So What: The Life of Miles Davis

I read Miles' autobiography in all of it's shocking and hysterical glory regarding his personal life. Szwed's book covers some of that same ground but from the perspective of others, particular some of those whom Miles treated so unfairly (Gil Evans had to plead on his children's behalf in order to get paid). From a personal standpoint the reader will find himself/herself muttering "what a p****" many times while reading this book. Musically, this book is so much more informative than the autobiography and answers most of the questions regarding the evolution of Miles' music. It was great reading about how "In A Silent Way" was composed via edits and it sent me running for my copy of Jimi Hendrix's "Electric Ladyland" to search for the original studio dates to see who got there first. Miles and Jimi were in frequent contact so it's no surprise that the concept of the studio as an instrument were used to create these two masterworks that appeared at roughly the same time. An early review bemoans the fact that over 20 pages were dedicated to "In A Silent Way" while "Kind of Blue" only received 8 pages. But this is actually very necessary as what was going on with the process for "In A Silent Way" was so revolutionary in terms of the music and the whole paradigm of how "records" and musical art are/can be made. The pages from 280 - 310 that cover "In A Silent Way" through "On the Corner" were a real page-turner for me. So much was revealed about what was going on. I found myself reaching for releases like "Get Up With It" to revisit "Rated-X" and "Honky Tonk" and I was glad I purchased "The Complete Jack Johnson Sessions" and "The Cellar Door Sessions". The only criticisms I have are: 1. There are some passages regarding recording sessions where the chronology wanders a bit, i.e., we read about Filles De Kilamanjaro, move on and then a little later Szwed revisits that session out of order so one has to pay close attention or will become confused. 2. He gets some of the names of the rock contemporaries wrong, e.g., Johnny Winters instead of Johnny Winter. 3. He's a little off on his release facts when it comes to the 70's band with Liebman and Fortune. He asserts Agharta was not released in this country until 1990 and that is just wrong. I purchased it as a domestic Columbia release in 1976 or 1977. 4. The epilogue was completely unnecessary. This was an effort to rationalize and explain the shabby way that Miles treated others. There is really no excuse for treating people the way Miles treated people. It is a choice, not because he had a stern, standoffish mother or anything like that. I can love the music of Miles Davis and dislike the man's behavior and actions as a human being living in this world. On the positive side, there is just so much to learn about Miles' musical process and the evolution of that process in this book. This is highly recommended reading, especially for musicians who are interested in creative musi

In a way this is really a review of some of the prior reviews, above; it's odd that so much bad writing on popular music and jazz gets so highly praised, and yet when a book of the caliber of this Miles Davis bio appears, everyone qualifies their praise, and adds silly things to boot - like one reviewer's comment that Miles "himself had once heaped abuse on the likes of Louis Armstrong." Simply not true and there is no source for this. Szwed's Miles Davis book is a must read, a living antidote to the stacks of bad books on jazz and pop music these days, written by an academic who KNOWS the music, who can wrtie, and is one of the most perceptive critics on the planet. Read it -

This is the best-written, measured and unbiased of all the Miles biographies. Although it demystifed Miles somewhat, I still got "that feeling" I get whenever I listen to or read anything about the man. Of course, there's bound to be some overlap with some of the other biographies (there's only so many times you can read the same quote again and again . . .), yet because of Mr. Szwed's excellent writing skills, it's a good read from start to finish. The account of the first half of Miles' life is particularly engaging, and I appreciate the fact that Szwed did not "dis" the music Miles made in the 70's (as some others have). This is the most honest, and therefore (to me, anyway) the most HUMAN of all the writings on Miles.To paraphrase Joe Zawinul : "Miles - the greatest conversation piece in 20 years!". And the conversation is still continuing. Why? This book will help tell why.And while you're at it, check out Szwed's bio of Sun Ra: oh, thanks, John!

Miles' autobiography (written with Quincy Troupe) is fascinating; Ian Carr's biography of Miles is wonderful; Paul Tingen's recent book "Miles Ahead" shone even more light on the man and his music. Now John Szwed does an admirable job of looking for things we didn't know yet, and telling us more of Miles' story.I really like the way that Szwed didn't try to encapsulate or obsolesce the other books. He presents information that complements them, and/or reveals new perspectives on things, but he doesn't reiterate the stories in the other books, fascinating though they are. However when his research did show contradictions with those other sources (particularly with Miles' autobiography and his self-portrayal within it) he gives us the information and lets us judge for ourselves.The world was indeed ripe for another Miles Davis book, one in which the author manages to locate new source material and interview relatives not previosuly interviewed (or, not interviewed much). I salute Szwed for his choice in topics; first he writes a brilliant biography of Sun Ra (an important artist whose history had been underdocumented) and now a great book on Miles Davis (an important individual whose life has been documented at some length).

Prior to SO WHAT I felt that, as revealing as many prior Davis bios were (including Miles' own book), their sum was somehow less than the parts. That is, there was more to understand about Miles Davis than what was collectively written. Along comes SO WHAT, the most balanced and coherent one-stop source yet for getting to know about the entirety of Miles Davis' life. As much as Miles urged us to let the music speak for itself, the context and environment in which Davis' art was created is important, and author John Szwed is up to the challenge to walk down the many paths that lead to and from Davis' music and life (e.g., discussing the aesthetics of artists as wide-ranging as Stockhausen and Sly Stone, both of whom impacted Miles' musical vision in the 1970s). Szwed doesn't attempt to cram every interesting, revealing, or just plain provocative story from prior books into his bio. Still, his research does come up with some errors previously presented as facts, and there are plently of newfound "Miles Davis stories" to amuse and/or amaze the reader, for better and worse. What the author seems to do is pick and choose among the previously-revealed tidbits about Miles and use them as supplements to 1) his open-minded knowledge about the entirety of Davis' music (as well as the cultural and commercial environment in which it was created), and 2) fresh, revealing interviews he conducted with family members and others close to the subject at key points in his life. Having unprecedented access to Davis' family was possibly the missing piece of the puzzle needed to really reconcile what was already known about Miles with the many contradictions that sat unresolved for decades (e.g., tough exterior, insecure interior). Even as Szwed stays in tune with Davis' music from beginning to end, he reveals with unprecedented detail just how chaotic his personal life was. Previously I thought Davis was unlucky to have died so relatively young...albeit at age 65. Given all of the substance abuse and other problems he faced (and created for himself), I'm now amazed that Miles lasted so long, and how he could--with a bare minimum of lulls over nearly a half-century--be artistically creative right up to his final hospitalization in 1991. Being that Miles' life was often sensationalistic to begin with, Szwed plays it cool with this hot topic, writing the way that Davis played, sans ornamentation. SO WHAT stays focused on the big picture...with details that dip beneath the surface throughout Miles' entire life. The information seems mostly accurate; among the errors that I caught were that Szwed states the 1985 Artists United vs. Apartheid SUN CITY project in which Davis participated was a Quincy Jones production (in reality it was led by Little Steven and Arthur Baker). The author is confusing that benefit recording with WE ARE THE WORLD from the same year which Jones did direct (this error undermines Szwed's critique of the SUN CITY album). Also, it's