Miles

Miles: The Autobiography

A Reflection

Infant to Jazz that I am, I thought the best way to introduce myself to Miles Davis should be through his autobiography. This examination of Miles: The Autobiography will assess my own interpretation of Mile Davis the man, the musician, the artist. It was easy to connect with Davis throughout, and with deep compassion and empathy, due to his emotional perspective prevalent in the writing. The book's considerations are in every case filtered through the personality of Miles Davis. Davis makes no intention of discussing subjects from a political, historical, musicological or sociological perspective. The author has only one perspectiveÐ'--emotional. In his emotional and passionate context, Davis makes clear that to him jazz is a unique and priceless expression of black culture. For the most part, Davis' views on music, politics, and religion are expressed not in the abstract, not as parts of some well-defined philosophy of life, but rather as expressions of raw, deeply felt experience.

The underlying theme throughout the autobiography is certainly Davis' unfaltering passion for music. This passion underscores every observation he makes. He isn't telling the story of jazz, or of black culture, or of racism in the United States. He is telling the story of himself, and primarily of himself as a trumpet player. All other topics of interest flow from his image of himself as a jazz musician and perhaps the greatest, most innovative trumpet player of all time. Undoubtedly, Davis is a musical genius of the jazz realm, a unique talent like no other. In his personal life, however, in his life outside of musical creation, he is a spoiled child who almost always is able to do and say whatever he wants whenever he wants.

Davis emerges as a self-centered, immature man, an individual whose driving passion for his music prevents his development in other areas of life. This attitude and lifestyle are inherent for Davis, attributed no doubt to his musical genius and inherent need to quench his artistic thirst. It seems a subconscious tactic the way he protects himself from fully developed relationships in order to save the best part of himself for his music.

This observation of Davis' social conduct and relationship behavior is relevant to Davis' self-centered personality in this book. Davis shows little or no interest in any subject aside from his life's work. Anything other than music- politics, social issues, history and literature are of little consideration to him. Women are certainly important, but always from the perspective of a spoiled child whose own needs are always central. His feelings for women are unarguably real, however, those feelings seem to be measured invariably by the woman's ability to fit into Davis' life and satisfy his needs. When a possible conflict between a women and his career arises, Davis is very clear about his priorities:

I love women. I never needed any help or ever had any trouble finding women. I just like to be with them, talking and shit like that. But I never have messed with a musician's girlfriend. Never. Even if she hadn't been with him for very long. You never know when you might have to hire a musician to play with you. You don't want no shit like that getting in the way of what you will be playing together (403).

Even Davis' morality is revealed as a facet of his passion for music. What helps him musically is good, and what hurts him musically is bad. He leaves women when they become detrimental to him musically, just as he gives up drugs when they hurt rather than help him express himself in his music.

Davis' immaturity and self-centeredness could be considered a weakness