Rebroadcast May 24, 2021.
Want a hot-button issue for a Jazz listener? Just mention “electric Miles.” If you really want to get them going, talk about the profoundly disruptive years, 1973 to 1975. Some will gush about it– “visionary,” “powerhouse,” “mind-bending”– while others, like Wynton Marsalis, will dismiss Miles at this time as, “…on the bandstand looking like, basically, a buffoon.” But in neither case does the respondent usually look under the hood. How did this band actually work? Who was directing the music’s movement? How were they doing it? What was the nature of the conversation that was happening in the music? The truth is that, love it or hate it, few people actually know the answers to these questions.
One exception: Mitch Goldman’s guest on this Deep Focus from 2011, cornetist Graham Haynes. Graham was introduced to Miles as a kid. Then, as a 14-year-old, he hung out on Miles’ block until Miles invited him in to the band’s rehearsals. Graham actually witnessed the creation of this music and, being the far-reaching bandleader that he is as an adult, he talks about the music with rare passion and insight. Plus, y’know, the WKCR archives bring the ruckus.
It’s up for keeps on the Deep Focus podcast on your favorite podcasting app or at https://mitchgoldman.podbean.com/
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Photo credit: Miles_Davis – JPRoche – CC BY-SA 4.0 creativecommons.org-licenses-by-sa-4.0 via Wikimedia Commons