March Music Madness: Miles Davis vs. Jimi Hendrix

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BTW Rick, I don't think Miles would be considered a 'master' of his instrument, not at all. He was a musical visionary, but not a great technical player. In fact, there are some sticks in the mud who seem to not like his music on the basis that he wasn't a great player. Which is their folly, but it's akin to not liking the Beatles because John Lennon wasn't a great technical guitar player.

My father used to say that Miles' work had a built-in frustration to it, because he so rarely could hit the notes he really wanted to at certain times (due at least in part to his reputed lack of proficiency). That frustration added some tension to his work & probably enhanced it in some way...if his theory is correct. He also felt that it had something to do with Miles' legendary personality quirks. But then my father thinks the moon is made out of green cheese.

From what I understood it was these kind of frustrations that also led him to drop out of Julliard after only a few weeks because he couldn't "dig" the technical crap they were trying to shove down his throat. Truth is he never learned how to play technically. He jumped straight from Julliard dropout to hanging the streets on NYC with Bird, Roach, and Dizzy. His prowess was improvosation, which existed at the time (Bird, Hawkins, et al), but he took it to a new level...particulary on an instrument, like the trumpet, that was usually played pretty straight.

Let's not fool ourselves though...Miles didn't play "badly". But when you think of a technically profiecient trumpet player you think of Hubbard or Marsalis...not Miles.