The Last Miles: The Music of Miles Davis, 1980-1991 (Popular Music History) [Paperback]

Having read virtually every significant Miles Davis book ever published, I start appreciating even more those authors who have a truly fresh take on the subject, and now George Cole has put the "post-retirement" music of 1980-1991 into sharp focus. Those looking for a general biography may prefer John Szwed's book, but those wanting the focus aimed at the music itself will find no better in-depth examination than is presented here. THE LAST MILES is more of a chronological musical analysis than a biography, albeit there's enough non-musical information to keep the reader informed of key life events not directly related to his art. Yet the end zone here is the music itself, and Cole goes to unprecedented lengths to examine how the music of Miles' last decade was created. Cole interviewed all but a handful of the participants (e.g., musicians, producers, etc.), a key element to the book reaching its potential. One wishes that a book like this would have been written regarding the earliest periods of Davis' career while those musicians were still living. Fortunately in Cole's case, nearly all of the participants are currently alive and well ... and willing to chat with the author.

The bulk of the book is devoted to individual chapters on each recording project from 1981's "comeback album" THE MAN WITH THE HORN to the posthumous releases. For each album Cole takes a "Making Of ..." approach, getting into the events leading up to the albums, background on the personnel involved, the overall context in which the music was created, and a look at the critical and consumer reaction to the music. Of particular interest is that most of the musicians become more than just a name buried in the albums' personnel listings. Sure, many music fans are aware of the major players (Kenny Garrett, John Scofield, etc.), but Cole introduces the role players as well as the stars. Every album has a story worth telling, and Cole's research fills in virtually all existing holes in our knowledge of the music of Miles' last decade.

Not to be overlooked is that the author genuinely likes the music of Miles' final years. This is to the book's benefit because Cole can look at the particulars objectively, yet take a "cup-is-half-full" attitude in dealing with some of the issues raised by the music. In other words, even when the author is critical about a particular track, his attitude is not negative (as is the case with some others who write disrespectfully about Miles' late-period music). Cole puts a lot of effort into detailing the musicians' perspectives as they recorded and/or toured with Davis. In the end, some projects succeeded moreso than others, and the author ends each chapter by fairly determining what degree of merit each album has.

The bottom line is that due to Cole's book, detractors of Miles' 1980s-era are going to have a tougher time of dismissing the music outright and maintaining credibility. That is because the author has effectively cross-examined such cliches as that 1) Miles was more interested in painting than music, 2) his creativity was stifled by the studio production techniques of the day, 3) the quality of the musicians he worked with were generally subpar, 4) he was "selling out," 5) he was suddenly obsessed with being a pop star, and so on. Eliminating such stereotypes doesn't necessarily mean that Davis' detractors are automatically going to embrace that which they previously rejected. Yet at the very least, THE LAST MILES does effectively counter the "Miles didn't take it seriously so why should I" attitude held by some. Davis was intensely involved with his 1980-91 music, but often in ways the broke existing paradigms regarding even his own music, let alone jazz in general. Cole makes that point and many others clear, and as such THE LAST MILES is a crucial, highly recommended addition to our understanding about Miles Davis' "electric-era" musical approach.

Not a biography, "The Last Miles" rather concentrates on the music Miles Davis created and recorded in the last decade of his career as one of America's leading jazz musicians. Cole is interested especially in the sources of the music Davis produced in this last period of his prolific and influential career and how each piece was recorded. Such interests are related to Cole's writings as a journalist in the fields of music and technology. The author's keen interest in Davis's place in these fields extends to answering how Davis came up with the titles for each of his recordings. To answer this and other questions, Cole went to musicians who worked with Miles Davis and also the technicians who recorded his pieces. The business of promoting Davis's albums by Columbia and Warner is also covered. A singular look into the last stage of Davis's long, somewhat checkered career gained from varied sources; which at the same time gives a picture of the modern music business.

Back when I was a kid of about 20 years old living in Copenhagen in the mid 80ties, I bought Miles Davis "We Want Miles" on the same day as I bought "Kind Of Blue". The last album is obviously universally acclaimed as THE defining small group jazz album, which I didn't know at the time, I just listened to both of them with open ears.

I was equally blown away with the 2 albums when I first heard them, but more than anything I was blown away by the fact that the same artist could create 2 such different sounding albums, yet make them equally compelling. I decided to buy every single Miles Davis album I could get a hold of, and I have NEVER been disappointed in any of them.

What led me to go buy both of these albums in the first place were having caught Miles & his band in Copenhagen in 1987. Attending this concert turned out to be a life-altering event for me, actually it completely changed the direction of my life. I devoted my life almost entirely to music since that day, and always with Miles as my guiding light.

Now, if Miles music in the 80ties had sucked really badly as Wynton Marsalis, Stanley Crouch and their cohorts claim, would it have had that capacity to influence a young kid from Copenhagen this way? I am only one of many, many human beings whose lives have been positively influenced by the power of Miles Davis and his wonderful music.

If you want to get backstage and discover how Miles worked his magic - no need to go elsewhere. This is by far the best book on Miles I've ever read, as it has much more involvement from Miles musical partners than any of the others, and remains compassionate and objective at the same time.

And for those that would be interested to understand Miles working methods, you won't get any closer - even for those that prefer what Miles did in the 50ties, 60ties & 70ties, this book probably sheds a lot of indirect light on those periods as well, as it would be difficult to imagine that Miles would radically alter his working style.

Because this book gets us so close to one of the greatest musicians that ever lived, I believe it will be considered an important historical document, and I wholeheartedly recommend it to any music lover.

P.S: Buy the DVD Miles Davis "Live In Montreal" from 1985 as your companion disc - catches Miles on a great night with Scofield, Darryl Jones, Bob Berg etc.

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