Miles Davis: The Complete Illustrated History

“. . . filled with Davis memorabilia sure to satisfy jazz aficionados.”

Miles Davis ascended (we hope) from this planet just over 20 years ago to join the all-star big band in the sky. Yet thanks to his revolutionary and unparalleled impact on the world of music, well documented by his voluminous recordings, he continues to inspire both old and new admirers.

Just this past June, the U.S. postal service appropriately honored Davis with a Forever stamp. Truly one of the most relentlessly driven, creative forces to ever tread on this planet, Davis, like Pablo Picasso, to whom he has often been justifiably compared, continually reinvented himself, engendering shock and disappointment in his detractors (and there were many) and awe and love in his defenders (there were millions more).

For those familiar with Davis, he certainly appreciated his devoted followers—in spite of the common misperception that playing with his back to the audience indicated his contempt for them.

On the contrary, as he told biographer Quincy Troupe, it was just his way of communicating with the band, a higher priority than “entertaining” the listeners, always striving to reach as wide an audience as possible. And he never tolerated the critics, dismissing them with an emphatic and heartfelt, “Fuck you!”

A new release by Voyageur Press, Miles Davis: The Complete Illustrated History, features a collaborative effort including images of Davis shot by the leading jazz photographers, as well as album covers and personal essays contributed by an impressive variety of jazz writers, long-time friends, and bandmates.

In spite of an occasional typo and perhaps a few highly opinionated and overly negative comments by British journalist Garth Cartwright, who contributed the introduction and brief notes preceding each chronologically arranged chapter, this coffee table book is filled with Davis memorabilia sure to satisfy jazz aficionados.

An illustrated book is the perfect library addition for Davis fans, as he was known not only for his always hip and ever-changing music but also for his restless haute couture fashion styles.

Miles’ (Davis’ renown certainly merits first-name status) appearance was, for all of his life, a fundamental element of his persona.

His sartorial evolution, from the conservative elegance of his Brooks Brothers suits which he bought after his first paying gig, to his bell bottoms and leather outfits of later years, like his music, accurately reflected the latest cultural developments in the world from World War II to his passing in September 1991.

Davis grew up in East St. Louis, Illinois, the son of a successful dentist and a glamorous and beautiful mother about whom he shares with his biographer, Quincy Troupe, “I got my looks from my mother and also my love of clothes and sense of style.”

Photographers like William Gottlieb, Herman Leonard, and Francis Wolff capture, in classic black and white images, the jazz scene during the music’s Golden Age of the 1940s and 50s when wide, pin-striped suits, accessorized with berets, pork pie hats, and dark glasses defined the look of “hip” in the center of the post-World War II world, New York City, and more specifically, 52nd Street and Harlem.

By the mid-1950s, Davis had overcome his heroin addiction. On the strength of his inimitable tone, minimalist playing style, and an uncanny ability to recognize impressive, young talent with whom he surrounded himself, Miles reached the top of the jazz world.

Testimony of Miles’ already potent cultural impact comes from longtime friend and noted jazz lover, Bill Cosby, who relates in his essay, “Miles was certainly the person we copied the most: the way he dressed, the way he acted, the way he was, just being cool.”

A vital member of Davis’ 70s electric bands, tenor and soprano sax genius, as well as recent NEA Jazz Master honoree, Dave Liebman, shares his memories of Davis’ funeral ceremony, an event held at St. Peter’s Church in Manhattan. Attended by hundreds of fans and celebrities, including NYC’s mayor, David Dinkins, Jesse Jackson, and the aforementioned, Bill Cosby, Liebman notes that “. . . it felt like Hollywood. The press was lined up outside, lots of limousines. Inside it was like Miles was there.”

To the very end, a Miles Davis event was not to be missed.