The Last Miles: The Music of Miles Davis, 1980-1991 (review)

Abstract

Last Miles: Music of Miles Davis, 1980-1991. By George Cole. (Jazz Perspectives.) Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2005. [xi, 534 p. ISBN 0-472-11501-4. $35.] Index, discography, photographs. Despite the presence of numerous musical and biographical studies of Miles Davis, there has been a notable lack of scholarly interest in the music of his final decade. Aside from Paul Tingen's 2001 work (Miles Beyond: Electric Explorations of Miles Davis, [New York: Billboard, 2001]), there exists no extended study of Davis's music from 1980 to 1991. Tingen himself acknowledges that his book focuses primarily on Davis's music from the 1970s, leaving room for only a sketch of his later music. As Tingen points out, While the process of rediscovering and reevaluating Miles's electric experiments of the '60s and '70s is ongoing, no similar interest is discernible regarding his music from 1981 to 1991 (Tingen, p. 266). George Cole's Last Miles: Music of Miles Davis, 1980-1991 is a clear statement of interest in just that music. After dealing with Davis's pre-1980 music in roughly the first forty pages, Cole devotes the remaining 500 pages to Davis's studio recordings and live performances from 1980 to 1991. Each of the ten commercial recordings from this decade is the focus of at least one entire chapter, with Tutu receiving four chapters of attention. Additionally, the most substantial chapter in the book, totaling sixty-nine pages, addresses Davis's live performances during that decade, and a more brief chapter deals with the posthumous compilation Live Around the World. Included at the back of the book are several informative lists that offer concise compilations of prior discographical work by Jan Lohmann (The Sound of Miles Davis: Discography. A Listing of Records and Tapes 1945-1991 [Copenhagen: Jazz Media, 1992]) and Enrico Merlin (Sessionography, 1967-1991 in Paul Tingen, Miles Beyond, pp. 302-42). Each chapter is organized in a consistent format, in which Cole first presents background information for the studio recording under consideration, then gives detailed information on each of the recording's individual tracks, and ends with a section entitled The Verdict in which he offers an evaluation of the relative merit of that recording. This structure is particularly effective in light of Cole's concession that readers simply dip in and out of chapters as they wish (p. 6), though it can become monotonous during a cover-to-cover reading. Cole's accommodation to this non-linear reading strategy is further reflected in the repetition of information, as demonstrated, for example, by the reappearances of his discussion of Davis's stroke in 1982 (e.g., pp. 112, 343), none of which adds to nor acknowledges his previous considerations of the event Aside from Cole's personal familiarity with Davis's music of the 1980s, the main sources for this book are the numerous interviews Cole conducted with thirty-one of the thirty-six musicians who played in Davis's bands during his last decade. Cole uses extensive quotations from those interviews to wonderful effect, resulting in informative first-person memories of the albums and performances on which the book focuses. These quotations will undoubtedly prove to be valuable sources for future scholars of the period. Cole approaches the music as a journalist and as a fan, and these perspectives contribute to both the book's strengths and weaknesses. His journalistic writing style produces a very accessible and readable book. fact that the book contains neither musical transcriptions nor technical descriptions that rely on musical jargon makes it particularly accessible for nonspecialists. This journalistic style, though, does result in some attempts at analytical writing that fall short of providing concise and enlightening information. When discussing the solo on the tune Jean-Pierre, for example, Cole writes, Just before the four minute mark, Stern plays a powerful solo that begins with some dirty, nasty guitar (p. …