Trumpeting Through Time The Chronicle of Miles Davis

Join us for a heartfelt homage as I, Harriet West-Moore, honor the memory of my late sister Phyllis with an intimate reflection on the life of the illustrious jazz maestro Miles Davis. Over a glass of wine, I share riveting tales of how a 13-year-old Davis received a trumpet that charted his course to becoming a musical titan, crossing paths with legends like Clark Terry and Charlie Parker. Episode 11 takes you through the peaks and valleys of Davis's journey, from his foray into the 'Birth of the Cool' and the inception of West Coast Jazz to his personal battles, including his fight against heroin addiction. The episode stands as a testament to Davis’s relentless drive and influence that reshaped the world of jazz.

As we delve into the complexities of Davis's character, we uncover a man of contrasts—gruff yet generous, tough yet empathetic, particularly towards his fellow musicians. I recount his acts of kindness towards Charlie Parker and reflect on the troubles and triumphs of his three marriages, which left a lasting impression on his life and work. This exploration into Davis's legacy takes us up to his final days in 1991 and reflects on the enduring mark he left on the cultural fabric. And as we near the end of this season, we tease the upcoming finale that promises to revisit the pantheon of artists who've graced our year with their musical hues. So join me in toasting to Davis's memory, our shared connections, and the timeless tunes that continue to resonate with us.

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Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:13

Hey everybody, this is Harriette Westmore with the More Wine and Music Podcast, the podcast where I discuss music genre over a glass of wine. Tonight's going to be a special episode, so let me get started. All right, hope everybody is doing well. This Saturday evening. I wanted to come on in spite of what's going on in my personal life. I just wanted to first give a shout out to happy birthday to Charlene Teresa Searcy Shelton. I had an opportunity. She's an old classmate, went to school together. It's my first time actually seeing her in many, many years, so I wanted to give her a shout out. I don't know if she's listening, but happy birthday. I enjoyed myself and you know we're going to do it again soon. Also, this episode is dedicated to my sister, phyllis. She has transitioned as of today, so I want to dedicate this show to her. So, phyllis, this is for you. I love you. And I'm going to episode number 11.

Speaker 1: 1:53

This is Miles Davis. Everybody who knows Miles Davis knows who he was. He was a great, influential trumpet player in the jazz genre, so I wanted to talk about him for episode 11. Miles Dewey Davis III that was his actual name. Miles Dewey Davis III was born on May 26, 1926 in Alton Illinois. So this one, he was born in the north. Rather than you know, most of them came from the south, but this time we're talking about a born northerner, so that's where he's from Alton Illinois. His father, miles Davis Jr, was actually a successful dentist, dental surgeon, and his mother was an accomplished music teacher. So her name was Cleota Alton Henry Henry was her maiden name. Cleota Alton Henry Henry was her maiden name was Cleota Henry. And you know, actually Miles came from a middle-class family. His family was middle-class. They didn't come from dirt poor, like you know, a lot of the other artists that we have talked about. So he was, he actually came from a he's one of the few that was. He came from a pretty middle-class, had a pretty good childhood in that respect, as far as not being struggling for anything.

Speaker 1: 3:40

In 1928, by the age of when he became two years old, his family moved to East St Louis. Anybody who knows about St Louis. There's St Louis and then you cross over and then there's East St Louis. At that particular time, east St Louis was predominantly white, so they actually moved into one of the few black families that moved into a white area and that's where his father had his practice as a dental surgeon. Miles also had two other siblings. He had an older sister and a younger brother. So Miles was in the middle. He was a middle child by the age of 13,.

Speaker 1: 4:32

His father gave him a trumpet and that's how he made a start as far as being a trumpet player and he played in the high school band and he played in the high school band and then that is where he met his mentor at the time, who was named Clark Terry, and Clark Terry was at that point known, very well known in the St Louis area. By the age of early 20s, miles got married and had two children from that early marriage and in 1944, he moved to New York City and played with Billy Eckstein. Billy Eckstein was another famous band leader of jazz. Band leader of jazz. He played with him briefly while he attended Juilliard School of Music, so he was really a go-getter. By day he studied music and by night he played at the local jazz places in the area some of the jazz spots and this is where he gained a reputation of learning how to play the beatbox. That's when, usually in the 40s, it became more into the bebop sound of jazz than the earlier stuff.

Speaker 1: 6:15

And this is where he connected with Charlie Bird Parker. You know, remember I talked about him two weeks ago, charlie Bird Parker, you know, remember I talked about him two weeks ago. So Bird and Miles, they connected at that point. Along with this is where he met also met Dizzy Gillespie, bats Navarro and Match Roach and in that particular time from 47 to 1948, he was a part of that quintet. So it was those individuals who created a quintet and out of that quintet they recorded the song called Birth of the Cool and this was supposedly the start of the West Coast Jazz School. From that actual song, birth of the Cool, and incidentally, in this quintet it was Bird Parker who was the leader of that group. So during that time when they played together, bird was the actual band leader From this group.

Speaker 1: 7:32

Also, miles was able to hone his craft and he set himself apart in his trumpet player because, as you recall, bird was Bird, parker was actually he was the saxophonist and Miles was trumpet player. So his, you know, he eventually gained his craft, gained his momentum and gained his popularity and his style and you know, that kind of set him apart from everybody else, so by the 1950s, and that kind of set him apart from everybody else. So by the 1950s Miles unfortunately got into that drug scene like Bird did, like Coltrane did, and he became addicted to heroin. And he became addicted to heroin and he was, you know, full-blown addict by that time, by the 50s, early to mid-50s. And it became so bad that his for three years he was kind of out of the scene because he was, you know, into that drug life. He was, you know, into that drug life. But by 1954, he was able to kick that habit and, you know, build himself back up to regain his stamina, gained his stance in the jazz scene. So you know, he's had to start off small because, I mean, he dropped from grace, he pretty much dropped out because of his drug use. So he had to, you know, build himself back up and he did that by playing with, you know, smaller groups and he was able to build himself back up and by that point he was feeling enough confident to form his own group and that's what he did in 1955.

Speaker 1: 9:29

And that is when John Coltrane, who I talked about last week, coltrane, joined Miles Davis's group in 1955. And with John Coltrane he had the pianist Red Garland, bass player Paul Chambers and drummer player, philly Jones. Coltrane, incidentally, left the group in the 60s to create as he wanted to do his own thing in the 60s, to create as he wanted to do his own thing. So and also, if you recall, coltrane was also battling with a heroin addiction. But by the 60s Coltrane wanted to go venture out on his own. So he did leave the group but during the time when Coltrane was in the group and played, that was at the height of the group's success.

Speaker 1: 10:34

Miles' success was during that core group that I just mentioned, that he was at. They were probably one of the known, well-known dominant group jazz group of the scene of that day. They were it, they were the group. So until Coltrane left and after Coltrane left, you know it wasn't the same Miles did try to. There were other replacements but it wasn't the same as that first four group band member or a player like Coltrane or even Bird Parker. It's kind of hard to duplicate that. If you want to try to move on it's really hard to duplicate that. But he tried. And not to say that he wasn't successful, but it wasn't as successful as he was during that during when they all were together, the actual first original group. So by 1970 Miles recorded the hit album which was actually certified as gold and that was called Bitches Group. If anybody's familiar with that core album, that was a good album, jazz album called Bitches Gru.

Speaker 1: 12:14

So everybody, anybody who knows about Miles Davis on a personal note, his personality I would say it was he was a complex person. He was a difficult person to know um because he had so many layers of him. He was a hard person to deal with. He was not what you call a open, friendly person, matter of fact. I mean he wasn't friendly at all to whoever he played with. He didn't have a show, he didn't have a stage presence at all. I mean he was always complaining. You know audience always complained that he was not engaging to the audience because he was always when he played he always had his back to the audience. So he never really engaged the audience. He was considered, you know, aloof, standoffish. Actually he was very, I mean he also was the type of person who spoke his mind. There was no sugarcoating to what you know he had to say. And he, you know he was kind of a you know gruff person. If you see pictures of him you rarely see a picture of him smiling. I was looking through some of the photos and it wasn't that he was. He wasn't't.

Speaker 1: 13:45

He wasn't really a friendly person, but on the other hand, a lot of that could be because of what he experienced. He said he was particularly very considered hostile to whites because of what he had to go through during the during his early career. You know, starting out, there was one incident where you know he got beaten up by the cops outside of a jazz club where he was playing. I don't know what he there was nothing, I guess it is stopped him, harassed him. I don't know, they didn't think a black man should be around that particular jazz club or something, but they were harassing him. And, matter of fact, I think he just got finished playing in that particular club and I think he was just outside smoking or whatever, and the cops came up to him and started harassing him. And then Miles is probably the one spoke up and probably talked back to them and whatever. And so you know the cops, they pretty much beat him and so you know that was the.

Speaker 1: 15:15

He still carried that hostility and but at the same time, even though he was like that, he also was somewhat generous. He did replace. A lot of his players in his band were white musicians and he would help out struggling musicians. He was very generous like that, even though you know he of his hard personality, he did. He would help you out if you need it and if he thought you were worthy of it he would help you out and it didn't matter who you were, if you were white or black, you know, struggling musician or whatever, which is probably why he gave you know, bird an opportunity. Because, if you recall when I was talking about his story that you know, miles had to, when he was playing under Miles Miles had to put him out because he, you know, at that, when he was playing under Miles Miles had to put him out because at that point he wasn't able to perform because of his drug use. But at the same time, he thought, miles thought so much of Bird because of his playing and his talent. He knew how, because he's been there too. So he tried to, you know, do what he can to help them and he did, um, eventually, you know, would hire him back. So I mean, it's not like he was um, you know, just straight stone. I mean he did. I mean, like I said he was considered to be a man of mystery, a man who was very complex. He was just a hard person to get to know. But if he liked you, you might not, I mean, you might think he doesn't, but if he thinks enough of you he will do. You know, he was very generous in that. In that way he was very generous in that way.

Speaker 1: 17:25

Miles was married a total of three times. His first wife was named Frances Taylor, his second wife was Betty Mabry and everybody knows his third and final wife was Cicely, the famous actress Cicely Tyson, and all three he divorced, but it seemed like I didn't know that actually he and Cicely were actually divorced, but Cicely obviously still supported him in a different way, even though they were divorced. She was there for him. He has four children, three sons and one daughter. He has had, at the time, seven grandchildren, but in 1991, he died on September 28th due to pneumonia, respiratory failure, and he had a stroke along with that. So that's what took him out. So that's Miles Davis.

Speaker 1: 18:42

One thing about Miles Davis you know, we all know him, we all know his playing, and he was one of the few artist who was able to stay relevant with the times because he was around for 50-something years. His career started in the 40s, early 40s, but by the 80s, 60s into the 70s, and then in the 80s, he 60s into the 70s and then in the 80s he was able he still was able to play, even on stage. He was able to acclimate his playing with, you know the music that was relevant at that time. So he played with the other you know musicians and was able, you know, and still, you know, was able to play. The only thing that changed was his way he dressed. He let his hair grow long, he wore those dark glasses. Like I said, that's the mystique, that's the mysterious of him. He doesn't, you know, he don't let nobody get close to him. But you know he was, you know he contributed a lot in different music genre. It wasn't even the jazz, I mean. He contributed a lot in hip hop, he contributed a lot in the R&B music. So he was able to still stay relevant until he passed away. So that's it. That is the infamous man with the horn, miles Davis.

Speaker 1: 20:22

So next week is the season, final season, and next week I'll be kind of recapping and talk about all the artists that I've talked to about throughout this season two. So it's kind of a recap and so I hope everyone would tune in for that. Jazz is a complex genre. It's one of those genres either you like it or you don't, because it's nothing. You have to kind of understand it and kind of understand its creativity. It's like being an artist you have to understand an artist's creativity when they paint. It may not make sense to some people. An artist's creativity when they paint, you know it may not make sense to some people, but just listening to the sound and the song that they play and how they play it, you know. Either you like it or you don't. So that's one of the things we'll talk about next week and, like I said, as I wrap up season 2, so if you haven't already on Facebook, please share, subscribe and share. Go to wwwmorewineandmusiccom.

Speaker 1: 21:47

I'm going to, because of the end of the season, I will be creating a t-shirt that represents season 2 for the jazz genre. Each season I try to create a t-shirt that represents season two for the jazz genre. Each season I try to create a t-shirt for that particular genre that I'm talking about. So here you have it. All right, you guys take care of yourself. And I just want to say this Life is very, very short. You're living in the times to where you don't know you know if you're going to be here or not. So keep your family close, love your family, reach out to those that your loved ones or friends that you haven't heard from in years, because time is there's no tomorrow. Tomorrow is not promised. It's not. You know. You may think you have time and putting it off means that you've missed out, so let's look at our lives moving forward as live it as if it's your last, because it could be Alright. You enjoy the rest of your night and your weekend and I will talk to you next week. Good night,