What Made Miles Miles? Thoughts on Miles at 100
Miles with his trademark Harmon mute, 1950s My main achievement as a musician, I suppose, was mastering the Miles Davis Harmon-mute sound. I didn't have the chops to really play jazz, but I did get that aural part right. And that's not nothing. And it wasn't just the Miles muted sound I got good at. I was also inspired by the open-horn sound of Blue Mitchell, especially from his recordings with John Mayall, such as Jazz-Blues Fusion . It was a full sound that could really stand out and inspire interactive playing from the rhythm section. A quick anecdote, and then I'll move on to a discussion of what made Miles Miles. So it was the 80s in Denver, back when it still had a trace of the old Beat Denver of Kerouac and Cassady, when the warehouse district was actually full of warehouses instead of luxury condos. I was part of the horn section of our reggae/groove band and we were playing an outdoor festival downtown. During an improv section I did some mute playing, which, b...
