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Miles Davis had the greatest set of ears too. His thoughts on his contemporaries in these blind tests are very interesting, and hilarious. "For a long time, Mi

Miles Davis had the greatest set of ears too. His thoughts on his contemporaries in these blind tests are very interesting, and hilarious. "For a long time, Miles Davis and I had been trying to get together for a blindfold session. I was determined that when the interview did take place, it would be something out of the ordinary run of blindfold tests; and that's just the way it turned out. Every record selected was one that featured at least two trumpet players. As you will see, this selection of material did not faze Miles. Miles was given no information whatever, either before or during the test, about the records played for him." - http://www.forghieri.net/jazz/blind/Davis_1.html http://www.forghieri.net/jazz/blind/Davis_1.html - http://www.forghieri.net/jazz/blind/Davis_2.html http://www.forghieri.net/jazz/blind/Davis_2.html - http://www.forghieri.net/jazz/blind/Davis_3.html http://www.forghieri.net/jazz/blind/Davis_3.html - http://www.forghieri.net/jazz/blind/Davis_4.html http://www.forghieri.net/jazz/blind/Davis_4.html

picodguyo 5y ago
Great reads, thanks for sharing. It's like you can see him getting angrier and more disillusioned with jazz and the industry in general with each session. I also learned a new racist slur from that last one!
- selimthegrim 5y ago
  It's not in common use since the 70s.
  - zrobotics 5y ago
    Umm, I don't know about that. I've definitely heard 2 of my black friends disparagingly refer to other black people as uncle tom's within the last several years. That book, or at least tangential references, is apparently still in cultural memory. FWIW, this is the upper midwest, that slur might not be a thing on the west coast, I can't say. For GP, based on the novel "Uncle Tom's Cabin" [1]. The book was abolitionist, but a quick read through of the wiki should give some background on why the title characters name is now a slur. > https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uncle_Tom's_Cabin https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uncle_Tom's_Cabin
    - fenomas 5y ago
      I'd imagine that GGP meant "ofay".
      - selimthegrim 5y ago
        Correct.
twelvechairs 5y ago
Miles knew everybody by ear and also personally and had his own strong opinions and that's what makes a lot of these reviews difficult. A classic here is the review of 'Caravan' (from Money Jungle) in Part 3 - Miles slams it, but today its regarded highly by many jazz fans. I like the difference to Monk's blind reviews from the same collection. Monk is much more circumspect in what he says and really refuses to engage in negativity. I really love his restraint. http://www.forghieri.net/jazz/blind/Monk.html http://www.forghieri.net/jazz/blind/Monk.html
- troutmskreplica 5y ago
  Interestingly, Monk’s own version of Caravan from “Thelonious Monk Plays Duke Ellington” was also derided by many critics (well the album as a whole, really), but it’s one of my favorite versions of that tune, and I think more people have come to appreciate that album over time.
inopinatus 5y ago
Oh my, that is by turns both hilarious and brilliant. It's like a series of code reviews, but for jazz. Thanks for sharing. NB: recognising another instrumentalist by ear isn't the wildly special part; I've spent some time around professional musicians and for many the subtleties in phrasing and tone &c are as distinctive and intuitively unique as someone's face, and especially so of a contemporary on the same instrument, so I'd be more surprised if he couldn't. The fun part for me is the encyclopedic scope of Miles's knowledge, and the pithy opinions they inform.
mekoka 5y ago
Miles Davis could be unforgiving in his critics, but I like to think that his ability to change his mind allowed artists he ripped apart to not take it personally. Take for instance his comments on Dolphy, who was by then already considered very gifted by the likes of Charles Mingus and John Coltrane: http://www.forghieri.net/jazz/blind/Davis_3.html http://www.forghieri.net/jazz/blind/Davis_3.html That's got to be Eric Dolphy - nobody else could sound that bad! The next time I see him I'm going to step on his foot. You print that. I think he's ridiculous. He's a sad motherfucker. Then the irony https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_Dolphy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_Dolphy Carter, Hancock and Williams would go on to become one of the quintessential rhythm sections of the decade, both together on their own albums and as the backbone of Miles Davis's second great quintet. This aspect of the second great quintet is an ironic footnote for Davis, who was critical of Dolphy's music: in a 1964 Down Beat "Blindfold Test", Miles quipped: "The next time I see [Dolphy] I'm going to step on his foot."[57] However, Davis new quintet's rhythm section had all worked under Dolphy, thus creating a band whose brand of "out" was strongly influenced by Dolphy.

picodguyo 5y ago

Great reads, thanks for sharing. It's like you can see him getting angrier and more disillusioned with jazz and the industry in general with each session. I also learned a new racist slur from that last one!

selimthegrim 5y ago
It's not in common use since the 70s.
- zrobotics 5y ago
  Umm, I don't know about that. I've definitely heard 2 of my black friends disparagingly refer to other black people as uncle tom's within the last several years. That book, or at least tangential references, is apparently still in cultural memory. FWIW, this is the upper midwest, that slur might not be a thing on the west coast, I can't say. For GP, based on the novel "Uncle Tom's Cabin" [1]. The book was abolitionist, but a quick read through of the wiki should give some background on why the title characters name is now a slur. > https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uncle_Tom's_Cabin https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uncle_Tom's_Cabin
  - fenomas 5y ago
    I'd imagine that GGP meant "ofay".
    - selimthegrim 5y ago
      Correct.

twelvechairs 5y ago

Miles knew everybody by ear and also personally and had his own strong opinions and that's what makes a lot of these reviews difficult. A classic here is the review of 'Caravan' (from Money Jungle) in Part 3 - Miles slams it, but today its regarded highly by many jazz fans. I like the difference to Monk's blind reviews from the same collection. Monk is much more circumspect in what he says and really refuses to engage in negativity. I really love his restraint. http://www.forghieri.net/jazz/blind/Monk.html http://www.forghieri.net/jazz/blind/Monk.html

troutmskreplica 5y ago
Interestingly, Monk’s own version of Caravan from “Thelonious Monk Plays Duke Ellington” was also derided by many critics (well the album as a whole, really), but it’s one of my favorite versions of that tune, and I think more people have come to appreciate that album over time.

inopinatus 5y ago

Oh my, that is by turns both hilarious and brilliant. It's like a series of code reviews, but for jazz. Thanks for sharing. NB: recognising another instrumentalist by ear isn't the wildly special part; I've spent some time around professional musicians and for many the subtleties in phrasing and tone &c are as distinctive and intuitively unique as someone's face, and especially so of a contemporary on the same instrument, so I'd be more surprised if he couldn't. The fun part for me is the encyclopedic scope of Miles's knowledge, and the pithy opinions they inform.

mekoka 5y ago

Miles Davis could be unforgiving in his critics, but I like to think that his ability to change his mind allowed artists he ripped apart to not take it personally. Take for instance his comments on Dolphy, who was by then already considered very gifted by the likes of Charles Mingus and John Coltrane: http://www.forghieri.net/jazz/blind/Davis_3.html http://www.forghieri.net/jazz/blind/Davis_3.html That's got to be Eric Dolphy - nobody else could sound that bad! The next time I see him I'm going to step on his foot. You print that. I think he's ridiculous. He's a sad motherfucker. Then the irony https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_Dolphy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_Dolphy Carter, Hancock and Williams would go on to become one of the quintessential rhythm sections of the decade, both together on their own albums and as the backbone of Miles Davis's second great quintet. This aspect of the second great quintet is an ironic footnote for Davis, who was critical of Dolphy's music: in a 1964 Down Beat "Blindfold Test", Miles quipped: "The next time I see [Dolphy] I'm going to step on his foot."[57] However, Davis new quintet's rhythm section had all worked under Dolphy, thus creating a band whose brand of "out" was strongly influenced by Dolphy.