miles davis

sda2mike

19 years ago today, miles davis checked out....i read that he liked hanging out with jerry garcia...THAT would have been a jam!

bklynNupe

:cool:I had the pleasure of meeting Miles in my freshman year while working part-time at Bloomingdales. This was about 8 months before he passed. He was buying a dress for a lady friend. I didn’t know what to say, so I nervously blurted out the first thing that came to mind “what do you think of Wynton Marsalis?” Miles said very plainly, “ he’s a alright trumpet player, but nothing spectacular.”

I guess the reason I came up with that particular question was that I had read a couple of commentaries at the time which Wynton was critical of Miles for not remaining a Jazz “ Traditionalist.” I proceeded to ask for his autograph, he wrote my name, then his;
M I l e s with a little scribbly face blowing a trumpet. It’s on a back of a pamphlet that I still have to this day.

As it could be imagined, we would see famous people in the store all the time, but this was probably the first and only time I felt like a silly young fan meeting someone great. It was really a big deal for me and his music never gets dull. Wynton on the other hand has had just a few performances (e.g.; Live at Blues Alley) that are still worth listening to imo.

vc69

Meeting Miles would have been one of the great all time celebrity encounters. What a trip that guy was. I have met Wynton and Branford (actually several of the Marsalis's) during my time in N.O. and every one of them was a pleasure to work with. I have heard horror stories of working with Miles though.

Norm Apter

Yeah, I've heard loosely, through the grapevine, that Miles could be a real ***hole, but anybody who puts out the following (among so many others) gets a total pass in my book....

Cookin'
Steamin'
Relaxin'
Round About Midnight
Sketches of Spain
Miles Ahead
'58 Miles
Milestones
KOB
Someday My Prince Will Come
Miles Smiles
Nefertiti
In a Silent Way (my personal favorite of his, even above KOB)
**** Brew

I saw Branford interviewed in the Sting documentary Bring on The Night and he did indeed seem like a cool cat, even at that ripe young age

Saw the Marsalis clan (can't remember if Branford was there but definately Jason) perform at my college in Williamsburg, VA back in the early 90s...too conservative cocktail party jazz for my taste...never heard any of Wynton's albums, though.

But to bring the discussion back to the Dead, Branford of course played with Jerry and the boys at least once in 1990 (if I'm not mistaken), as you can hear him on the live recording Without a Net ("Eyes of the World"). I've never heard of Miles jamming with the Dead but there are unofficial live recordings of him playing with Prince in the 80s.

BTW, September is a terrible month for losing legendary musicians..

Miles
Hendrix
Bonzo
Moon the Lune

sda2mike

great posts! from mile's auto-bi, he hung w jerry and the dead in the early 70s. that was when they were all playing at the fillmore. he did not care for steve miller. didn't like the fact that he (miles) had to open for him. so, he was always late, just to piss miller off! called him a 'non-playing white ****' or something like that:D.i like steve miller. but from miles' point, all these guys are rich and famous, did they actually change music? no. it's a great book:D;)