the listening public. Unlike most of today's commercial musicians, he is willing to talk about racial issues, politics and the state of America, Miles' honest expressions were the articulations of a fearless,courageous man. He is sorely missed today as musicians of talent are constantly insulted and rejected by the business driven forces of popular music. If only Miles could have had a word with them. After finishing this book, I listened to my Miles Davis cd collection for the rest of the night - what more can I say. This book is a must for those that love Miles' music, and for those on the verge of being there. A fascinating read, thanks to Maher and Dorr for a fine job.

Hardcover,326 pages. This book covers interviews with Davis from 1957(a publicity piece done by Columbia Records) thru 1998(a short piece on "Dingo"). In between there are pieces done for everything from The Jazz Review to Newsweek to Rolling Stone to a radio interview. There are only two pieces from the fifties and four from the sixties. As Davis became "popular" the interviews increased throughout the seventies and eighties.The interviews cover some of the same ground that a lot of Davis' fans are familiar with. But in some of the interviews there are revelations not generally known about Davis. One interview I wished could have been reprinted was the 60 Minutes piece from 1989,but CBS wouldn't allow it. Other famous pieces done by DownBeat could not be published either. However,interviews from DownBeat can be found in another book titled "The Miles Davis Reader Interviews and Features From DownBeat Magazine". Together,these two volumes contain a lot of good reading(and pondering)for anyone interested in what made Miles Davis "tick". Another thing that would have been nice is the inclusion of photographs. There are reproductions(small)of magazine covers in which a few of the pieces were published. Even so,this book is a good look into Miles Davis' world as he wanted us to see it,and it's nice to have them all together.

It has been said that Miles on Miles is better than Miles Davis' own autobiography as it plugs in a lot of gaps his book left open. It's a great series of interviews from his early days into his zenith, his drug-laden slump and his 80s resurgence before his passing in 1991. Be prepared for some strong and highly controversial racial views, talk of substance abuse and plenty of swearing but expect a lot of opinions on music, both his own and those around him - good and bad.

If you loved the Music This is a must Miles was Miles ahead of his time