How many folks here have met Miles Davis?

[fasstrack]

I don’t know if I met Miles or not...twice.

One time it was at the Colonial Tavern in Toronto when, between sets, I introduced myself as a local jazz radio host. Miles said “Yeah” and turned around and walked away.

Then backstage at the 1986 Playboy Jazz Festival while he was waiting to go onstage, I started towards him, and he turned around and walked away. I figure he remembered me from Toronto, right?

[ValerieB]

unfortunately, i met Miles many times during the '60s. never a pleasant experience. a woman i knew sued him after he attacked her and held her against her will. he settled out of court. i still have a copy of a letter she wrote to the editor of Vanity Fair referring to the incident after they ran an interview with him.

and eerily, i was next door to him in a doctor's office when he died in a Santa Monica hospital!

How did he hold her against her will?

Lock her in his dressing room? Tie her up?

Was Miles a stalker as well as a hitter?

this woman was a friend of his for many years. this happened in his apartment after she received an emergency call from him. i don't remember what the "emergency" was except that he was asking for her help. of course, as it turned out he was fueled with cocaine.

[JSngry]

Cocaine is a hell of a drug.

[Trumpet Guy]

Nearly or could have.

I went to 'The Both/And' in San Francisco ~1966 with a friend who brought his trumpet and sat in with the band so I guess I could have met him but I have always been too shy to meet famous people.

Who was your friend that sat in w/ Miles on trumpet???

[robertoart]

unfortunately, i met Miles many times during the '60s. never a pleasant experience. a woman i knew sued him after he attacked her and held her against her will. he settled out of court. i still have a copy of a letter she wrote to the editor of Vanity Fair referring to the incident after they ran an interview with him.

and eerily, i was next door to him in a doctor's office when he died in a Santa Monica hospital!

How did he hold her against her will?

Lock her in his dressing room? Tie her up?

Was Miles a stalker as well as a hitter?

this woman was a friend of his for many years. this happened in his apartment after she received an emergency call from him. i don't remember what the "emergency" was except that he was asking for her help. of course, as it turned out he was fueled with cocaine.

Oh dear.

[Kevin Bresnahan]

These kinds of stories always get me to laugh when someone makes a comment about not buying/listening to artist XXX because he/she is a terrible person. The latest was someone who doesn't listen to an obscure tenor saxophonist named Turk Mauro because of his past. Trombonist Frank Rosolino also seems to get lumped into the "I won't listen to his music after what he did". But Miles? Everybody listens to Miles! The usual retort when Miles is involved is "I don't have to like the man to listen to his music".

Edited February 21, 2013 by Kevin Bresnahan

[Larry Kart]

Turk Mauro story (don't know if it's the same incident):

http://www.browardpa...s/the-underdog/

Good player IIRC.

[sgcim]

TM used to start pounding his foot on the floor when he got into his solos, so loud, it would drown out the drummer. That was my cue to leave.

[clifford_thornton]

Several months later (November 1969) I planned a housewarming party after moving to a Left Bank apartment. Friends (and musician friends) were invited. Someone mentioned that the party was to be held on the evening of the Miles Davis concert at Salle Pleyel and said Miles should be invited.

The late critic Maurice Cullaz who knew Miles proposed to ask and invite him which he did. Unfortunately Miles was in the middle of a tour and was playing in Copenhagen the following day. and could not make it. (Miles was a noshow at the party but other guests that came and had a good time included Cecil Taylor, Sonny Murray, Archie Shepp, Grachan Moncur, Michel Portal among others). If Miles had come there would have been interesting encounters...

O to be a fly on the wall...

[7/4]

I used to know a woman who was a nurse who had to call him and give him some test results. She gave 'em to Miles wife and he flipped out on her...kinda serves her right, what happened to doctor/patient privilege?

[marcello]

Turk Mauro story (don't know if it's the same incident):

http://www.browardpa...s/the-underdog/

Good player IIRC.

I knew him a little. My friend Barry Kiener played with him in Buddy's band and on Turk's "The Heavyweight" recording.

He played baritone and was a real jerk ( I'm being polite), in my opinion.

[ejp626]

These kinds of stories always get me to laugh when someone makes a comment about not buying/listening to artist XXX because he/she is a terrible person. The latest was someone who doesn't listen to an obscure tenor saxophonist named Turk Mauro because of his past. Trombonist Frank Rosolino also seems to get lumped into the "I won't listen to his music after what he did". But Miles? Everybody listens to Miles! The usual retort when Miles is involved is "I don't have to like the man to listen to his music".

Touché. I rarely think about such things when deciding whom to listen to, esp. if the artist has passed on. For me, Mingus is the bigger challenge, since he did some awful things, esp. to a few fellow musicians, but his music is so important to me. On the whole, we probably do give artists too much leeway and buy into the tortured genius thing too much. (I personally thought the slant on the Turk article was very troubling.)

At the same time, people have the right to draw their own lines in the sand. And there are a few artists I do refuse to listen to and certainly will not pay to see.

[John Litweiler]

Not a meeting, but:

When I was a college sophomore in 1958, some older students went to the city (Chicago) to hear Miles (w/Coltrane, Buddy Montgomery, vibes) at the Sutherland. One of them was extremely offended by what he heard that night. Because during a piano solo Miles said to Wynton Kelly, about a lady listener, "How'd you like to have those legs around your neck?"

[robertoart]

Not a meeting, but:

When I was a college sophomore in 1958, some older students went to the city (Chicago) to hear Miles (w/Coltrane, Buddy Montgomery, vibes) at the Sutherland. One of them was extremely offended by what he heard that night. Because during a piano solo Miles said to Wynton Kelly, about a lady listener, "How'd you like to have those legs around your neck?"

Actually that was a mishearing, what Miles really said was...

'my old lady made me wear this Turtleneck tonight, and it's cutting off the circulation to my legs'.

[robertoart]

Miles apparently came out to 'the Australian desert' in the 80's to appear in the film Dingo.

Allegedly, he stayed in his air conditioned caravan the whole time snorting Cocaine.

So possibly a whole heap of Aussie dealers got to meet Miles more than once or twice

Unfortunately they probably don't post here so we'll never know.

On the other hand, maybe this story is apocryphal, and whoever Miles employed at the time as his Minders have a different take on the trip?

[Hardbopjazz]

I've met Miles Davis' grave in the Bronx. Woodlawn Cemetery. His tombstone has line on music in common time, but only three beats in the measure.

[bertrand]

And it's not his composition!

[paul secor]

And it's not his composition!

After the discussion about Miles appropriating "Solar" from Chuck Wayne , I sent a musician friend a link to the photo of Miles' grave. I don't read music, but he confirmed that it's the beginning on "Solar" on the headstone. Even after I know it's so, I still find it almost unbelieveable.

[robertoart]

Here is an interesting interview with the Director of Dingo about meeting and filming with Miles.

It's a little bit more verbose than Chuck Nessa's recollections but still fun to read.

http://www.thelastmiles.com/interviews-rolf-de-heer.php

[ValerieB]

Here is an interesting interview with the Director of Dingo about meeting and filming with Miles.

It's a little bit more verbose than Chuck Nessa's recollections but still fun to read.

http://www.thelastmiles.com/interviews-rolf-de-heer.php

thanks so much for this, freelancer. fascinating interview. i went to an art movie house in Boston to see Dingo. i absolutely loved the movie.

[Carl Baugher]

In the late eighties, I was doing a lot of photography and much of it was in-performance stuff of jazz artists. I had some live shots from the previous year of Miles at the Hollywood Bowl so I approached him backstage when he played the Irvine Meadows Amphitheater. His manager and everyone around him seem scared to death of him. I gave him an 8x10 color print of the Hollywood Bowl shot and shook his hand. He was gracious and autographed another copy for me. His hand was very rough, almost like sandpaper or really dry leather. But he was very attentive and nice to me. So that's how I remember him, despite all the stories to the contrary.

[Utevsky]

OK, I never met him, but I'll share a friend's story. During a break at a club gig, my friend followed Miles into the men's room to ask for his autograph. He found Miles in a stall having intercourse with some young woman. That was awkward, but he got the autograph.

[David Gitin]

Two stories. First one was when Miles with Hank Mobley, Wynton Kelly, Paul Chambers, and Jimmy Cobb came to Buffalo. I had met Paul before so I got backstage, went up to Paul who immediately started ranting about that 'mf' Miles and much more (Miles was standing about three feet from us clearly listening. I decided this would not be a good time to try and meet him. Second one: I was at the Jazz Gallery when Miles had the aformentioned group plus J.J. Johnson. I was talking to J.J. telling a humorous story when I sensed someone new joining us and I turned to include him: it was Miles. I finished my story and Miles and the others went back up to the bandstand. So, that's it. Don't know if it was worth telling or not...

[Noj]

This thread is awesome.

One of my earliest memories of Miles:

What's odd is that although I was 12 when Scrooged came out, I'm pretty sure I knew who Miles Davis was and I got the joke. Which means I was a hip little twerp.

[chewy-chew-chew-bean-benitez]

Two stories. First one was when Miles with Hank Mobley, Wynton Kelly, Paul Chambers, and Jimmy Cobb came to Buffalo. I had met Paul before so I got backstage, went up to Paul who immediately started ranting about that 'mf' Miles and much more (Miles was standing about three feet from us clearly listening. I decided this would not be a good time to try and meet him. Second one: I was at the Jazz Gallery when Miles had the aformentioned group plus J.J. Johnson. I was talking to J.J. telling a humorous story when I sensed someone new joining us and I turned to include him: it was Miles. I finished my story and Miles and the others went back up to the bandstand. So, that's it. Don't know if it was worth telling or not...

what was pc complaining about specifcally, do you recall? DID U MEET HANK? what was it like to see hank in concert

Two stories. First one was when Miles with Hank Mobley, Wynton Kelly, Paul Chambers, and Jimmy Cobb came to Buffalo. I had met Paul before so I got backstage, went up to Paul who immediately started ranting about that 'mf' Miles and much more (Miles was standing about three feet from us clearly listening. I decided this would not be a good time to try and meet him. Second one: I was at the Jazz Gallery when Miles had the aformentioned group plus J.J. Johnson. I was talking to J.J. telling a humorous story when I sensed someone new joining us and I turned to include him: it was Miles. I finished my story and Miles and the others went back up to the bandstand. So, that's it. Don't know if it was worth telling or not...