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

George Cole [+–]

Music Journalist

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George Cole was educated at Homerton College, University of Cambridge. He is a freelance music and technology journalist whose work has appeared in Music Week, Jazzwise, the Financial Times, The Times, The Sunday Times, Newsweek, The Guardian, Empire, Gramophone, The Daily Telegraph, The Observer and The Independent.

Miles Davis was one of the musical giants of the twentieth century. In a career that spanned more than five decades, Miles transformed the face of jazz four or five times and his music resonates far beyond the bounds of his genre. Miles made the most famous album in the history of jazz, Kind of Blue, formed one of the greatest jazz quintets in the 1960s and fused jazz with rock.

Including unique interviews with dozens of Miles’ closest colleagues, many of whom have never before been interviewed about their time with him, The Last Miles concentrates on the final period of Miles’ life, after he had emerged from a five-year lay-off from the world of music. Right up until the end of his life, he was still searching, still exploring and still refusing to play it safe. The focus is on the music Miles recorded and played, and how it evolved in the eyes of the musicians he played with. Those interviewed include, George Duke, Teo Macero, Tommy LiPuma, Marcus Miller, Darryl Jones, Chaka Khan, David Sanborn, Branford Marsalis, Steve Porcaro and Easy Mo Bee. There are also interviews with musicians who played with Miles before the 1980s, including Dave Liebman, Pete Cosey, Michael Henderson and Mike Zwerin, who give their own assessment of the music Miles played during the final period of his life. Cheryl Davies, Miles’ only daughter, is also interviewed.

The Last Miles is full of fascinating new facts and stories about Miles. For the first time, every member of the group of young musicians from Chicago who helped bring Miles back into the music scene gives their story. Music journalist George Cole also reveals for the first time the full story behind a lost Miles Davis album recorded in 1985, tells you about a song Miles co-wrote for Mick Jagger, how he worked with Prince, and discovers new and unreleased music that Miles recorded. If you’ve ever wanted to know how Miles recruited his band members, what it was like working with Miles in the studio or to play with him on-stage, The Last Miles has the answers. There is at least one chapter devoted to each album that Miles recorded during this period. Full track-by-track descriptions contain many new and interesting tales behind the songs including how Sting came to record on one of Miles’ tracks, why Prince dropped a song slated to appear on the Tutu album, how Gil Evans helped Miles compose many of the tunes on the album Star People, what Splatch means and who Ursula was.

Series: Popular Music History

Prelims

Acknowledgements ix – xi

Prelude [+–] 1 – 2

Prelude

Introduction [+–] 3 – 6

Intro

Miles – the man [+–] 7 – 12

What made Miles Davis so special? Why was he such a colossus not just in jazz but in the wider world? The answer is that Miles had a unique set of qualities that enabled him to see the world, music and people in different ways. “How many people have been on this planet since the human race?” asks Mark Rothbaum, Miles’s former manager. “Billions and billions and billions, and there are similarities between them all. And there was no similarity between Miles and anybody else. He was so unique I can’t imagine anybody coming close to what he was about.”

Miles – his life and music before 1975 [+–] 13 – 29

The story of Miles Davis is not a rags-to-riches tale. It is not about the poor boy who managed to escape from the ghetto to become one of the most inuential artists of the twentieth century. But it is about a man whose talent, courage, instinct, intuition and determination enabled him to change the face of jazz at least four times.

Into the shadows [+–] 30 – 42

The years 1976 to 1980 are often described as Miles’s “lost years,” “silent years” or “missing years;” but whatever you call them they were certainly the most chaotic years of his life. And for anyone who cared about Miles, they were also the most worrying. Miles had had major physical and emotional problems before in his life – during the 1950s, for example, he acquired a heroin habit which became so bad that he had to drop out of the music scene for a time. And bouts of sickness seemed to be a common theme throughout Miles’s life. But none of those dark periods could match the journey of selfdestruction that Miles seemingly embarked upon in the mid-1970s.

The Man With The Horn [+–] 43 – 88

Background to the album

We Want Miles [+–] 89 – 110

Background to the album

Star People [+–] 111 – 128

Background to the album

Decoy [+–] 129 – 158

Background to the album

You’re Under Arrest [+–] 159 – 181

Background to the album

Aura [+–] 182 – 196

Background to the album

The road to Tutu: the background [+–] 197 – 204

Background to the album

The road to Tutu: Rubberband – the lost Miles Davis album [+–] 205 – 225

Background to the album

The road to Tutu: Miles and Prince [+–] 226 – 231

Connection between Miles and Prince

Tutu [+–] 232 – 267

Background to the album

Siesta [+–] 268 – 281

Background to the album

Amandla [+–] 282 – 306

Background to the album

Doo-Bop [+–] 307 – 340

Background to the album

Miles alive [+–] 341 – 409

The nal phase of Miles’s live performances lasted almost exactly ten years – beginning with a gig at the Kix club in Boston on June 26, 1981 and ending on August 25, 1991 at the Hollywood Bowl in California. Miles toured extensively during his nal decade, criss crossing the US, Asia and Europe. During this period, both the music and his bands underwent a considerable transformation.

Live Around The World [+–] 410 – 421

Background to the album

Miles’s other recordings [+–] 422 – 426

Other recordings

Miles’s guest recordings [+–] 427 – 436

Recordings as a guest

The verdict on the music of the 1980s [+–] 437 – 444

History had long decided that Miles Davis was one of the giants of jazz, but how will the music of his nal decade be judged? To some, Miles had stopped innovating in this period and was following rather than creating trends. Writer Paul Tingen says: “While the process of rediscovering and re-evaluating Miles’s electric experiments of the ’60s and ’70s is ongoing, no similar interest is discernible regarding his music from 1981 to 1991. The simplest explanation is that the music of 1981 to 1991 did not announce a new musical paradigm and hence does not invite belated re-evaluation.” Tingen concludes that the music of Miles’s last decade was a translation rather than a transcendence.

Notes [+–] 445 – 469

Notes

References [+–] 470 – 474

references

Compilations [+–] 475 – 472

compilations

Tribute albums [+–] 483 – 484

Tributes

The eighties music – cover versions [+–] 485

Music from the 80’s

Unreleased Miles – the music in the vaults [+–] 486 – 495

Unreleased albums

Miles’s live repertoire 1981–1991 [+–] 496 – 497

repertoire

Miles’s album discography 1980–1991 [+–] 502 – 510

Discography

Miles’s band line-ups 1981–1991 [+–] 498 – 501

Line-ups

Books and websites [+–] 511 – 514

List of books and websites related

Index [+–] 515 – 534

Index

Reviews

Voted one of the top ten music books of 2005 by Record Collector magazine.

Joint winner of the Association for Recorded Sound Collections’ Best Jazz History Book 2006 award.

The most immediate impact that this book had on me was to make me listen again to Miles’ later recordings with a completely regenerated ear and this really is the reason why this book works so well and is an essential read for any true Miles Davis appreciator… you will be hard pressed to find a more inspirational read, written by a man who quite simply loves Miles Davis’ music.
Mike Chadwick, Ejazz.fm

There are large chunks of fresh material here… Fill[s] in quite a few gaps and dismisses blanket condemnations of [Miles’s] pop phase.
Stephen Graham, Jazzwise

Cole does for Miles’ late work what Ian Macdonald’s Revolution In The Head does for The Beatles, examining each album in meticulous detail.
John Lewis, Time Out

Cole’s analysis has a meticulous, forensic character… [and] is able to bring a wealth of new information to light… This book should get people talking. It should be the first rather than the last word on an intriguing chapter of the life an extraordinarily complex artist. And Davis’s vanity would surely have loved that.
Kevin Le Gendre, Independent on Sunday

Cole’s certainly produced a fascinating book.
Chris Ingham, Mojo

As with any good musical biography, Cole had made me think again about those albums such as Siesta, You’re Under Arrest, The Man with the Horn, that are now stashed in my attic.
John Bungey, The Times

The title is likely to send most jazzbos running, with received wisdom having handed down the rule that in the 80’s Miles was only good for playing live; and half of that was just the pleasure of seeing him in person. For a single man to take on the 400-page+ task of changing popular opinion is a very tall order indeed. For him to make you want to actively revisit the decade in question is a near-miracle. Detailing album histories and giving final verdicts, Cole has made every effort to lay the evidence out bare. The analysis could have been a chore were it not for the presence of first-hand interviews with all the major players, making this not just a scholarly study, but a tribute to the man himself. And for a book such as this, you learn more about Davis that could have been expected.
Jason Draper, Record Collector

There simply hasn’t been another book published on Miles Davis, in any period, that has managed to obtain the wealth of interview material and cover his recorded work and various live tours in such a complete and comprehensive fashion… Engagingly written from start to finish, filled with more facts than you’ll be able to remember first time through, The Last Miles is an essential portrait of Miles’ last decade and a strong argument that his music was both valid and perfectly in keeping with a musical philosophy that would ultimately stretch over six decades.
John Kelman, All About Jazz.com

Cole has spoken to practically everyone who worked with Miles in his final decade. He has traced the evolution of each of those final albums, cut by cut, splice by splice… [Miles] comes out of Cole’s account larger, warmer and if anything even more important than ever.
Brian Morton, The Wire

“Through lively analyses of all Miles’ recorded work from this period and much that went unreleased, including the ‘lost’ album Rubberband, [Cole] does enough to send readers back to the original albums.”
Simon Evans, Choice

Cole is a persuasive writer: he prompted me to go and dig out albums that I’d dismissed as inconsequential and listen again with fresh ears… A rewarding read.
Charles Waring, Blues & Soul

Cole takes us on an exhaustive journey deep into the heart of Miles’ late recordings… The Last Miles needs to be covered by working musicians, producers and Miles’ fans alike.
Livingstone Marquis, Straight, No Chaser

George Cole has written a book that should be required reading for anyone with a serious interest in Davis’ life and work irrespective of which period of his music you prefer. It offers a valuable insight into this most complex of personalities, and reveals a side to Miles that many may not have known existed… for this reader it has prompted a re-examination of this decade which has revealed a fascinating area of music that I had previously overlooked.
Nick Lea, Jazzviews.co.uk

In the flurry of books since [Miles Davis’s] death, none has dealt in depth with the music of this period. Music writer George Cole fills this gap… It is so detailed and intimate that the reader feels he is virtually living with Davis as he seeks to reinvent himself… a rich and rewarding read.
Irwin Block, The Montreal Gazette

This is a must for every Miles fan.
Neal Gardner, Blogcritics.org

The fact of having personally interviewed all those characters… without much recall to interviews already noted and the usual anecdotes, renders The Last Miles as excellent… a book that certainly is seen as a work of reference.
Maurizio Comandini, All About Jazz.com Italy

[Cole] has written a comprehensive account of the comeback and the albums it produced… He takes the reader through each of the albums, cut by cut, examining the musical choices, the musicians and their successes… Cole’s book is a valuable resource on the last 11 years of a true music legend’s life.
Chris Smith, Winnipeg Free Press

Cole gives an exhaustive account of every track recorded [and, it seems, every live show] in that decade and of every one of the dozens of musicians who played on them but what’s most interesting is the portrait of Miles Davis that emerges from it all. Sometimes an asshole and a bully, yes, but also a very funny guy who was a good friend to many and a mentor to even more, a man with drug problems who was more often in great pain from other maladies. Through it all, Davis was obsessed with moving his music forward with anyone who could help him do it – from Prince to Public Enemy, from Scritti Politti to a violinist he saw on Johnny Carson and hired on the spot.
Rock & Rap Confidential

George Cole has made a major contribution to jazz scholarship… written over a three-year period, the degree of detail is quite astonishing and the research so extensive that it becomes possible to contradict claims made by Miles himself in his autobiography. Every track on every 1981–1991 album is discussed in length… a very valuable book.
Chris Yates, The Jazz Rag

As the only book-length study devoted entirely to that music, The Last Miles lays a thorough, discography-based foundation for future research in this period and will doubtless be an essential resource for Miles Davis fans and scholars. This book represents a significant step in drawing scholarly attention to a music that has long lacked just that.
Jeremy A. Smith, Notes

This book is a model of how these types of books should be… If late period Miles is in the readers’ interest, the reader should rush out and purchase this volume. It is invaluable.
Robert Iannapollo, ARSC Journal

For reader testimonials and other praise for The Last Miles visit The Last Miles website.

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Books and Journals in Humanities, Social Science and Performing Arts

The Last Miles

The Music of Miles Davis, 1980–1991

George Cole [+–]

Music Journalist

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