Miles Davis would love Lil Wayne. I’ll be the first to say it.
I spent a bunch of time this afternoon watching Miles Davis interviews on YouTube. Alex sent this one to me, which started the avalanche:
Bryant Gumbel: Do you know right off the bat which musicians you’re going to like?
Miles Davis: First thing I look at in a musician is his carriage. What he wears. How he talks. How he walks. And when he picks up the instrument. His approach to the instrument. You know, he don’t stumble with it. Pick it up like it’s an extension of his body. You can almost tell how he’s gonna play.
Bryant Gumbel: For the most part, jazz has avoided the mainstream of American music.
Miles Davis: I don’t like that word, jazz.
Bryant Gumbel: You don’t? What would you call it.
Miles Davis: I think it’s social music. All the social melodies out in the air. There’s no jazz anymore.
Bryant Gumbel: I’m curious. What do you think of popular music or what passes for popular music today?
Miles Davis: That’s that social music I’m talking about.
Bryant Gumbel: You think it’s good?
Miles Davis: Yeah. You take out what you want and leave what you don’t like. You know. Like food. It’s no big thing.
It’s a shame we’ll never see Miles on stage with Lil Wayne. They remind me so much of one another.
Scofield’s solo is pretty amazing on there. Really expressive. You gotta love it in the context of this interview from 1990:
Harry Reasoner: Are Black musicians genetically better than White musicians? Get me in trouble.
Miles Davis: Not better. But they play different. White musicians seem to lag behind the beat. I don’t know why.
Harry Reasoner: Because Black musicians hurt more?
Miles Davis: What do you mean hurt more?
Harry Reasoner: I mean is it…
Miles Davis: It’s not that cliche.
Harry Reasoner: It’s not that easy … to say that … Because you came out of slavery, you play on the beat.
Miles Davis: No no no. That’s got nothing to do with it.
That was on 60 Minutes in 1990.
Tags
hiphop, interview, jazz, lilwayne, milesdavis, video
Tags: hiphop, interview, jazz, lilwayne, milesdavis, performance, video
March 1st, 2008 at 23:31:19 (PST -04:00)
[…] todo mundo » Blog Archive » Miles Davis would love Lil Wayne. I’ll be the first to say it. kevin driscoll digs up some great miles interviews :: Bryant Gumbel: “You think [pop music is] good?” Miles Davis: “Yeah. You take out what you want and leave what you don’t like. You know. Like food. It’s no big thing.” (tags: miles interviews pop jazz race aesthetics tv) […]
March 11th, 2008 at 22:48:17 (PDT -04:00)
OMG, Miles Davis is so fucking cool. It’s amazing to me how the “greatest generation” of journalists seemed to be so condescending. Even to the greats.
May 9th, 2008 at 23:51:49 (PDT -04:00)
Those are great. I love that he eschewed the term “jazz” and how strange that he used “social music” back then. He was/is from the future.
May 10th, 2008 at 20:31:06 (PDT -04:00)
miles clearly understood the connection between ambiance/noise and popular music in a way that we’re just figuring out now. i wonder if he was listening to model 500 and the detroit techno kids back then? imagine him playing on top of “strings of life”!