Miles: the Autobiography ANNOTATION
Miles Davis--a performer famous fornottalking--tells all: from his brilliant musical debut with Charles Parker and Dizzy Gillespie, to his creative encounters with such greats as John Coltrane and Herbie Hancock; from his recording of such classics as Porgy and Bess, to his pioneer work in the jazz fusion movement. Serials in Vanity Fair and Spin Magazine.
FROM THE PUBLISHER
For more than forty years Miles Davis has been in the front rank of American music. Universally acclaimed as a musical genius, Miles is one of the most important and influential musicians in the world. The subject of several biographies, now Miles speaks out himself about his extraordinary life.
Miles: The Autobiography, like Miles himself, holds nothing back. For the first time Miles talks about his five-year silence. He speaks frankly and openly about his drug problem and how he overcame it. He condemns the racism he has encountered in the music business and in American society generally. And he discusses the women in his life. But above all, Miles talks about music and musicians, including the legends he has played with over the years: Bird, Dizzy, Monk, Trane, Mingus, and many others.
The man who has given us some of the most exciting music of the past few decades has now given us a compelling and fascinating autobiography, featuring a concise discography and thirty-two pages of photographs.
FROM THE CRITICS
Publishers Weekly
The brilliant bad man of jazz trumpetry unburdens himself of his hate and anger as well as of his good feelings about life, friendship, sex, drugs, women and cars. ``On almost any score this is a remarkable book,'' observed PW. Photos. (Sept.)
Sacred Fire
Universally acclaimed as a musical genius, Miles Davis was
one of the most influential musicians in the world. He
was also famous for not talking, or for talking only in barely audible,
cryptic, and ill-tempered riddles. But his silence only added
to the mystique created by his genius with a trumpet. Miles was
an embodiment of the arrogant, hedonistic, and immensely talented
jazzman; he was also one of the icons of twentieth-century
black life. His autobiography, written in energetic prose, is a brillliant
telling of a one-of-a-kind life lived furiously.
Miles was born in Illinois in 1926 but grew up in St. Louis,
where his father had a dental practice and where he first learned
to play trumpet in high school. Miles Dewey Davis III was named
after his father, who was named after his father. Miles's parents
(his mother was an organ teacher) were married in Arkansas.
"My mother was a beautiful woman. She had a whole lot of style,
with an East Indian, Carmen McRae look, and dark, nut-brown,
smooth skin. High cheekbones and Indian-like halr... I got my
looks from my mother and also my love of clothes and sense of
style... I got whatever artistic talent I have from her also."
Miles eventually became one of the premier jazz musicians of
all time. The subject of several biographies, Miles here speaks
frankly about himself and his extraordinary life: his drug problem,
the places he's been, the people in his life, as well as the racism he
encountered as a black man and as a musician. Never one to bite
his tongue, he fills the autobiography with candid statements on
everything from race to musicianship (and when he talks about
the two together, as when he states that white men cannot play
the guitar, look out). Quincy Troupe, a poet, journalist, and
teacher who won the 1980 American Book Award for poetry,
perfectly captures Miles's voice, imbuing the book with a crisp,
clear, and melodious narrative. Davis may not come across as the
most pleasant man on earth, but with his riveting anecdotes of
jazz life in the 1950s and 1960s and his outspoken opinions, he is
an undeniably fascinating character.
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