lincoln@eosp1.UUCP (Dick Lincoln) (11/30/84)
> Was set to respond at length to Soron, but Fehling did most > of that work for me, so I will only address some specific points > made by Soron and Lincoln: > > Miles Davis as a creature of Bill Evans: > See any of the following: > - Birth of the Cool (1949) admittedly music that GIL Evans > had a lot to do with > - Walkin' (1954) which to quote Ralph Gleason "called all > the children home" (from cool excursions) > - Kind of Blue (1959) That's where your argument comes from, > but I remember reading an interview with Bill Evans (ca 1977) where > he acknowledged Miles as the inspiration for his playing. I am somehow > inclined to believe Evans over Lincoln > - Filles of Kilimanjaro (1968) a brilliant LP of elliptical, > understated music that owes as much to Wayne Shorter as to anyone > - Bitches Brew (1970) Bill Evans was NEVER so funky > I think I'll stop here. I could go on but what's the use. I neglected to put the (:-) on my comment about the creation of Miles Davis: of course I believe that Miles Davis is a superior jazz musician in his own right. However: - Before the Miles Davis Tentette "Cool Jazz" sides, Miles was a Red Rodney/Fatz Navarro clone without their chops. - After that but before "Birth of the Cool" Miles was a Shorty Rodgers/Chet Baker clone. - His style changed again when Reg Garland joined his group, and again when Coltraine joined. - What innovation there was on "Bitches Brew" should be credited to Chick Corea, et all; Miles was still playing his conventional Miles licks from *before*, when he played anything at all on that album. That makes Miles out to be a versatile and adaptive, but not a particularly original, musician. My biggest complaint with the "Miles Myth" as regards Bill Evans is the credit give to Miles for "Blue in Green", a seminal jazz composition if there every was one. *Bill* wrote that tune - it's absolutely quintessential Evans - though Miles has been perfectly willing to accept credit for it, even if he didn't originally actively seek it. Bill was rather bemused about that, and that Bill often said nice things about Miles in public interviews that he didn't say in private among friends. However, Bill rarely said bad things about anyone or anything except club owners, their pianos, and cabaret audiences. In regard to clubs and audiences he was like a demure Mingus.