Miles Davis Gets (Yet Another!) Mention On Parks And Recreation

This is the second time this season the name Miles Davis has been spotlighted on the supremely excellent show Parks And Recreation. On the latest episode (“Partridge”, 4-5-13), Ben Wyatt, played by Adam Scott, is doped on morphine while in the hospital dealing with kidney stones.

In his time of being under the influence of some heavy drugs, he states, “I feel like I never gave Miles Davis proper shrift.”

Of course, watching it is much funnier than my quick summary.

And Adam Scott’s delivery of the line is great.

Maybe The New Season Of Mad Men Will Feature A Miles Davis Song

The award-winning Mad Men returns for its sixth season on April 7 (Sunday at 9 p.m. on AMC). There’s even a very nice promo poster making the rounds.

As we excitedly prepare for the return of Mad Men, we wonder: will the music of Miles Davis be making an appearance at some point during the new season?

When we left off from the season 5 finale it was April of 1967. No specifics have leaked just yet about a season 6 time frame, but safe to say the new season picks up somewhere in 1969. And for fans of Miles Davis this means In a Silent Way. We also have Filles de Kilimanjaro also in ’69, Miles in the Sky in ’68, and of course Bitches Brew waiting around the corner in 1970.

Plenty of material from Miles’ “electric” period to use in the show.

Season one (set in 1960) featured two Miles Davis tracks: In Episode 5 (5G) we hear “Blue in Green,” and Episode 8 (The Hobo Code) is highlighted by “Concierto De Aranjuez (Adagio).”

I believe Episode 8 (Souvenir) from season 4 also featured a Miles Davis tune. It’s 1963 and that means there are plenty of Davis albums Pete could be listening to, notably Kind of Blue, Miles Ahead and Sketches of Spain.

I have already plead my case for show creator Matthew Weiner to actually write Miles Davis into the show for an episode.

The scene: Miles Davis strolls into a bar with a few friends one evening – only to encounter Don Draper. They end up talking about life and love, and then Miles imparts some heavy advice, which helps Don in whatever personal disarray he’s likely to be in.

That’s TV gold, people!

We’re totally jazzed about the new season of Mad Men, and here’s hoping we’ll hear some classic, Miles Davis tunes follow Don Draper, Roger Sterling, Pete Campbell, Peggy Olson and the rest of the gang on their very stylish adventures.

Miles Davis Featured In New Book About Jazz

Between 1942 and 1972, jazz changed more than it had in all the years before, or would in all the years after. When this period began, Miles Davis was a high-school student, moonlighting in St. Louis dance bands; as it ended, he had become the avatar of a blend of jazz and deep funk that only made real sense to listeners on hard drugs.

In between, Davis traced a line from a kind of swing-rooted music heard on “Au Privave,” an early number cut as a Charlie Parker sideman, into dalliances with classical forms, R&B and electrified sounds.

The above is the opening of Tim Howard’s Wall Street Journal review of the new book Why Jazz Happened by Marc Myers.

Definitely looks like a selection to add to the bedside table for future reading.

Miles Davis Has Yet To Be Featured On American Masters

I just finished watching a terrific episode of American Masters about the history of the Joffrey Ballet, and it occurred to me that in the time the excellent documentary series debuted on PBS in 1986 they have yet to feature Miles Davis.

Unless they are working on something right now, I would like to personally ask series creator Susan Lacy to think about adding a 2-hour biography of Miles Davis to an upcoming season.

I was actually surprised not to find Miles listed among the almost 200 notable artists and organizations that have been featured over the years. Lord knows there is enough of his professional and personal life to make for a sensational episode. If handled properly by the right team, I think we could end up with a truly definitive (visual) narrative about jazz icon Miles Davis.

It goes without saying that Miles Davis is, indeed, an American Master.

And I highly recommend Joffrey: Mavericks of American Dance. I am a novice at anything ballet related, but this is an interesting and exciting story about the history of Joffrey Ballet, and it founders, Robert Joffrey and Gerald Arpino.

Will The We Want Miles Art Exhibition Return?

In August 2011 the We Want Miles exhibition traveled to Brazil, following successful stops in Paris and Montreal.

Curated by Vincent Bessières and beautifully designed by the Cité de la Musique in Paris, the multimedia expo includes about 300-plus items, featuring recordings, artwork, photographs, videos, documentaries, clothing and musical scores provided by the Miles Davis estate and private collectors.

As the expo concluded there was talk of more cities to host the wonderfully exhaustive history of Miles Davis, but thus far I am not able to track any news of upcoming expos.

For the U.S., it’s easy to think of New York City, Miami, Chicago and San Francisco as prime locations. Even St. Louis can be added to the list – considering the Miles Davis connection.

The more people who have a chance to see this thrilling expo the better. The question is whether or not the show is scheduled to tour America, or other cities around the world for that matter.

Miles Davis Gets A Mention On Parks And Recreation

One of my favorite TV shows is Parks and Recreation. So I was mighty pleased to hear the name Miles Davis called out in the show’s cold open Thursday night (11/29). Designed as an NPR spoof, the opening set-up takes place in Wamapoke County Public Radio station.

Becasue their listeners love their jazz music, the decision is made to play a recording of Benny Goodman played over a separate recording of Miles Davis.

Jazz rules!

Miles Davis Knows What To Call The Album

The always enjoyable Letters of Note recently posted a terrific memo, sent by record producer Teo Macero to executives at Columbia Records regarding the title of the next Miles Davis album – that would end up being Bitches Brew.

Transcript

CBS MEMORANDUM

FROM: Teo Macero
TO: JOHN BERG, JOE AGRESTI, PHYLLIS MASON
DATE: November 14, 1969

RE: MILES DAVIS CS 9961 XSM 151732/3 PROJECT # 03802

Miles just called and said he wants this album to be titled:

“BITCHES BREW”

Please advise.

cc

(Signed, ‘Teo’)

Miles Davis And LCD Soundsystem In A Very Cool Mash-Up

Here is a cool YouTube mash-up of Miles Davis playing a selection of music from the film Elevator To The Gallows along with LCD Soundsystem’s “New York, I Love You But You’re Bringing Me Down.”

Miles Davis The Illustrated History Due In Nov.

There is a new illustrated history of Miles Davis on the way, which features 300 pictures and words by people from Bill Cosby and George Wein to the legendary Sonny Rollins.

“Miles Davis: The Complete Illustrated History” by Voyageur Press is due out Nov. 17. A terrific gift for the holidays!

“Miles Davis – The Complete Illustrated History” is Written by an all-star team, including Sonny Rollins, Bill Cosby, Herbie Hancock, Ron Carter, Clark Terry, Lenny White, Greg Tate, Ashley Kahn, Robin D. G. Kelley, Francis Davis, George Wein, Vincent Bessières, Gerald Early, Nate Chinen, Nalini Jones, Dave Liebman, Garth Cartwright, and more.

Miles Davis Part of New Blue Note App

Miles Davis is one of many jazz greats found in the impressive new Blue Note App developed for the iPad from Chicago-based Groovebug.

The new iPad app is free to download and features 30-second music clips; a monthly subscription of $1.99 gets you all of the app’s music tracks played in full.

The initial catalog which includes over one thousand songs.

Other features include amazing photos, in-depth bios, album notes, performance videos and newspaper articles. The Blue Note App also offers playlists curated by jazz experts, plus new audio monthly, and the option to dedicate songs to your friends on Facebook, Twitter and Tumblr.

Download the Blue Note App here

Miles Davis Is CIA Boss In A Dizzy Gillespie Administration

This is a not a new story, but one I find rather terrific. With the 2012 presidential election just around the corner, it’s fun to look back at Dizzy Gillespie’s historic 1964 challenge to incumbent Lyndon B. Johnson and Republican nominee Barry Goldwater.

Writing a few years back on the Night Lights blog, David Brent Johnson puts together an excellent look back at Dizzy’s short-lived race for the White House.

Pushed into his own style of jazz politics by jazz writer Ralph Gleason and his wife Jean, Johnson writes that Dizzy had plans to rename the White House ‘the Blues House’ and, “proposed a presidential cabinet with Duke Ellington as minister of state, Max Roach as minister of defense, Charles Mingus as minister of peace, Peggy Lee as minister of labor, and Miles Davis as the director of the CIA.”

Miles Davis taking charge of the CIA sounds about right.

Gillespie was in swinging campaign mode at his 1963 Monterey concert, featuring a rewrite of “Salt Peanuts” by Jon Hendricks with lyrics that included the lines, “Your politics oughta be a groovier thing/so get a good president who’s willing to swing/Vote Dizzy! Vote Dizzy!”

That particular concert can be heard on the CD Dizzy for President.

Miles Davis: Died On This Day In 1991

Miles Davis Statue Plans Moving Forward

Back in May we noted that the city of Alton, Illinois, Miles Davis’ hometown, had begun the process of honoring the jazz legend with a life-sized statue in the heart of Downtown’s entertainment district.

Pride, Inc. has taken the lead in getting the Miles statue project moving, and, according to Pride board member Patricia Ackman, they have already decided what the statue will look like.

Alton Daily News.com features an audio link to the interview with Ackman about the statue, which is going to resemble the image utilized for the recently released postage stamp.

“It just is Miles Davis,” says Ackman of the image that will be used for the statue.

Writing for the St. Louis Beacon, Paul Povse has posted a good update on Alton’s plans to commemorate the jazz icon with a statue.

Optimistic estimates put the cost of the statue at $50,000 to $100,000, with a two-three year timetable, But Brett Stawar, president of the Alton Regional Convention & Visitors Bureau, believes it could cost $200,000 and take up to five years to raise the money and finish the sculpture.

Davis was born in Alton in 1926. He lived there until only age 2 when his family moved to East St. Louis.

Miles Davis And Business Improvisation

Interesting article from FastCompany.com.

If Miles Davis Taught Your Office To Improvise

The need of leadership in a distributed age has never been greater. Instead of imposing competence–a virtual impossibility–leaders provoke it by designing the conditions that nurture strategic improvisation and continuous learning, and thus help their organizations break out of competency traps. Great leaders like Miles Davis are able to see peoples’ potential, disrupt their habits, and demand that they pay attention in new ways.

Read the complete article HERE.

Miles Davis, Forever A Knight of the Legion of Honor

It was on this day, July 16, in 1991, that the French government made Miles Davis a Knight of the Legion of Honor – officially known as the Chevalier de la Legion d’Honneur award.

To the left is a photo of Miles Davis with the medal after the ceremony in Paris on July 16, 1991.

Writing for the International Herald Tribune, here is a very good article from columnist/author Mike Zwerin about Miles Davis in the summer of 1991 as a 65 year-old jazz legend.

And the Prince of Silence is still being royally rewarded for doing it. His Highness’s treasury is overflowing. Money is every bit as important to him as creativity. Or rather, they are inseparable. Obliging record companies, promoters and broadcasters to pay top dollar also commits them to saturation promotion, which encourages business and maintains the price. Money is a symbol of reality, even – especially – money for nothing.

Miles said he could put together a better rock band than Jimi Hendrix. He advised young musicians to learn rock, rhythm and blues and funk tunes rather than jazz standards. “I have to change,” he said. “It’s like a curse.” Miles goes to the money, but it’s more complicated than that: The money comes to him.

He has been paid millions to expand frontiers, to reflect the best of our urban experience, to do exactly what he wanted to do and did better than anyone else – to “play what’s not there.” The artistry with which he relates to money is an art in itself, an integral part of what makes him – whether he likes it or not – a living legend. His multimillion-dollar mansion in Malibu is one of his greatest hits. Miles Davis plays money with as much conviction as he does the trumpet.

Click here to read the complete article.