Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Stockholm Sweden, Nineteen Sixty [jazz of legend]
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Artist:
The Miles Davis Quintet featuring: Miles Davis (trumpet) John Coltrane (tenor sax), Wynton Kelly (piano), Paul Chambers (bass), Jimmy Cobb (drums)
Has anyone ever seen the Cameron Crowe movie, Jerry Maguire? How about the scene where the jazz-nut baby sitter...uh, child-technician, Chad is talking at (certainly not talking to....) Jerry about Miles Davis and John Coltrane:
"This (holds up cassette)... is Miles Davis and John Coltrane. Stockholm. 1963... two masters of freedom, playing in a time before their art was corrupted by a zillion cocktail lounge performers who destroyed the legacy of the only American art form -- jazz. "
OK - so Cameron Crowe either was wrong about the year, or, more likely, inserted the wrong year just to get us aficionados talking. Of course, Miles and Coltrane were no longer playing together in 1963, let alone in Sweden. Coltrane had split to go off in his own musical direction by then. And, to further perpetuate this 'joke', Crowe substituted a Charles Mingus tune 'Haitian Fight Song', on screen, when Jerry plays the tape a few minutes later. Likely, the Miles Davis estate wouldn't have allowed his songs to be included in the movie. Crowe probably covered this up by having Chad mention "and there's some Mingus on there, too" when he handed Jerry the tape.
But anyway, here's the recording as it was intended. In the long run, Crowe sees fit to mock jazz music throughout the film, for unseen reasons. The way I see it, there are many different classifications of music-lover and non-music lover. Those who enjoy jazz are similar to those who enjoy black licorice. Not everybody likes black licorice, but those that do....really like it.
Miles. Coltrane. Sweden. 1960. No cocktail lounges.
Download the complete show: http://drop.io/ley9wtd
Stream it: On Multiply
Locating MOG account...
Comments (11)
the red dot is "So What" by the way.
That was a great scene btw from a classic film. You can't go wrong with a Cameron Crowe film, save for Elizabethtown (that was pretty horrid).
I became a jazz aficionado while living in New Orleans. It's hard not to since Jazz was born there. I used to run a little vinyl shop in the heart of the French Quarter, a block from Bourbon Street. I would play Miles, Coltrane and Mingus among others every day.
Is it just me or does jazz sound better with the crackling coming from the vinyl?
My favorite thing to hear on a jazz record is when you can hear the trumpet rattling the snare drum....
Cameron Crowe mocking jazz? Reminds me of this bit from Lester Bangs's review of The Stooges' Funhouse:
Chris Hodenfield had called them “stoned sloths” making “boring, repressed music [which] I suspect appeals to boring, repressed people” (hmmm, certainly would hate to be one of those—whaddaya hafta be, some sick creep to like the Stooges?—well, I guess Grand Funk is safer—but, on the other hand, might that not be the defensive reaction of people who’re afraid they might be sick creeps and read their own nightmares into the Stooge story—just like so many people just absolutely hated the Velvet Underground for so long, and still do, one prominent Rolling Stone critic asking me when I asked him whether he’d heard White Light/White Heat: “Are they still doing fag stuff?”—no, friend, not to worry—they’re doing MUSIC).
Bangs also had plenty to say (in other articles) about Trane and Miles and how they were originally dismissed by critics as guys who couldn't play. Miles, in turn, later spoke dismissively of Ornette Coleman's playing.
There are certainly legitimate reasons to dismiss certain musicians, generally along the lines of "I hate that music, I'm going to make this music in response." I think it was Truffaut who said, "If you want to criticize a movie, make another movie." What I don't see is a good reason for an occasionally entertaining filmmaker to mock artists whose every breath was more significant than his entire body of work.
That's assuming Crowe was seriously mocking jazz. I saw Jerry Maguire years ago and really can't bear to see Tom Cruise vehicles more than once, so I'll take your word for that part, Jameson. I did like Fast Times at Ridgmont High, but that was a helluva long time ago.
lol, I painted that picture....
I was searching for miles davis on google and happened on this site from seeing my picture.
Coolness. :-)
Seriously?? that's so cool. I was searching for a good picture of davis with coltrane and couldn't find much of anything...and then I saw this one lying around somewhere out there. I hope you don't mind! If so...let me know...
That painting is amazing...love it.
Yup That's mine. :-)
That's really cool that you chose to use it! Thanks mate! :-)
I have more coltrane and davis stuff here if you ever want to look at some more.
http://flickr.com/photos/cantaloupeisland/
Cheers!
Hi, how would I go about downloading the gig? I'm a new jazz sicko creep myself, although not yet middle-aged and not sporting a beer-belly or sweaty face. More of a blues guy up to now, you know, thin and moody
http://drop.io/jr3bsyt
Here's the new drop. I think the old one expired, cuz I can't "revive' it.
Hope you like it!
Cheers Jameson, have a 12 year old on me
(jameson whiskey that is!)
looking forward to a listen on the rainy drive home.
haha. I LOVE Jameson 12 yr. I'm glad that my parents had the foresight to give me a handle like Jameson.