Miles Davis fully embraced possibilities and delved into it. He was criticized heavily from the jazz side. He was supposed to be part of a tradition, but he didn't consider himself part of a tradition.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
Miles Davis was doing something inherently African, something that has to do with all forms of American music, not just jazz.
I first met Miles Davis about 1947 and played a few jobs with him and Sonny Rollins at the Audubon Ballroom in Manhattan. During this period, he was coming into his own, and I could see him extending the boundaries of jazz even further.
One of the things that I loved about listening to Miles Davis is that Miles always had an instinct for which musicians were great for what situations. He could always pick a band, and that was the thing that separated him from everybody else.
Coltrane was moving out of jazz into something else. And certainly Miles Davis was doing the same thing.
Jazz fans love Miles and I love him for a myriad of reasons, but the overviews are always too simplistic.
Miles Davis turned his back to the audience when he came out on stage, and he offended people. But, he wasn't there to entertain; he was all about the music. I kind of do that.
The starting point of all great jazz has got to be format, a language that you can work within that, in some ways, is much tighter than the blues or even gospel. It's all working towards the same destination - the difference being that Miles Davis flew there, and I'm still taking the subway.
Miles Davis was a master. In every phase of his career, he understood that this music was a tribute to the African muse.
We're trying to do what Miles Davis would have wanted us to do, which is approach it as artists with his life as the canvas.
I wanted very much to be Miles Davis when I was a boy, but without the practice. It just looked like an endless road.
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