MILES DAVIS: BIRTH OF THE COOL

MILES DAVIS: BIRTH OF THE COOL is my new favorite documentary, and Lewis Erskine my new favorite film editor. Erskine tailors his cuts and montages to Miles' music in a way that is both subtle and in-your-face/ear at once. And this is the soundtrack of my life. Miles was my idol from the first time I heard his horn as a boy, let alone the first time I saw a photograph of this style icon. I played piano and keyboards from age 4 on, and as a young man played jazz piano for part of my income, but from about 9 to 17 I also played trumpet (even performed in the local young musicians orchestra), so I get the technique and artistry of that instrument as well (I also played upright acoustic jazz base in my late teens).

I tried to sound like Miles not only in all my music playing, but in my speech too, but had heard so many intimidating stories about his behavior on and off stage I avoided seeing him live until toward the end of his life when I caught him at the Hollywood bowl and wept. I named my oldest son after him and tried to explain to non-jazz lovers why he and other jazz innovators were so amazing, saying if it wasn't for racism and its impact on opportunities, musicians like Miles and Monk and Bird et al. might have been Einsteins or Oppenheimers, because music is math as sound art, and their genius at inventing new formulas was on that level (and now a commentator in this film makes a similar observation, only more succinctly).

This documentary explores the life and genius of what many of us believe to be the coolest human who ever lived, despite his all too human but disappointing faults and failures. Here's the trailer, though it cannot truly capture the feast for the ears and eyes and soul that is MILES DAVIS: BIRTH OF THE COOL. You have to see it.

Visit https://www.milesdavismovie.com/ for ticket updates. For UK tickets visit: https://www.milesdavismovie.co.uk/ Miles Davis: Horn player, bandleader, in...

[ps: sorry the framing on the trailer here is a little off]