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I hate this ingratitude. You know Miller and Young loved Davis. Absolutely loved him, but they were in the business of making radio friendly rock music by that

I hate this ingratitude. You know Miller and Young loved Davis. Absolutely loved him, but they were in the business of making radio friendly rock music by that time and obviously very different than the jazz scene Davis lived in. Their mainstream popularity gave Davis a great venue to open up to non-jazz listeners and promote someone they admired. Davis, being a jerk himself (oh the irony of calling Miller a jerk), took it as a personal affront to have this opportunity. An opportunity other acts would have killed for. Life isn't and shouldn't be "everyone is fake except this one true artist here." They're all artists. If Miller could magically become a better musician he would have. He probably felt tremendously upstaged by Young's and Davis' talents. I'm sure hearing this broke his heart. Miller himself got his early breaks through concerts backed by Chuck Berry in 1960's. I can't imagine him calling Chuck a low talent nobody, even though by then his music was very much out of style as blues-based and psychedelic guitar rock took over. Everyone has to ride someone else's coattails to make it in this industry. No need to be an asshole about it.

apalmer 11y ago
you are absolutely right on one level, but to balance it out... really nobody involved really wanted to be at that concert as it was put together... it was purely a put together promotional gig by the record label... in other words, it wasnt really 'ingratitude' it was literally, i am not grateful because i dont want this.
- drzaiusapelord 11y ago
  Back in the day, all major label concerts were products of label management. Headlining artists had some sway to choose openers, but this wasn't an extraordinary event where Davis was hogtied and forced to play at gunpoint. More than likely Young had a hand in this out of mutual respect for Davis' immense talents. I do see where some coercion was possible, but by 1970 Davis certainly had the political weight to turn this down if he truly didn't want to do it. The reality here is that he was past his heyday in terms of sales by then and probably wanted to revitalize his career by touring with the current popular bands. Birth of the Cool was almost 15 years old by then. There's definitely a diva factor at play here.

apalmer 11y ago

you are absolutely right on one level, but to balance it out... really nobody involved really wanted to be at that concert as it was put together... it was purely a put together promotional gig by the record label... in other words, it wasnt really 'ingratitude' it was literally, i am not grateful because i dont want this.

drzaiusapelord 11y ago
Back in the day, all major label concerts were products of label management. Headlining artists had some sway to choose openers, but this wasn't an extraordinary event where Davis was hogtied and forced to play at gunpoint. More than likely Young had a hand in this out of mutual respect for Davis' immense talents. I do see where some coercion was possible, but by 1970 Davis certainly had the political weight to turn this down if he truly didn't want to do it. The reality here is that he was past his heyday in terms of sales by then and probably wanted to revitalize his career by touring with the current popular bands. Birth of the Cool was almost 15 years old by then. There's definitely a diva factor at play here.