His pure sound is immediately recognizable. He exuded attitude. Improvisation gave him space to show his sensitivity (not a word often associated with him).
What matters, he is quoted as saying, is how we respond to what’s happening around us: “When you hit a wrong note, it’s the next note you play that determines if it’s good or bad.” Or, as he put it more simply and non-dualistically, “Do not fear mistakes. There are none.”
I got to see him play twice:
1) Berkeley Jazz Festival, 1968. Wearing black, back to audience, impeccably blowing horn thru the Harmon mute. No one did Black Power like Miles!
2) San Francisco’s Both/And Club. Miles creating fusion with his Second Great Quintet - Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter, Ron Carter, Tony Williams. Talk about cooking!
Attitude-plus! At the Both/And he exits the bandstand for bar. The guys play on. He rejoins them whenever-right on cue. Musically it all seemed to fit. Later my date and I are out front. Miles, four feet away at curb, wearing a waist-length fur coat and with some blond chick. Say something to him? You gotta be kidding! Then his red Ferrari drives up and he and the woman get in. Miles speeds off into the night.
Rolling Stone described him as "the most revered jazz trumpeter of all time, not to mention one of the most important musicians of the 20th century."
He’s said he always had music in his head. Thanks for sharing it with us!
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| Click post-retirement, super-star Miles to open to the You Tube Playlist. |
"Bye-bye Blackbird"
"S'posin"
Kind of Blue album (The best selling jazz album of all time with over four million copies sold. In 2009, the US House of Representatives voted 409–0 to pass a resolution that honored it as a national treasure.) -
"So What"
"Freddie Freeloader"
"Blue in Green"
"All Blues"
"Flamenco Sketches"
"Someday My Prince Will Come"
Sketches of Spain (album)
"All of You"
In a Silent Way (album)
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