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[edit] Opening SectionI reverted the opening section to an earlier version. Consult [| Project Biography] before you edit. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Danreitz (talk • contribs) 08:24, 23 July 2009 (UTC) To support this edit, check out the current versions of the John Coltrane and Louis Armstrong Wikipedia pages and compare their opening sections to the prior version of the Miles Davis article. --Danreitz (talk) 08:35, 23 July 2009 (UTC) [edit] TriviaAccording to the wiki page, "Music in Civilization IV", Miles Davis is not on the soundtrack. 128.12.125.162 04:26, 30 May 2007 (UTC) [edit] NPOVA Statement such as, "For the first part of that decade, although he gigged a great deal and played many sessions, they were mostly uninspired, and it seemed that his talent was going to waste" does not seem to be coming from a NPOV. This should be reworded.theomanno 15:17 11 December 2005 (EST) [edit] Miles as Artistsomone should include Miles' stint as an artist. Seeing as how it is evident on his official website, it seems significant enough to include. --ch The electric recordings and live performances with electronic equipment began in 1968; hence the periodization was revised to 1968. [edit] "understanding" recorded/live differenceMy point is simple: WHO are the so-called "authorities" who claim that miles was the "first" person to "understand" the difference between live and recorded music? and secondly, WHAT are the differences? interestingly, none are given, no sources, no citations, and no description of what the "difference" is. so the sentence seems pretty nonsensical and ill-conceived, in fact it's pretty much "journalistic fluff" that has no meaning and is internally contradictory. IF ANYTHING, davis must have defined the difference, or somehow created a difference, if nobody else "understood" it yet. Is the writer trying to say somehow, a distinction existed between live and recorded music, but it just hadn't been put into practice, just hadn't ever been realized by any musician? this is absurd. i'm going to change the passage to say something more sensible.
[edit] Miles fan's critiqueHas the length one would expect for a front page featured article, but as far as being a definitive overview of Miles, it falls utterly flat. There's a lot of passive voice and nameless "critics" and "authorities", conveniently hiding exactly who is making an assertion or opinion. There are some canards not founded in reality: Miles not having been a technical virtuoso, neglect of his studies at Julliard. The musical analysis, describing the music with words and attempting to define what it is, is 9th grade. The section on the 2nd quintet is criminally short, and the "fusion" section relatively out of balance. There must be a lot of contributors who are nuts about the period but don't have an appreciation of the entirety of Miles. And of course what is the word "jazz" doing anywhere in the article? — Shadowhillway 13:59, 30 September 2005 (UTC)
MizMac 15:09, 3 November 2007 (UTC)== The Person == I think we need to expand more on the personality of Miles Davis, just as some other musicians. Focusing completely on music does not give us any perspective on what the person was like. Showing them as purely a musician makes reading their article dry, only full of album listings, ect. I will do more research on this subject when I can and then hopefully create a new section in the article for this PlasticMan 07:12, 13 January 2006 (UTC) I wonder, too, that there is no mention of his personal life outside of the music. According to most accounts, he had relationships with many women--that with Cecily Tyson, being most well known--but I wonder if he was ever married or had children. While this may not need to be a primary focus in the article, it seems there should be some mention of this. (For what it's worth, I would consider the AIDS thing a myth, until proven). (----)
[edit] Prince of DarknessOn the [[Jazz Royalty] page it refers to Davis as the Prince of Darkness. It is not mentioned anywhere in the article here. It should be removed or mentioned in this article. Also this looks like a plug for Marin Committee and should be verified to ensure that it is not: Davis played Martin Committee trumpets throughout his career.157.201.135.143 22:56, 4 March 2006 (UTC) [edit] Public Image Ltd.I've removed the statement that says Miles played with Public Image Ltd. This session list doesn't mention it. But if this is indeed true, then please cite a reference for it. -- Gyrofrog (talk) 19:06, 6 March 2006 (UTC)
[edit] Anti-White RacismYesterday I added a section on Miles Davis' hatred of white people as expressed in numerous quotes, some of which are referenced on his Wikiquote. This section was deleted. As a valid aspect of his life and one which is notable, I intend to revert. Similar references to personal life issues such as this are found on other people's Wiki pages and I see no reason why it should not hold true for Miles Davis. - Anonymous Sorry about the multiple small edits. I made two mistakes I did not catch on two occasions. - Anonymous.
One must take into account the larger context of Davis' life and his actions. For one thing, throughout his life he collaborated with and hired white arrangers and musicians, among them, Gil Evans, Stan Getz, Bill Evans the pianist, Chick Corea, John McLaughlin, Harvey Brooks, Joe Zawinul, Dave Holland, Keith Jarrett, Mike Stern, Bill Evans the saxophonist. He received many affronts among them violent attacks by officers of the law, and racial snubs whites of his high position in the popular arts world never received. --Anonymous One only has to read the liner notes to Davis' 1957 Album Miles Ahead (q.v.) to realise that Miles got on extremely well with Gil Evans as a result of Evans' indifference at a colleague's racial background - there is a quotation from Miles milself on this matter. If I had the sleeve to hand, I would quote directly from it. Davis disliked the original image on the album cover (see the Miscellanea section in the Miles Ahead article) but only in jest. I really seems that he was just as racist as anyone else of those times - there is no real big deal about it just because it comes from a celebrity. --Edward Tambling People might enjoy reading "Time of our Singing" by Powers - it describes the experience of a musical mixed-race family at around this time. The emphasis is more on classical music, but it includes some references to the Jazz scene and spends a lot of time conveying just what it was like to be black then. Frankly, I think Davis's comments on race are quite reasonable in that context. It sounded bloody awful. 139.229.7.34 17:27, 14 December 2006 (UTC) andrew cooke (white, as is Powers, afaik) There is no way Miles was an anti-white racist, despite his living thro the years of 'Black power'. He hired Bill Evans simply because he was an excellent pianist. He later hired Dave Holland, John McLaughlin, Joe Zawinul and many other white musicians. This whole subject is rubbish. SmokeyTheFatCat 20:33, 22 December 2006 (UTC) Miles Davis certainly had 'racist moods' as a result of his experiences and treatment. His hatred was against racist white people though, not white people. I remember reading in Davis' auto-biography something about Gil Evans (white) being his closest friend. Davis did think very racially though (it would be strange if he didn't given his experiences). That does not mean he wa a racist though. Remember that many such comments Davis made also occured in the context of the civil rights movement era and before then when blacks didn't have civil rights. Remember while Davis' genius, wit, and intelligence are undeniable in the world of music, he could be a bit overly 'simplistic' when making comments about topics outside of his mastery. This goes for all of us of course, especially if we are frustrated. Davis received a lot of criticism from other black musicians for including Bill Evans in his band. Davis said something to the effect of "I don't care what color they are, as long as they can play". This doesn't mean he didn't notice a difference between how most black musicians played compared to white musicians at the time, but it's obvious that for him the auditory (music) trumped the visual (skin color). I'm not one of thos people that puts Davis on a pedestal in this area though and excuses everything he did--he certainly wasn't someone to model when it came to his social life, drug use (which had a great deal to do with all the negative things), and his treatment of others close to him. But personally, I think this subject should just be left out of the page because in order for it to be in context and balanced out, it would need to be very long/yawn-inducing, and would therefore overshadow the much more significant aspects of his life that don't require as much explaining. If people are interested in the tabloid subjects there are several great biographies about Davis and the autobiography as well. What I find most fascinating about Davis' life is that for much of his life he was always pushing to change and grow musicially. He seemed to have a real fear of being stale and playing things he loved to play so much. There is so much to be learned from him in that regard. Siraj555 22:04, 31 March 2007 (UTC) Miles was no less a racist than Wagner. Anyone who knew Miles, or worked with him, knows that. This is not a question of opinion. It's not up for debate. His reputation as a racist proceeds him, and is as indelible a legacy amongst musicians today as is his music itself. If that statement sounds in ANY WAY harsh, or over the top, I defy you interview any number of living sidemen here in Los Angeles or New York, who have worked with Davis, and not hear the same from their lips, black, white, or latino. The fact that Wikipedia has elected to dedicate an entire section to Wagner's racism, yet omit Miles,' is puzzling, especially to someone who has studied him and researched his life as much as I have, through two degrees of higher education and beyond. Simply reading his autobiography will reach this conclusion, as will watching any number of interviews available on youtube.com The problem seems to be the editors' fear of painting Davis in a negative light, because he was an African American racist, as opposed to a white racist, which is considered a more socially acceptable label to place on someone. It is not for me to ponder why that is the case, only to point out the inherent hypocrisy in omitting Davis' racism while including it in others' articles. It was a driving force in his life and his music, and had as much to do with the decisions he made as did anything else, from his numbered wives and girlfriends, to his drug addictions, to his passion for music itself. Davis was close friends with and had much respect for many individual whites, but his overall view toward White America was decidedly negative, and he made that point clear time and time again, in interview after interview, in no uncertain terms. The fact that no mention of this sentiment, which pervaded his life so thoroughly, is found anywhere in this article is not just puzzling, but serves to stifle the credibility of the author of the article and that of the Wikipedia resource itself, as it is such a "no brainer" for anyone who has done even the smallest amount of research on Davis' life, or more importantly, knew the man. The aforementioned "fear" of the editors seems to be supported by the above responses in this discussion page, which are unnecessarily defensive of Davis. This is equally disturbing, as Wikipedia proclaims a desire to publish the truth in an objective light, yet this is clearly an example of subjective editing at the expense of maintaining integrity. There is no question whatsoever as to Davis' racism. Only a question as to why it has been omitted here. If the editors deem it non-notable, I can only argue that said editors haven't researched Davis' life as thoroughly as they should have, and would further argue that the same subject (racism) should then be omitted from articles on Wagner, and others, in whose lives racism played no smaller a part. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 98.149.38.113 (talk) 10:37, 4 December 2009 (UTC) [edit] HealthAccording to Ian Carr, MD's health problems just before retirement in 1976 were rheumatism, bursitis, and osteoarthritis which led to a hip replacement (which in turn had to be replaced a few years later). It's pretty clear MD was diabetic (Carr mentions it a few times), though possibly not before 1976. I can't find any reference to sickle cell disease, and I think it's unlikely but not impossible - MD's occasional physical collapses seem to have been due to pushing himself too hard. I'd say keep in the diabetes, scrub the sickle cell disease unless someone can provide evidence that he had it, or probably had it. --ajn (talk) 21:40, 22 May 2006 (UTC)
Add in info about Sickle Cell! It's in books about him and it's important that people know that he suffered from this very significant disease! In the book "Miles and Me" Quincy Trope mentions Miles was on AZT, a well known AIDS medication, towards the end of his life.Leading us to believe Miles may have been HIV-positive. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.174.19.159 (talk) 04:25, 7 September 2007 (UTC) -- [edit] Mone Peterson???At the age of nine, one of Davis's father's friends gave him his first trumpet, but he did not start learning to play seriously until the age of thirteen, when his father gave him a new trumpet and arranged lessons with local trumpeter Elwood Buchanan and, later, a man named Mone Peterson. I've never heard of anyone by this name associated with Miles' past. Can we get a source for this information?
[edit] Bitches Brew & SalesSomeone inserted a reference to Bitches Brew as the "biggest-selling jazz record of all time". Is this actually true? How does it stack up against Kind of Blue, A Love Supreme, Headhunters,, Take Five, Heavy Weather, &c? -- I ask in part because I recall that in The Wire magazine when they had a feature on the album (this would have been in the 1990s--I no longer have backissues anymore, alas) the author was skeptical about claims of sales; apparently Columbia did get it massively stocked in record stores across the US, & that counts as sales.... but many copies were returned, which wasn't counted of course. (Similar shenanigans go on when bookstore chains buy the massive print runs of bestsellers, then months later tear off the covers & return them.) -- I deleted the unsupported claim for now & also undid the extensive vandalism to the page that occurred at the same time, but in any case would like to know a little more. ND 19:53, 20 August 2006 (UTC)
[edit] Recent edits to the opening paragraphFactually, Miles Davis was one of the most influential and innovative musicians of the 20th century. I see no reason why this should be labeled merely an opinion and removed as such like an editor had done {see diff here}. Opinions, please. FjghdK 18:46, 26 October 2006 (UTC)
I listen to jazz regularly these days but this is a fairly recent development -- within, say, the last 10 years. I'm hardly a knowledgable jazz fan; I'd be hard pressed to name 5 tunes that Miles made famous. My entire contrib to his article is to fix a typo. But even I know that the man was a giant. If he was not the pivotal figure in jazz during his lifetime, it was because he didn't die nearly as quickly as his lifestyle warranted; quite a few jazz greats came and
[edit] AIDSI read before that he died of complications, relating to AIDS, which he got from using shared needles. If this is true, how come it's not mentioned in the article.--Richy 13:47, 26 August 2007 (UTC) In the book "Miles and Me" Quincy Trope mentions Miles was on AZT, a well known AIDS medication, towards the end of his life.Leading us to believe Miles may have been HIV-positive.I do believe he was indeed HIV-Positive,however I havent found any other sources to confirm this. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.174.19.159 (talk) 05:08, 7 September 2007 (UTC) Who cares, read the page on Talk:Julio_Cortázar and see what other people are saying. Peace. (Its Pytch.. Hon (talk) 00:03, 23 November 2007 (UTC)) [edit] Birth of the cool/early careerHi, I'm no jazz expert but was surprised there's no explicit mention here either of his early recordings with Charlie Parker, or the Birth of the Cool sessions (and I'm sure other significant events from the same period). As it stands, the article seems to imply that his career didn't get going until the mid 50s. How about a short 'Early Career' section to precede the First great Quintet/Sextet part? (Sorry I can't be more helpful and draft something but i'm really not knowledgeable enough!) Agreed. There should be at least two additional sections, one on Birth of the Cool and another on the early 1950s journeyman work. The work with Charlie Parker needs mention too; perhaps that should be in "early life". Jmeltzer (talk) 13:14, 10 November 2008 (UTC) [edit] Best-selling jazz album?Different sections of this article identify both Kind of Blue and Bitches Brew as the best-selling jazz album of all time. They can't both be the best-selling jazz album. (Not to mention that there may be other albums which have outsold both Kind of Blue and Bitches Brew but which are disputed as to whether they are jazz albums.) --Metropolitan90 (talk) 07:27, 11 December 2007 (UTC)
[edit] CarsSomething should be mentioned about Miles' love of his cars.. Ferrari 275 and Lamborghini Miura. He used them as an "out" when his music got too stressful. I would add it to the article but I don't remember the source and it will probably be deleted by the Wikipedia nazis —Preceding unsigned comment added by 129.74.161.40 (talk) 21:47, 19 December 2007 (UTC) [edit] Picture?Might I suggest finding a free image or two to feature on the page? I shall have a look myself if I get the time. 84.9.123.100 (talk) 10:15, 27 February 2008 (UTC) [edit] No acid jazz or jazz rap?Why doesn't this article mention acid jazz or jazz rap genres? Doo Bop is a cornerstone record for both. Netrat_msk (talk) 22:53, 30 March 2008 (UTC)
He recorded with Eazy Mo Bee, who was a rap producer, and personally said he wanted to blend Jazz with Rap. It doesn't matter if some white senior citizen apposes him doing rap, the fact is he still did it. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.231.28.185 (talk) 23:49, 29 January 2009 (UTC) No one actually listens to Doo Bop. --Danreitz (talk) 08:36, 23 July 2009 (UTC) [edit] Marsalis confrontationre, this passage: "This changed after Marsalis appeared, unannounced, onstage in the midst of a Davis performance. Marsalis whispered into Davis' ear that "someone" had told him to do so; Davis replied by physically throwing him off the stage." I think that this is a factual error. Miles DID NOT physically throw Marsalis off the stage. Point 1: the episode in question is described on p. 374 of the auto-bio "Miles." In that description, a hostile verbal exchange is mentioned, but no physical actions are mentioned. Point 2: I was in attendance at the concert, which was summer 1986 at a jazz festival in Vancouver, Canada. I saw it with my own eyes. What I saw was that Wynton came on stage, waved, and played about 12 bars. Whether Wynton and Miles exchanged words was not clear. Miles used his arms to signal to the band to stop playing. At this point, Wynton waved again and walked off the stage. The audience clearly knew that Miles was not happy, but there was no physical aggression. To make the passage accurate, the mention of physical aggression ought to be removed. At the very least, the passage could be made compatible with the auto-bio version of events, and properly cited. Nroese (talk) 23:59, 13 July 2008 (UTC) [edit] Buckethead and MilesI think this should be added to the wiki, buckethead wrote a song called "Sketches of Spain (for miles)" on his Electric Tears album. I think it should be added cause its a cool little tidbit, and buckethead is an amazing musician, just like miles was. 99.236.175.186 (talk) 18:59, 29 July 2008 (UTC)
[edit] Didn't he have synesthesia?I'm looking into this some more, but I'm pretty sure that he did. csn someone help, too? (: Twitterpated. (talk) 17:50, 9 September 2008 (UTC) [edit] New title for Jack JohnsonWhen I bought the LP on its release in 1970 it was called (as apparently so was the film) plain 'Jack Johnson'. The CD seems to have the same cover. Now on the internet everyone is calling the album 'A Tribute to...' How & when did that creep in? Rothorpe (talk) 09:14, 4 November 2008 (UTC)
[edit] Think DifferentI've seen what I assume to be a famous image of Davis in an Apple Macintosh "Think Different" advertisement. What year was this ad campaign started? Rogerthat Talk 09:36, 23 November 2008 (UTC) [edit] Did Miles Davis beat his wife?Hello, I think I've read somewhere that Miles Davis beat his wife. In this article it's not even mentioned if he was married. Did I read that about Miles or another jazzman? --CutterX (talk) 07:18, 4 February 2009 (UTC) [edit] ChronologyThe timeline used to organize the sections is in need of some fine tuning. The first quintet/sextet is listed as lasting until 1958 etc. Jimmy Cobb joining in May of 1958 is in section on 1959 etc. I will peck away at this trying not to undo others' work. Vytal (talk) 03:43, 6 May 2009 (UTC) [edit] NameMiles Davis III, why? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Góra Zoltan (talk • contribs) 21:29, 2 November 2009 (UTC) I've just checked in the autobiography, and he was the son of MDD II, who was... Rothorpe (talk) 00:55, 3 November 2009 (UTC) Categories: Wikipedia former featured articles | Featured articles that have appeared on the main page | C-Class biography articles | C-Class biography (musicians) articles | Top-priority biography (musicians) articles | Musicians work group articles | WikiProject Biography articles | C-Class Jazz articles | Top-importance Jazz articles | WikiProject Jazz articles | C-Class Missouri articles | Unknown-importance Missouri articles | C-Class St. Louis articles | High-importance St. Louis articles | WikiProject St. Louis Culture working group | C-Class WikiProject Illinois articles | High-importance WikiProject Illinois articles | C-Class California articles | Unknown-importance California articles | C-Class Los Angeles articles | High-importance Los Angeles articles | WikiProject California articles | C-Class Version 0.5 articles | Arts Version 0.5 articles | C-Class Version 0.7 articles | Arts Version 0.7 articles | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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