Category Archives: News

A Miles Davis, Jimi Hendrix And Paul McCartney Supergroup Does Sound Pretty Awesome

Via Rolling Stone:

It’s long been known that Jimi Hendrix and Miles Davis were making plans to record together the year before Hendrix’s death in 1970, but it turns out the pioneering guitarist and jazz trumpeter were hoping that Paul McCartney would join them on bass. Hendrix, Davis and jazz drummer Tony Williams sent a telegram on Oct. 21, 1969, to the Beatles’ Apple Records, hoping to get McCartney in for a session.

“We are recording and LP together this weekend in NewYork [sic],” reads the note, according to The Associated Press. “How about coming in to play bass stop call Alvan Douglas 212-5812212. Peace Jimi Hendrix Miles Davis Tony Williams.”

Miles Davis with Quincy Jones Live at Montreux 1991 Set For Release On DVD, Blu-Ray and Digital

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MilesDavisMontreux1991DVDsleevehr Miles Davis with Quincy Jones Live at Montreux 1991 Set For Release On DVD, Blu Ray and Digital On March 19 Eagle Rock Entertainment will release Miles Davis with Quincy Jones and the Gil Evans Orchestra Live at Montreux 1991. The show was Davis’ last Montreux appearance, taking place just months before his death.

A tribute to arranger Gil Evans, who had died three years earlier, the performance featured Davis, Kenny Garrett (saxophone) and Wallace Rooney (trumpet, flugelhorn). Quincy Jones conducted the Gil Evans Orchestra and the George Gruntz Concert Jazz Band with the addition of Benny Bailey (trumpet, flugelhorn), Carles Benavent (bass) and Grady Tate (drums).

Extras include interviews with Claude Nobs, Monty Alexander, Helen Merrill, Betty carter, Charlie Haden, Gil Goldstein, Stanley Clarke, Jean Luc Ponty, Al Di Meola & Michel Petrucciani.

TRACK LISTING

1) Introduction
2) Boplicity
3) Maids Of Cadiz
4) The Duke
5) My Ship
6) Miles Ahead
7) Blues For Pablo
8) Orgone
9) Gone, Gone, Gone
10) Summertime
11) Here Come De Honey Man
12) The Pan Piper
13) Solea

Link: JazzTimes

SXSW Panel To Discuss 1969 Miles Davis Quintet

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If you are planning to be in Austin next month for the 2013 SXSW music, film, and interactive conference, you can make it a point to swing by the SXSW panel that will celebrate and discuss the classic 1969 line-up (Miles Davis Bootleg 2: The Lost Quintet).

Moderated by author Ashley Kahn, the panel is scheduled for Thursday, March 14 between 12:30PM and 1:30PM.

The Miles Davis Movie: Don Cheadle Isn’t Talking, But Something Is Happening

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Collider.com has a terrific Q&A with recent Golden Globe winner Don Cheadle.

We are grateful for interviewer Christina Radish bringing up the state of the Miles Davis Biopic, but Cheadle didn’t seem to be too interested in providing any updates – good or bad.

Any further development on the Miles Davis biopic?

CHEADLE: I’m going to not say anything for superstitions sake, but yeah. I’ll leave it there.

So… there is some ‘further development’ these days, but Cheadle isn’t about to elaborate. Antoine Fuqua is already set to direct, news which has never been officially released by the Miles Davis estate or Cheadle, so nothing to hide there. So what could be happening with the film project?

It must be some type of studio deal, or other financial backing that is coming together. Beyond that, you’re looking at casting news, which could only move the needle if Cheadle somehow wrangled George Clooney and Brad Pitt to join the cast.

Something is brewing, and Cheadle is keeping a lid on things. Stay tuned for further developments.

Update:

From a recent Q&A with USA Today, here is Cheadle on the latest developments of the Miles Davis Movie:

You hope to make a Miles Davis movie?

That’s why I’m playing the trumpet. [Financing] is the eternal struggle. … I think we’ve just potentially found an irrational investor.

Give us a name. We need a name!

Don Cheadle Wins Golden Globe; Maybe Another Globe Down The Road For Playing Miles Davis?

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fb miles davis online 300x300 Don Cheadle Wins Golden Globe; Maybe Another Globe Down The Road For Playing Miles Davis? Big congratulations to Don Cheadle on picking up the Golden Globe for Best Actor in a Comedy Series Sunday night at 2013 ceremony.

Personally, I think if he ever gets this Miles Davis Film project off the ground he is going to nab lots of nominations and awards for portraying jazz legend Miles Davis.

Miles Davis Featured In New Book About Jazz

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Between 1942 and 1972, jazz changed more than it had in all the years before, or would in all the years after. When this period began, Miles Davis was a high-school student, moonlighting in St. Louis dance bands; as it ended, he had become the avatar of a blend of jazz and deep funk that only made real sense to listeners on hard drugs.

In between, Davis traced a line from a kind of swing-rooted music heard on “Au Privave,” an early number cut as a Charlie Parker sideman, into dalliances with classical forms, R&B and electrified sounds.

The above is the opening of Tim Howard’s Wall Street Journal review of the new book Why Jazz Happened by Marc Myers.

Definitely looks like a selection to add to the bedside table for future reading.

Don Cheadle On Miles Davis Biopic: “We’re Not Letting Go”

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If you web skip over to Details, their Daily Blog has a nice Q&A with Don Cheadle.

Lucky for us writer Keith Wagstaff asked Cheadle about the Miles Davis Biopic.

However, it’s tough not to feel a little deflated once you’ve read Cheadle’s answer.

DETAILS: What’s the deal with this Miles Davis biopic we keep hearing about? First we hear you’re acting in it, then you’re directing it, then you’re not directing it . . .

DON CHEADLE: I was always starring in it. That’s one of those things we’re still trying to put together. But we’re not letting go, we’re still pursuing it. I don’t really like to talk about these kinds of things until they’re actually happening. I’m kind of superstitious.

It’s the, “we’re not letting go, we’re still pursuing it” line that stands out. This has the feeling of a project with little to no momentum going into 2013.

Maybe the financing part is proving to be too high a mountain to climb. Maybe a film about Miles Davis just isn’t drawing enough interest to make it work.

Something is holding up this movie. I have been following the project since 2007, when Cheadle signed on, and I never thought it would take this long.

But this is clearly not a project that’s anywhere near close to a production start. Yes, there is a script floating around, and Antoine Fuqua is now directing, which is a pretty big deal, but nothing is ‘actually happening’ if you go by Cheadle’s words.

I wonder how the George Tillman Jr./Nick Raynes film about Miles Davis is coming together. Based on the book “Dark Magus: The Jekyll and Hyde Life of Miles Davis” by Davis’ eldest son, Gregory Davis, the movie project does not have the blessing of the Miles Davis estate, nor will it contain the bulk of Davis’ legendary music, but there’s a chance this version of the Davis story gets made before Cheadle’s.

Or perhaps they are finding the same problems in putting together a movie about Miles Davis.

I asked once, so I’ll ask again: Is there an exit plan for Don Cheadle?

Will The We Want Miles Art Exhibition Return?

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QueremosMilesRJ1 Will The We Want Miles Art Exhibition Return?

In August 2011 the We Want Miles exhibition traveled to Brazil, following successful stops in Paris and Montreal.

Curated by Vincent Bessières and beautifully designed by the Cité de la Musique in Paris, the multimedia expo includes about 300-plus items, featuring recordings, artwork, photographs, videos, documentaries, clothing and musical scores provided by the Miles Davis estate and private collectors.

As the expo concluded there was talk of more cities to host the wonderfully exhaustive history of Miles Davis, but thus far I am not able to track any news of upcoming expos.

For the U.S., it’s easy to think of New York City, Miami, Chicago and San Francisco as prime locations. Even St. Louis can be added to the list – considering the Miles Davis connection.

The more people who have a chance to see this thrilling expo the better. The question is whether or not the show is scheduled to tour America, or other cities around the world for that matter.

Miles Davis | Around The Web

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bilde 300x197 Miles Davis | Around The Web A Weekly Round-Up Of Miles Davis News & Notes

Reconsidering all that jazz, perks of Miles Davis [The Villanovan]

Second Edition of Miles Davis Bootlegs Series to Be Released [JamBands.com]

Miles Davis – Quintet 1965-68 [Hard Format]

Now Miles Davis [This Isn't Happiness]

Writing with Miles Davis [ny times]

Miles Davis Kind of Blue, the Final Upgrade [London Jazz Collector]

Jazz for Dabblers: Miles Davis vs. Louis Armstrong [cbc music]

Dave Brubeck Dies At 91; Dave Brubeck Says Miles Davis Was A Good Basketball Player

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“Dave Brubeck, the pianist and composer whose use of complex harmonies and classical forms propelled a six-decade career that made him one of the world’s most popular jazz artists, died Wednesday. He was 91.” Full Story Here.

We go back a few years around the time when Brubeck was presented with a special Miles Davis Award by the Montreal International Jazz Festival for his storied career.

13115af3 8dd1 4bf5 9da3 4d27f90d275c 300x300 Dave Brubeck Dies At 91; Dave Brubeck Says Miles Davis Was A Good Basketball Player

When people think of jazz legend Miles Davis, they invoke his troubled life or his skill with a trumpet. Dave Brubeck, himself a music icon, recalls a different side.

“One day he came to my house, and my kids, when they came home from school, they saw Miles and I playing basketball,” he said. ”They couldn’t believe that.

“Then he went to the punching bag. He liked to box. Did you know that? He was very interested in sports.”

Brubeck said he and Davis, who died in 1991, were close friends and toured together.”

via Winnipeg Free Press

The Miles Davis Movie: And The Film Title Is… “Kill The Trumpet Player”

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milesdavis1956 292x300 The Miles Davis Movie: And The Film Title Is... Kill The Trumpet Player A news round-up of TV deals on Deadline.com alerted me to the fact that the upcoming Miles Davis Biopic will be titled Kill The Trumpet Player.

[Steven] Baigelman, repped by UTA and Management 360, is developing the Miles Davis feature biopic Kill The Trumpet Player for Don Cheadle to star.

Also, film producer Michael Cerenzie (Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead, Deuces Wild) is now part of the movie project.

Antoine Fuqua was recently – without much fanfare – named the director of the long-in-development movie project about Miles Davis.

Cheadle had originally planned to handle both directing duties and playing the leading role in his non-linear biopic about the jazz legend. No specific reasons have been giving as to why Cheadle made the change, but no doubt the addition of Fuqua can be considered a positive one.

Thoughts on the film title?

Cheadle did say in an interview, jokingly or not, that the project is, “not a biopic, per se. It’s a gangster pic.”

Kill The Trumpet Player does fit the bill, I guess, if he is really going for that type of narrative.

Miles Davis | Around The Web

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miles davis during a record Miles Davis | Around The Web A Weekly Round-Up Of Miles Davis News & Notes

Bill Cosby on Miles Davis [austin chronicle]

Legendary Artists Such as Miles Davis, John Coltrane and John Lee Hooker Now Available via Rumblefish for Use in Online User-Generated Videos [broadcast newsroom]

If Miles Davis’s mid-century trumpet solos can be described by a single phrase, it might be “doing more with less.” [ny times]

Miles Davis The Illustrated History Due In Nov.

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There is a new illustrated history of Miles Davis on the way, which features 300 pictures and words by people from Bill Cosby and George Wein to the legendary Sonny Rollins.

“Miles Davis: The Complete Illustrated History” by Voyageur Press is due out Nov. 17. A terrific gift for the holidays!

“Miles Davis – The Complete Illustrated History” is Written by an all-star team, including Sonny Rollins, Bill Cosby, Herbie Hancock, Ron Carter, Clark Terry, Lenny White, Greg Tate, Ashley Kahn, Robin D. G. Kelley, Francis Davis, George Wein, Vincent Bessières, Gerald Early, Nate Chinen, Nalini Jones, Dave Liebman, Garth Cartwright, and more.

Miles Davis Part of New Blue Note App

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Miles Davis is one of many jazz greats found in the impressive new Blue Note App developed for the iPad from Chicago-based Groovebug.

The new iPad app is free to download and features 30-second music clips; a monthly subscription of $1.99 gets you all of the app’s music tracks played in full.

The initial catalog which includes over one thousand songs.

Other features include amazing photos, in-depth bios, album notes, performance videos and newspaper articles. The Blue Note App also offers playlists curated by jazz experts, plus new audio monthly, and the option to dedicate songs to your friends on Facebook, Twitter and Tumblr.

Download the Blue Note App here

Miles Davis Statue Plans Moving Forward

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Back in May we noted that the city of Alton, Illinois, Miles Davis’ hometown, had begun the process of honoring the jazz legend with a life-sized statue in the heart of Downtown’s entertainment district.

Pride, Inc. has taken the lead in getting the Miles statue project moving, and, according to Pride board member Patricia Ackman, they have already decided what the statue will look like.

stamp1 196x300 Miles Davis Statue Plans Moving Forward Alton Daily News.com features an audio link to the interview with Ackman about the statue, which is going to resemble the image utilized for the recently released postage stamp.

“It just is Miles Davis,” says Ackman of the image that will be used for the statue.

Writing for the St. Louis Beacon, Paul Povse has posted a good update on Alton’s plans to commemorate the jazz icon with a statue.

Optimistic estimates put the cost of the statue at $50,000 to $100,000, with a two-three year timetable, But Brett Stawar, president of the Alton Regional Convention & Visitors Bureau, believes it could cost $200,000 and take up to five years to raise the money and finish the sculpture.

Davis was born in Alton in 1926. He lived there until only age 2 when his family moved to East St. Louis.