Me & My Jazz by Yomi Sower: Episode 14- MILES DAVIS Pt 2: Miles the Chaos, Miles the Cool

Everybody said he could play, the Trumpet his tool, on stage he’d display

He was non- conformist, unapologetic, he made Jazz do what they do and say;

Miles the Chaos, Miles the cool,

He saw opportunity, took it cos he was no fool

For Decades, five or so, the world had to deal with his virtuoso.

Sent on a high- end trip to Julliard, the best of education he had

But the Music curriculum didn’t go as planned, so he dropped out, went and joined a band

Miles the Chaos, Miles the Cool

Miles decided he was no old- school

Set on a Mission to be world’s best Trumpeter, he performed along with quintet Charlie Parker.

Hustling and gigging with the cats; The likes of Herbie Fields, Benny Carter and Billy Eckstine Big bands at that

In the 40s he began to explore, quintets, septets, Studio session and tours

Mile the Chaos, Miles the Cool

These associations influencing, perfecting his tool

Sticking around them long enough, the late 40s gave us Birth of the Cool.

From New York to Manhattan his cronies gathered with discontent

Out with the old, in with the new, for this cause emerged his Nonet;

Nonet signed to Capitol, played “Cool” style Jazz

East and West Coast loved that razzmatazz

Miles the Chaos, Miles the Cool

Behind the “Coolness” lay domestic turmoils and substance abuse

Was with Nonet till ‘49, then evolved into hard bop on Prestige Record Label

Oh the 50s, Miles was wild: Drugs, money problems, critic and Hard Bop he styled,

In his 20s unmarried with 2 kids, raspy voice and “hardness”, named “Prince of Darkness”

Miles the Chaos, but not so Cool

His albums “Walking” to Cooking, Relaxing, Steaming and Kind of Blue

From Hard bop to modal Jazz, Miles ‘evolution right on schedule

Kind of Blue and collaboration with Gil Evans arguably Miles greatest album yet

Needed first quintet Coltrane, Chambers, Holland and Jones changing to a sextet

1957 to 1962, five albums on Columbia label, brought notoriety and financial wealth

Miles the Chaos, Miles the Cool

Demanding Columbia depicts black women on his album cover

“Someday my Prince will come” displayed image of wife, Frances Taylor

 

Following Kind of Blue and Sketches of Spain the era of second great quintet came

It was Shorter, Hancock, Williams and Parker

Redefined Jazz with fluid structures and deep interplay

Miles the Chaos, Miles the Cool

Miles Smiles, E.S.P, Nefertiti they released, but all too soon

The 60s quintets sound changed to 70s electric and album Bitches Brew

Come the 70s Miles endured critics, called a sellout and a disgrace by black community and Jazz Purists

His crime was his deviation from Bebop sound to Rock, Funk and Electric instrumentation

Miles the Chaos, Miles the Cool

Miles had Intel others never knew

By appealing to black youths and white he experienced his largest audience turn out ever on tour in Isle of Wight.

Still in the 70s he pursued Classical and Avant – garde, yet another musical revolution Miles had

This time it was described as ‘space music”, having mood changes intense and dark

Miles the Chaos, Miles the Cool

Miles was trendy but frequently in pain from accidents and substance abuse

Physical ailments, alcoholism, ulcers, hernia he could not endure, so embarked on a 5-year hiatus, no more music no more tour

 

Early 80s Miles returned, a broken trumpeter struggling with embouchure

No more playing avant- garde, hard or bebop, he found his level with easier music like pop

Miles the Chaos, Miles the Cool

Miles the funky turned punk-pop as a rule

The Man with the Horn got poor critical reception, but We want Miles that followed won a Grammy in the Jazz selection

In the late 80s Band members were younger, with the likes of Marcus Miller he produced Tutu and Amandla

Had Miles got his groove back? Only time would know, revisiting previous repertoire with Gil Evans, Quincy Jones, featured with Toto

Miles the Chaos, Miles the Cool

Miles and Friends of ‘91 was his final concert too, at the age of sixty-five and a 5 decades career, Miles Davis the Trumpeter was no longer here

Miles the Chaos, Miles the Cool

Miles never stopped using his tool; releasing   hip hop post-humously, with albums Doo- bop and later Rubberband, the former was successful winning an RnB Grammy

(Miles The Chaos, Miles The Cool, written by Yomi Sower © 3^rd June 2026 in Accra, Ghana)

I penned the above poem / recital reflecting much of Miles Davis’ stylistic expressions over his five decades career. Much of the poem evolves around his “Coolness”, now let’s look at the Chaos from his Criticism and Personal life perspectives

Miles Davis was notoriously criticised as a “sellout” by orthodox jazz purists in the late 1960s and 1970s. This backlash ignited when he abandoned acoustic bebop to pioneer jazz-fusion, incorporating electric instruments, synthesizers, funk rhythms, and rock-and-roll elements to appeal to younger, broader audiences.

CRITICISM

The Jazz- Rock Fusion Era:  When Miles Davis released albums like Bitches Brew (1970) and On the Corner (1972), he incorporated rock rhythms, funk beats, electric guitars, multiple keyboards, and wah-wah pedals.

The “Sell-out” Charge: Conservative critics, most notably Stanley Crouch, famously labeled Davis “the most brilliant sellout in the history of jazz.” He and other traditionalists felt Davis abandoned the “authentic” Black American jazz tradition to chase pop-culture trends and money. They claimed Miles was desperately trying to appeal to younger white rock audiences and chasing the commercial success of artists like Jimi Hendrix and Sly and the Family Stone.

Wynton Marsalis Critic: Another notable critic was Wynton Marsalis emerging as a young prodigy in the early 1980s, and viewed himself as a custodian of jazz history. He frequently criticized Davis’s fusion and rock-oriented 1970s and 80s eras, arguing that Davis had sold out and abandoned the true lineage of jazz. He famously stated that Davis’s modern work would have bebop legends like Charlie Parker “rolling in his grave,” and even mocked Davis’s eccentric stage outfits as “dresses”. History has never forgotten Marsalis’ confrontation/ provoking Miles Davis at Vancouver International Jazz Festival 1986, when Marsalis showed up uninvited to the stage, while Miles Davis’ set was performing and began playing his trumpet.

When asked years later in an interview with Maximum Jazz Founder/Host, Yomi Sower (I) whether he would take back any of his critisms of Miles Davis, Wynton Marsalis replied “No, I won’t take back anything I said…I would be harder, I wasn’t hard enough…”

Style And Public Persona (Eye-catching Outfits): Davis changed his stage attire, moving away from tailored suits to flamboyant, psychedelic clothing and leather, which traditionalists viewed as a vulgar youth-culture stunt.

Commercialisation: Davis himself was often open about wanting to make the kind of money younger rock and R&B musicians were making. While he saw it as evolving his art and reaching new demographics, detractors framed this motivation as selling his

MILES DAVIS RESPONSE

Miles Davis famously dismissed accusations that he was a “sellout” or had lost his roots by transitioning to electric jazz-rock and funk in the late 1960s. His core response was that he refused to repeat himself, asserting his right as an artist to evolve. He viewed his music as a reflection of the present moment and his audience as a diverse, modern one, not a static group of purists.

His Core Philosophy: Musical Evolution: Davis argued that playing the exact same bebop or cool jazz from the 1950s would make him a museum piece. He wanted to incorporate the contemporary sounds of the time—such as James Brown and Sly and the Family Stone.

The “Respect” Principle: He maintained a firm belief that musicians should be free to create without adhering to dogma. If fans or critics didn’t like his new direction, his response was simply that they could respect his right to experiment, or move on.

Connection to the Youth: Davis consciously wanted to reconnect with younger Black audiences who had moved away from traditional jazz and were deeply engaged in funk and rock. He felt it was his duty to keep his music relevant to the current era.

PERSONAL LIFE

His personal life was equally tumultuous, while his marriages characterised by physical violence and domestic abuse of his spouses. Married 3 time to first to Dancer Frances Taylor from 1959-1968. Her picture is featured on album cover of “Someday My Prince will Come” (1961); Next to Betty Mabry from 1968-1969 and last to Actress Cicely Tyson from 1981-1989. Cicely Tyson was instrumental to helping Miles Davis rehabilitation and overcoming his substance abuse.

He also had several Lovers including Irene Cawthorn, mother of 3 of his children – Cheryl Ann, Gregory & Miles Davis IV and Marguerite Eskridge, mother of his fourth and last, son Erin. As well as singer and actress Juliette Gréco whom he met in Paris in 1949, and sculptor Jo Gelbard   who taught him to paint. They met in 1984, and as the two were frequent collaborators, they were soon romantically involved, eventually leaving their respective partners and living together.

As I conclude this episode on Miles Davis (May 26, 1926- June 28, 1991) I had to ask myself: 1. What if Miles Davis had not dropped out from Julliard, would completing the school’s curriculum have influenced him to be rigid and less explorative musically, considering it was a more conservative approach to music that was taught in Julliard?

2.Could Miles Davis have become morally bankrupt, drug addicted and abusive by association? Considering his first and most influential ally, Idol and mentor was Charlie Parker. When a 19-year-old Davis moved to New York in the mid-1940s to study at Juilliard and seek out Parker, Parker became his idol and roommate. Heroin was seen as part of the edgy, avant-garde bebop counterculture, and Parker was deeply immersed in it. Many musicians, including Parker, rationalized drug use as a way to cope with the immense pressures of the era and falsely believed it enhanced their creativity. Parker died aged only 34 years on March 12, 1955, decades of severe heroin and alcohol addiction had taken such a heavy toll on his body

Miles early years of hustle and gigging with Musicians on the streets of New York brought him in contact with drugs, prostitutes, bad vices. He is also recorded as haven toured with Billie Holiday in the 1950s, who was equally hooked on drugs, then Miles was arrested for heroin possession in Los Angeles.

I would love to hear the views of readers on these points.

Reference (I) Me & My Jazz EP. 1: When the Pier Piper of Jazz came to Town thebftonline.com

(“Me & My Jazz” are the weekly musings of Jazz Vocalist & Jazz Radio Host, Yomi Sower- She is Founder/ Host of Maximum Jazz Radio Programme & Events. The Radio Programme currently airs on Saturdays 4-7PM on Ghana’s Guide Radio 91. 5FM. She is a Professional Voice Coach also offering Vocal Jazz Tuition @YomiSower -Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, X and E- mail: [email protected])

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