The Last Miles: The Music Of Miles Davis, 1980-1991
George Cole
University of Michigan Press
This review obviously requires a big honkin’ disclaimer up front, so here goes: I’m the author of a book on Miles Davis’s electric music, Running The Voodoo Down, which will be published later this year, and which puts the music of his final decade on an equal plane with the records that came before. But if you wanna infer professional jealousy from anything you’re about to read, I’ll say right now that you’re wrong.
This is an admirable book. It’s incredibly exhaustive; Cole has interviewed just about everybody who ever played on a Miles Davis record, or joined him onstage, from 1980 to 1991, plus a gang of other folks - producers, label dudes, etc., etc., etc. (I’m not kidding around; when I say “just about,” I mean that five bandmembers out of thirty-six didn’t get interviewed.) Every recording session is discussed by folks who were actually in the room at the time. This is terrific information to have, especially when it comes to the “Rubber Band” sessions of 1985 and 1986, which were meant to start Davis’s tenure at Warner Bros. with a funkier, even more pop-oriented follow-up to You’re Under Arrest, before that idea was scrapped in favor of the (it seems, based on this book) much more brilliant and unique Tutu.
There’s a lot of discussion of the live bands, too, which is very welcome. Anybody who’s heard the 20-CD box The Complete Miles Davis At Montreux 1973-1991 (and given its bulk and price, that’s nowhere near as many folks as should) knows that Davis’s 1980s bands smoked live, particularly in the latter half of the 1980s. Joseph “Foley” McCreary, technically a bassist but filling the lead guitarist’s role, was every bit as interesting a contributor, within the context of the music being made at that time, as Pete Cosey. Unfortunately, he doesn’t play on the studio albums to any significant extent, so it’s hard to know that without digging up bootlegs or live videos or the (nice, but not enough) posthumous Live Around The World CD.
That being said, there’s very little poetry in this book. If you’re talking about music, you’ve got to bring something to the table beyond a mere litany of dates, places, songs played, etc. The author is described on the flap as a "freelance music and technology journalist" (emphasis mine), and too much of this book seems aimed at gearheads and folks who need to know every detail of every session. That stuff’s fun, in a nerdy way, but it doesn’t sing, it doesn’t tell you anything about Miles the man (as opposed to Miles the professional musician who was in this room on this day and played this many overdubs on this song, which was written by this guy and this guy and programmed by this other guy), and it won’t convince anybody to go out and buy these underrated albums.
If you’re a total Miles maniac, this book is fascinating – sometimes in a surprising way, as it reveals through repetitive anecdotes how Davis used the same psychological-warfare techniques on everybody who ever joined his band, for decades. If you’re just getting into the music, though, this isn’t the book for you. (That one comes out in the fall, ha-ha.)
Phil, this is meant as purely constructive criticism, but wouldn't it make a lot more sense for you to write a book about stuff that's happening now and you know more about as an insider, like metal or whatever, than musicians and music of the past you had no first-hand involvement with and you can only offer thoughts about based on records and second- or third- hand informaton? I mean, any Joe Schmoe can write (and probably has written) a book about Miles, but I'd sure rather see a book about the 90s metal underground, which probably few people would be qualified to write. (Yes, I am aware you did follow common sense to "write about what you know" in your free jazz book...) It's a matter of priorities; I mean, you could write the same stuff about Miles in 30 years—it's a dead and already belabored subject, including the electric stuff—but something like underground metal is timely and still history-in-the-making that can be caught alive.
Posted by: Michael Anton Parker at May 15, 2005 2:00 PM>wouldn't it make a lot more sense for you to write a book about stuff that's happening now and you know more about as an insider, like metal or whatever, than musicians and music of the past you had no first-hand involvement with and you can only offer thoughts about based on records and second- or third- hand informaton?
From a creative standpoint, sure. From a "what I can get people to pay me to write about" angle, not so much. Besides, one project (about which I'll say nothing yet) aside, I'm moving on from books about music for the time being - I'm currently working on selling a novel about the porn industry.
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