The Last Miles: The Music of Miles Davis, 1980-1991

568 Pages·2005·1.81 MB·English

by  George Cole

THE LAST MILES
Popular Music History
Series Editor: Alyn Shipton, journalist, broadcaster and
former lecturer in music at Oxford Brookes University
This new series publishes books that challenge established orthodoxies in
popular music studies, examine the formation and dissolution of canons,
interrogate histories of genres, focus on previously neglected forms, or
engage in archaeologies of popular music.
Recently published:
Handful of Keys: Chasin’ the Bird
Conversations with Thirty Jazz Pianists The Life and Legacy of Charlie Parker
Alyn Shipton Brian Priestley
Jazz Visions Out of the Long Dark
Lennie Tristano and His Legacy The Life of Ian Carr
Peter Ind Alyn Shipton
Lee Morgan
His Life, Music and Culture
Tom Perchard
Forthcoming in the series:
Prez Lionel Richie
The Life and Music of Lester Young Hello
Dave Gelly Sharon Davis
Gone in the Air In Search of Fela Anikulapo Kuti
The Life and Music of Eric Dolphy Max Reinhardt and Rita Ray
Brian Morton
THE LAST MILES
THE MUSIC OF MILES DAVIS 1980–1991
GEORGE COLE
Published by
Equinox Publishing Ltd.
Unit 6
The Village
101 Amies St.
London
SW11 2JW
www.equinoxpub.com
First published 2005, reprinted in paperback 2006 by Equinox Publishing Ltd
© George Cole 2005
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any
form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or
any information storage or retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from
the publishers.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN-10 1 84553 122 1 (paperback)
ISBN-13 978 1 84553 122 5 (paperback)
Typeset by CA Typesetting, www.shefeldtypesetting.com
Printed and bound in Great Britain by Lightning Source UK Ltd., Milton Keynes
eISBN: 1845534913
To the memory of my parents, Johnny and Esther

contents
Acknowledgements ix
1 Prelude 1
2 Introduction 3
3 Miles – the man 7
4 Miles – his life and music before 1975 13
5 Into the shadows 30
6 The Man With The Horn 43
7 We Want Miles 89
8 Star People 111
9 Decoy 129
10 You’re Under Arrest 159
11 Aura 182
12 The road to Tutu: the background 197
13 The road to Tutu: Rubberband – the lost Miles Davis album 205
14 The road to Tutu: Miles and Prince 226
15 Tutu 232
16 Siesta 268
17 Amandla 282
18 Doo-Bop 307
19 Miles alive 341
20 Live Around The World 410
21 Miles’s other recordings 422
22 Miles’s guest recordings 427
23 The verdict on the music of the 1980s 437
24 Notes 445
rson vii
25 References 470
26 Compilations 475
27 Tribute albums 483
28 The eighties music – cover versions 485
29 Unreleased Miles – the music in the vaults 486
30 Miles’s live repertoire 1981–1991 496
31 Miles’s band line-ups 1981–1991 498
32 Miles’s album discography 1980–1991 502
33 Books and websites 511
34 Index 515
viii the last miles
acknowledgements
A book like this would not have been possible without the tremendous help
and support of so many people. First, I’d like to thank everybody who agreed
to be interviewed for this book (in many cases, more than once). I am acutely
aware that for anyone who has ever worked with Miles, there is a danger of
suffering from “Miles fatigue” due to the number of people who want to ask
you questions about Miles and nothing else.
Fortunately, many people have the same attitude of Dave Holland, who,
when asked whether he ever got tired of talking about Miles, replied: “I’m
appreciative of the opportunity I had to be around him and play and I feel
that the least I can do is to share those experiences. I understand completely
why the interest is there and the fascination. He was a great musician and a
great artist.”
The following people kindly agreed to be interviewed:
Kei Akagi, Don Alias, Anthony Barboza, Matthew Barley, Tom Barney,
John Beasley, Easy Mo Bee, the late Bob Berg, John Bigham, Jean-Paul
Bourelly, Bobby Broom, Chuck Brown, Paul Buckmaster, Hiram Bullock, Glenn
Burris, Alan Burroughs, Dr. George Butler, Ndugu Chancler, Mino Cinelu,
Lucky Cordell, Pete Cosey, Felton Crews, Paulinho DaCosta, Cheryl Davis,
Joey DeFrancesco, Thomas Dolby, Reggie Dozier, George Duke, Bill Evans,
Sammy Figueroa, Barry Finnerty, Robben Ford, Sayydah Garrett, Zane Giles,
Bibi Green, Randy Hall, Michael Henderson, Dave Holland, Adam Holzman,
Robert Irving III, Munyungo Jackson, Annabel Jankel, D’Anthony Johnson,
Deron Johnson, Darryl Jones, Chaka Khan, Katia Labèque, Gilles Larrain,
Dave Liebman, Wayne Linsey, Tommy LiPuma, Ron Lorman, Eric Lynch, Teo
Macero, Rick Margitza, Branford Marsalis, Marilyn Mazur, Joseph “Foley”
McCreary, Dewayne “Blackbyrd” McKnight, Gordon Meltzer, Jay Messina,
Palle Mikkelborg, Jason Miles, Bruce Miller, Marcus Miller, Cornelius Mims,
Patrick Murray, Joanne Nerlino, Richard Patterson, Steve Porcaro, Don
Puluse, Steve Reid, Sid Reynolds, Jeff Richman, Benny Rietveld, Wallace
Roney, Mark Rothbaum, Paolo Rustichelli, David Sanborn, John Scoeld,
David Scott, Milan Simich, Otha Smith, Francesca Spero, Mike Stern, Clive
Stevens, Steven Strassman, Angus Thomas, Steve Thornton, Allan Titmuss,
rson ix