Best Miles Davis Quotes

I Just re read the fantastic Miles Davis Reader, a book put out by Frank Alkyer, that compiles the many Down Beat Magazine Interviews and Blind Fold Tests he did, some of the quotes are priceless, It got me thinking about some of my favorites. here is one of them.

"That's got to be Eric Dolphy, Nobody else could sound that bad! The next time I see him I am going to step on his foot, You can print that."

This was a blind fold test  from 1964 of the tune "Mary Ann" from the album Far Cry. no one could do a Down Beat blind fold test like Miles. It is ironic that Miles was not real fond of the Avant Garde at this point, and yet almost all the music to come from Miles after 1964 was heavily influenced by it, I wonder what Miles would have thought about  his own Bitches Brew in 1964.










Edited by darkprinceofjazz - 03 Feb 2012 at 7:55am

Somthing like this:(paraphrasing whatever I remember)

Here is a quote from another Blind fold test from the same 1964 test, this was after listening to Cecil Taylor's "Lena" from Live at the Cafe Montmartre, a duet with Jimmy Lyons on alto,

"Take it off, that's some sad sh#t, man, in the first place I hear some Charlie Parker Cliches....they don't even fit, is that what the critics are diggin? those critics got to stop having coffee, if there aint nothin to listen to, they might as well admit it", just to take something like that and say it's great because there aint nothin to listen to is like going out and getting a prostitute".


Edited by darkprinceofjazz - 03 Feb 2012 at 8:21am

Just to contrast some of the ample evidence of his large ego, I'm sure I've read something somewhere where he resisted being called a 'legend.' As if he was uncomfortable with it? Wish I had a quote to go with it.

"Don't play what's there, play what's not there."
"If you understood everything I say, you'd be me!' 

Edited by Slartibartfast - 11 Feb 2012 at 6:13am

What about his comment to BB King concerning the length of John Coltrane's solos. BB autobiography  has it. When Coltrane said he could not help it and Miles replied "Just take the horn out your mouth".

If you listen to that one album they did together, you can hear one part where Miles starts mimicking what Monk is doing on the piano (I guess Monk was allowed to comp on that one) and they sort of take off together for a bit, no doubt that Miles could appreciate or understand what Monk was doing, I guess he didn't want Monk dictating the direction of the music.