Cicely Tyson has Passed

[Chuck Nessa]

RIP

[sonnymax]

A wonderful actor and a role model for women of color in the sixties. Rest easy.

[JSngry]

If you're old enough to have watched The Autobiography Of Miss Jane Pittman when it first aired...unforgettable.

RIP

[Dan Gould]

46 minutes ago, JSngry said:

If you're old enough to have watched The Autobiography Of Miss Jane Pittman when it first aired...unforgettable.

RIP

It was 1974 so I was 8 or 9,  loved it even though I hardly understood the full scope of the history being portrayed.

Frankly I think if I watched again and saw the end shot with her drinking from the "white" water fountain I'd turn into a complete blubbering puddle.

[JSngry]

I was 18 or so, and I did.

[Jazzmonkie]

 

I saw her at a Miles Davis concert in a theater with a revolving stage when they were married. She was sitting front row. When the stage revolved Miles towards her, he'd play right to her. Once he lifted his pants leg and showed her his spindly leg.

[sidewinder]

Remember seeing her in ‘Roots’. RIP.

[medjuck]

14 hours ago, sonnymax said:

A wonderful actor and a role model for women of color in the sixties. Rest easy.

I remember seeing that and wondering "Wow that model really looks like Cicely Tyson".  IIRC Her relationship with Miles wasn't that well known at the time-- at least not by me. 

[Rooster_Ties]

I wonder if Tyson ever commented specifically about her image being on the cover for Sorcerer — anyone know? (Either contemporaneously, or years later.)

I know the whole bit about Miles’ reaction to seeing the white women on the cover of Miles Ahead, and Frances then being on the covers of Someday My Prince Will Come and E.S.P. (am I forgetting another one with Cicely? — I don’t think so, but there were a lot of alternate covers issued in various countries over the years, from what I gather from Discogs).

Then that’s Betty Mabry on the cover of Filles De Kilimanjaro.

[HutchFan]

I'm sad to hear of Tyson's passing. R.I.P.

I vividly remember seeing The Autobiography Of Miss Jane Pittman as a kid.  It must've been a re-run though -- since I was only 6 years old in '74.  

Around the same time that I saw the movie -- maybe 4th grade? -- I remember getting To Be a Slave, Julius Lester's collection of slave narratives for young people, at my school's book fair.  I still have the book.

They go together in my mind.  Both made a lasting impression.  

 

[sidewinder]

Interesting to read that Miles and Cicely were planning to marry in 1968 but in the end he switched to Betty Mabry.

I recall that she accompanied Miles on the long awaited 1982 visit to the UK and was filmed pushing him through immigration in a wheelchair I think.

Edited January 29, 2021 by sidewinder

[Chuck Nessa]

43 minutes ago, sidewinder said:

Interesting to read that Miles and Cicely were planning to marry in 1968 but in the end he switched to Betty Mabry.

I recall that she accompanied Miles on the long awaited 1982 visit to the UK and was filmed pushing him through immigration in a wheelchair I think.

She accompanied him to the Chicago Jazz Festival in September of 1982. She quietly watched the performance from the wings.

[Dan Gould]

Can anyone confirm - didn't Miles abuse at least some of his wives/girl friends? Was Cicely among them?  I'm not seeing mention of that and if I am totally off base I will delete, but my first thought when I saw "married to Miles Davis" was "and he beat her a time or two". Would like to be wrong.

[sidewinder]

1 hour ago, Chuck Nessa said:

She accompanied him to the Chicago Jazz Festival in September of 1982. She quietly watched the performance from the wings.

The UK performance was in April of 1982 I think. I caught one of those performances at the RFH, which was televised here by Channel 4. Great kudos to Cicely for accompanying him that year, after the minor stroke issue.

My seat was well back and the house was packed but there was an amazing atmosphere. Last time he played here was over 10 years before.

Edited January 29, 2021 by sidewinder

[mjazzg]

19 minutes ago, Dan Gould said:

Can anyone confirm - didn't Miles abuse at least some of his wives/girl friends? Was Cicely among them?  I'm not seeing mention of that and if I am totally off base I will delete, but my first thought when I saw "married to Miles Davis" was "and he beat her a time or two". Would like to be wrong.

I thought similarly. I think the abuse was outlined in the autobio but can't remember who the victim was/were.

from his wiki page fwiw " The relationship involved numerous incidents of Davis' domestic violence towards Taylor. He later wrote, "Every time I hit her, I felt bad because a lot of it really wasn't her fault but had to do with me being temperamental and jealous."^{[118][119][120]} One reason for his behavior was that in 1963 he had increased his use of alcohol and cocaine to reduce joint pain caused by sickle cell anemia"  referencing abuse of Frances Taylor.

and then, same source

" in 2013, The A.V. Club published an article titled "Miles Davis beat his wives and made beautiful music,"^[249] In the article, writer Sonia Saraiya praises Davis as a musician, but criticizes him as a person, in particular, his abuse of his wives.^[249] Others, such as Francis Davis, have criticized his treatment of women, describing it as "contemptible".^[231] "

No explicit reference to Cicely Tyson as a victim of such behaviour.

[sidewinder]

I get the impression that Cicely Tyson wouldn’t have stood for any such nonsense.

[gmonahan]

8 hours ago, JSngry said:

If you're old enough to have watched The Autobiography Of Miss Jane Pittman when it first aired...unforgettable.

RIP

I am and she was. RIP.

 

 

gregmo

[medjuck]

6 hours ago, Rooster_Ties said:

I wonder if Tyson ever commented specifically about her image being on the cover for Sorcerer — anyone know? (Either contemporaneously, or years later.)

I know the whole bit about Miles’ reaction to seeing the white women on the cover of Miles Ahead, and Frances then being on the covers of Someday My Prince Will Come and E.S.P. (am I forgetting another one with Cicely? — I don’t think so, but there were a lot of alternate covers issued in various countries over the years, from what I gather from Discogs).

Then that’s Betty Mabry on the cover of Filles De Kilimanjaro.

I think Frances was also on the cover of The Black Hawk Lps.  (She was the hostess at a Hamburger Hamlet I sometimes ate at in LA.)

3 hours ago, Dan Gould said:

Can anyone confirm - didn't Miles abuse at least some of his wives/girl friends? Was Cicely among them?  I'm not seeing mention of that and if I am totally off base I will delete, but my first thought when I saw "married to Miles Davis" was "and he beat her a time or two". Would like to be wrong.

LA Times handles it well, I think.  Mentions her marriage to Miles (and his abuse) only in the last paragraph of a long obit.  

https://www.latimes.com/obituaries/story/2021-01-28/cicely-tyson-dies

 

Edited January 29, 2021 by medjuck

[jazzbo]

1 hour ago, medjuck said:

I think Frances was also on the cover of The Black Hawk Lps.  (She was the hostess at a Hamburger Hamlet I sometimes ate at in LA.)

Yes! 

[Rooster_Ties]

31 minutes ago, jazzbo said:

Yes! 

Aha, right you are!  I’ve never been a fan of the Blackhawk albums, and haven’t owned copies in 20 years.  But a little googling confirms it...

[medjuck]

Wow I've never seen that before.  This is the one I remember.  Is that one even Frances? 

Edited January 30, 2021 by medjuck

[jazzbo]

That has to be a bootleg cover. . . Miles from the late sixties and Sarah Vaughan!

 

[GA Russell]

46 minutes ago, medjuck said:

Wow I've never seen that before.  This is the one I remember.  Is that one even Frances? 

That's the one I have.

[Hardbopjazz]

RIP. 

[Al in NYC]

A truly great actress RIP.  I was fortunate enough to see her in her late career Tony-winning star turn in Trip to Bountiful on Broadway.  She was indeed amazing and touching in a role that put her on stage for about 2 hours straight at 88. 

As for the Miles connection, a close friend of my parents who was not a jazz fan but knew Cicely Tyson well through her work in the civil rights movement always referred to Miles as "that awful little man", and said of their marriage "I have no idea why she married him, I don't know why anyone even likes him".

Further into Ms. Tyson's connection to jazz, she can be seen on Sunday night 1/31 on TCM in an extensive early film role in the pretty strange 1966 jazz movie A Man Called Adam.  Starring Sammy Davis Jr. as a rather Milesesque character, with a supporting cast of Louis Armstrong, Ossie Davis, Frank Sinatra Jr., Mel Torme, Kai Winding, Peter Lawford, and Lola Falana, a Benny Carter score, and Sammy's trumpeting dubbed by Nat Adderley.  Crazy baby.