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At the age of 15, Miles Davis was becoming fairly proficient on
the trumpet. He was listening avidly to Freddy Webster and had heard Bird on
some of Jay McShann's records. Many of the bands that came to St. Louis (Miles
was living with his family across the river in East St. Louis, Illinois) heard
Miles and offered him jobs. There were bands like McKinney's Cotton Pickers,
Earl Hines, Tiny Bradshaw and Illinois Jacquet. His mother didn't like the idea
of him leaving town and after turning down a job with Jacquet for this reason,
Miles wouldn't talk to her for two weeks. About four months later, Billy
Eckstine's band came to town and Miles met Bird and Dizzy Gillespie. Through
Dizzy he was able to sit in with the band for the two weeks that they were in
town.
In 1945 Miles came to New York to study at Juilliard. He met Bird
who remembered him and took him around to 52nd Street where he was introduced
to Coleman Hawkins and Thelonious Monk. His first record date with Bird upset
him completely. He was so nervous that he couldn't play on Ko Ko and Dizzy had
to do the trumpet part as well as back Bird on piano.
These experiences were related to me by Miles in a recent
conversation. As we talked the time switched from past to present. I asked
Miles who his current favorites were. On his own instrument he quickly named
Art Farmer and Clifford Brown as the new stars and Kenny Dorham as one who has
come into his own. Then he spoke lovingly of Dizzy Gillespie. "Diz
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is it . . . whenever I want to learn something I go and listen to Diz." In the
piano department two Philadelphia boys, Red Garland (heard to good advantage in
this LP) and Ray Bryant were mentioned along with Horace Silver, Hank Jones and
Carl Perkins "a cat on the Coast who plays bass notes with his elbow". The talk
shifted to saxophone and to Sonny Rollins and Hank Mobley who are carrying on
the tradition of Charlie Parker. This naturally started us talking about Bird.
Miles credited his most wonderful experiences in jazz to his years with Bird.
He stared slowly ahead "Like Max (Roach) said, "New York isn't New York anymore
without Bird." Max's name being mentioned directed the conversation to
drummers. "Art Blakey and Philly Joe Jones; Max for brushes." Miles is very
conscious of drummers. Many times he will sit down between the drummer and bass
player and just listen to what the drummer is doing. You might even say that
listening to drummers is a hobby with Miles. His real hobby, however, is boxing
and he concerns himself with two aspects - spectator and participator. As a
spectator he is not merely a TV fan. You'll find him at Madison Square Garden
or St. Nick's when he is in New York and similar arenas in other cities when
there is a good match on tap. His personal fistic activity is confined to
working out on the light punching bag in various gyms. Anything more would be
dangerous. One stiff right cross to the "chops" and this LP might have been
delayed indefinitely.
notes by IRA GITLER
engineering by Van Gelder
cover photo; supervision by Bob Weinstock
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