Miles Ahead, Movie Trailer - Don Cheadle as Miles Davis

[admin]

I did not know Miles Davis went around shooting at people so often.  It is surprising he did not land in jail.  Interesting how they worked the white guy so prominently into the film; even in the trailer his presence seems forced.  It looks like yet another brilliant performance from Don Cheadle.

 

 

 

 

[Xeon]

Ya know, I watched the trailer and I was disappointed for the most obvious reasons. Being that I am a serious hard core follower and junkie of Miles Davis's music (pre-1970) all my adult life -I have never heard of any of the behavior I saw in the trailer. Yes, Miles had a mercurial temper and he had zero tolerance for those who annoyed him. But the trailer looks like something out of "Good Fellas" or "Black Mass". Miles was not a wildly violent drug dealer or gangster as he appears to be in this trailer. Don Cheadle is the obvious choice to play Miles just as Viola Davis was the obvious choice to play Nina Simone (vice Zoe Saldana which is beyond stupid and ridiculous). But from what I have seen in this trailer, I have never heard of such extreme gangsta style behavior by Miles. I'm not sure about this biopic's accuracy. Again, from what I saw it seems more about hyperbole and myth making than reality. Perhaps I need to see the film in its entirety....

[CDBurns]

Miles was a woman abuser. That is definitely an indicator of the imagery shown in this video. So I had no problem at all believing the behavior in the trailer. http://www.avclub.com/article/miles-davis-beat-his-wives-and-made-beautiful-musi-105904

[Delano]

Miles Davis was a brilliant musician with a interpersonal issues. I Don't confuse the artist with the art.

[Troy]

@Xeon, despite my comment I've long since stopped thinking of biopics as documentaries.  Biopics are designed to make money.  Any resemblance to the truth is incidental.  

@CDBurns, sure if you'd beat up a woman you are a punk.  Punks also run around firing weapons to compensate for being a punk.

@Delano, The artist and the man are all the same.  If it is true that he was running around shooting people and beating up women.  I think society would be better off without him, and his music.

Too often was are willing to gloss over violence perpetrated celebrities because it does not touch us personally. If Miles Davis, Bill Withers, O.J. Simpson, Chris Brown or anyone of these celebrity thugs beat up my daughter, society would not have to worry about them very long.

[Delano]

Troy do you do a background check before listening to an artist. It's a good point. O don't think I could enjoy an artist that abused someone I knew. Ijhave to think about your comments deeply. Otherwise I am an accessory or St least condoling violence

 

Don Cheadle , Jeffry Wright and Tony Leung are my favourite actors.

[Mel Hopkins]

2 hours ago, Troy said:

Too often was are willing to gloss over violence perpetrated celebrities because it does not touch us personally. If Miles Davis, Bill Withers, O.J. Simpson, Chris Brown or anyone of these celebrity thugs beat up my daughter, society would not have to worry about them very long.

"Good point",  said the woman with 3 daughters. 

For now, however, I draw the line where "art", "religion", "politics",  or any of our socio-cultural activity that draws its popularity and energy from harming women.

Example nwa.  Anyone who sings about offin' hoes and bitches - is obviously doing it in real time.   so I won't support them.  I don't believe  Dre an'em have made one dime off of me. I probably watched "Friday"  one too many times because I got tired of being left out of the jokes - but I will not support a group that is too stupid to realize without women their future is nonexistent.  Still it is surprising to me how many people cosigned that brand of 'entertainment.'  Then again, the labeling mentality is prevalent among those guilty of sloth.

[Troy]

@Delano, no I don't do a background check on people I listen to, but once I learn what they are I stop elevating them.  Does that mean I'm gonna stop listening to Kind of Blue?  No.  The music is already out.  I'm also not suggesting we burn all his music and make believe he did not exist. I just wish guys who beat women where not treated as if their behavior is cool because they are a celebrities.

@Mel Hopkins. when NWA first came out I loved their music, but I was young and dumb.  In hindsight, I appreciate how the music, and the similar music which came after it adversely effected our collective psyches for generations. It also adversely affected women, and white boys too...

[Cynique]

In a recent interview, Cicely Tyson responded to a question about her relationship with Miles Davis, by saying she wouldn't change one thing about their time together and for people to not believe everything they read.  Of course she made these remarks on the occasion of her 90th birthday so maybe she just forgot, or maybe she was a masochist.  

The thing that always impressed me most about Miles was that, allegedly, in the throes of his heroin addiction, he retreated to his childhood home in Alton, Illinois, locked himself away in his bedroom, and kicked the habit cold turkey.  I was also amused when Miles said in an interview during the period he was accused of being a sell-out for immersing himself in the 1980 music scene, making videos, wearing a jeri curl and playing his version of current hits.  In his inimitable manner he scowled and shook his head, drawling about how when he listened to his old albums, he found them boring and their appeal was lost on him.  (Maybe he was back on drugs)

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

 

[Xeon]

"Miles Davis was a brilliant musician with a interpersonal issues. I Don't confuse the artist with the art"

Good point. Neither do I. The two are separate things. While I do not condone men who physically abuse women, I have no problems separating their genius from their behavior. Frank Lloyd Wright was a brilliant and innovative architect but his personal behavior was atrocious. Anyone who knows anything about the brilliant artist Diego Rivera knows that he was a notorious womanizer that tormented the soul of Freda Kahlo. Ike Turner was a very creative and original artist but his abuse of Tina Turner is legendary.

A man who starts out in life in his twenties, believing he can physically beat on men as he does women and one day collect social security and medicare is surely mistaken. That is why they pick on women because the life expectancy of beating men is a short one. But women and children are easy prey for their obnoxious and cowardly behavior.

Miles had a long standing history of abusing women. But there is a caveat that is rarely discussed. The women who indulged and had relationships with Miles knew of his explosive temperament. It was no secret! Yet they decided to do so. There is something to be said about women who choose to be with abusive men.....

And here is a somewhat irrelevant sidebar: Years ago -I met a woman at an art exhibit who looked exactly like Miles! She had the same complexion, facial structure, eyes and facial features. It was stunning! I told her so and she just laughed. She said she knew this and in fact -when she was very young, she lived in the same residence as he did in NYC. She told me he was very kind to her, often inviting her over for dinner that he cooked. She also said she used to tell people she was his sister. Trust me -you would have believed her! And yes, she also told me she knew of his abusive reputation with women. But she personally never experienced any of it.

Miles’s music was in constant flux!  His music was constantly evolving and changing whether one agreed with it or not. His musical transitions were very apparent if you compare his various groups from the “early to later 50's”, his “late 50's (1959 was the year of his quintessential masterpiece -"Kind of Blue")  to early 60's”, the “middle and late sixties group” (love that period included Wayne Shorter, Herbie Hancock, Ron Carter and Tony Williams) and a revolving door of super star musicians ( Jack DeJohnette, Keith Jarrett, Chic Corea, John McLaughlin, Joe Zawinul, Benny Maupin, et al) in the late 60’s. The transition from acoustic playing to electronic began with  "Miles in the Sky", “Fillies de Kilimanjaro” , “In a Silent Way” and then the masterpiece that changed the course of what we know as modern jazz in 1970 -"Bitches Brew". It took me a few years to reach “Bitches Brew” but when it clicked -it was on! I remember that entire experience very vividly.

After digesting "Bitches Brew", I slid into an insatiable addiction to hard core improvised “free jazz” (Ornette Coleman, Albert Ayler, Anthony Braxton, Andrew Hill, AEC, Cecil Taylor, John Coltrane’s Impulse recordings, Archie Shepp, Marion Brown, et al...). Took a couple of years to balance my one sided indulgence to include traditional music (e.g. Bill Evans, Dexter Gordon, John Coltrane's Prestige and Atlantic recordings, Sonny Rollins, Duke Ellington, Booker Ervin, et al). And the irony is that I started out with straight ahead traditional music ! Then I slid into an uncompromising consumption of hard cord improvised music. Met a friend from Pittsburgh (I learned a lot from him about music) who helped me balance my fixation to include both traditional music and the hard core stuff. I’ll never forget that! Ha! Anyhoo, enough of that...

Miles’s music continued to change and it became purely electronic and almost chaotic (“Live Evil”, “Big Fun”, “On the Corner” and “Get Up with It”) at the beginning of the 1970’s. Then Miles took a hiatus from playing until he came out of retirement in 1981 and recorded, “The Man with the Horn” . After that, his music descended into irrefutable rank commercialism. That's when the unrelenting criticism reached its apex. Miles was reaching a wider and younger audience with his electronic-rock-funk-pop performances while alienating those who grew up and embellished his superbly crafted traditional compositions and acoustical playing.

But regardless, Miles was undaunted and could care less what anyone thought of the direction he was headed in. His perpetual choice of musical transmutations and playing had nothing to do with “selling out” for monetary gain or fame. He had no personal interest in either. Miles was doing exactly what he wanted to do and was constantly searching for new musical realms. When asked about the standards and classics he used to play, he recoiled and said he had no interest in playing that genre again. He said, "When I listen to it now, it sounds like I'm playing under water...". Ha! Miles ahead...!!!!!!

 

[Delano]

Hwy also said he wanted to be paid like Rock Stars

 He did some small musical festival may have been France. One if his ewqusat wa he got to use a Ferrari. Apparently he wanted a  Black one but it only cane in Red.