Miles Davis

I learned through the incredibly knowledgeable Theo Cateforis, my History of Jazz professor, something about Miles Davis the man more than Miles Davis the musician. And can you believe it was actually through a fantastic bootleg documentary? Yeah. Bootleg can be all right.

A bright-skinned drummer in the Miles Davis Quintet (his name escapes me but for this blog he can be Drummer) spoke of a show in which Davis was real sick. This was during the fusion between jazz and rock, and so Miles was playing and pushing and playing and pushing his trumpet and his quintet further than the extremes of the music wanted to allow. But of course, it was Miles Davis. And the music allowed the pushing and the playing.

Anyway, Drummer said that on this particular night, Davis was so sick that it was all he could do to play ballads. Miles played ballads at a time in his musical career when ballads just weren't "hot" as we young folk like to say today. Eventually the set got to be too much for the sick Miles and he had to step down. This bright-skinned Drummer went with him.

And Miles looked to Drummer, says Drummer as he recapped for the camera. And Miles said, "Hey Drummer, you know why I don't play ballads anymore don't you?" And Drummer answered, "No" (an answer he would have given even if the truth had been yes. me too.). And Miles said, "I don't play ballads anymore because I love playing ballads." Drummer went on to explain the depth of such a comment, though I would think its water would be obvious.

There's no murkiness in a statement like that. A statement like that is a blue more clear than a Mississippi blue night sky. So clear: Give up what you love. For the sake of better. For the sake of growth. Give up what you love.