ADRIAN FLORIDO, HOST:
This week, the jazz world celebrated what would have been Miles Davis' 100th birthday.
(SOUNDBITE OF MILES DAVIS' "BLUES IN GREEN")
FLORIDO: The late trumpet player is widely considered one of the most innovative and influential jazz musicians of all time. His career spanned almost five decades, the epitome of cutting-edge - musically, culturally and socially. We're bringing in NPR Music's Felix Contreras to talk about what made Miles Davis such a towering figure in music. Felix, welcome.
FELIX CONTRERAS, BYLINE: Hey, how are you, man?
FLORIDO: Felix, where do we even begin to dip our toes into this vast ocean that is Miles Davis?
(SOUNDBITE OF MILES DAVIS' "DONNA LEE")
CONTRERAS: You know, the span of his contribution is kind of breathtaking when you consider what happened in jazz during those almost 50 years he made music. He arrived in New York from his home in East St. Louis exactly at the moment when bebop was transforming big band swing, and I mean shredding it - super fast, small groups, tight and sparse. And Miles fell in with the most notable figure from that moment, Charlie Parker.
(SOUNDBITE OF MILES DAVIS' "DONNA LEE")
FLORIDO: OK, so Miles Davis joined that revolution. But when did he start changing jazz himself?
CONTRERAS: Slightly after that, OK? First, he slowed it down and gave jazz new sonic textures. Then two years later, he did it again with the modal jazz of "Kind Of Blue," improvising over scales rather than chord changes.
FLORIDO: Improvising over scales rather than chords - translate that for us.
CONTRERAS: (Laughter) OK. Imagine having a conversation, and words are never really organized themselves into paragraphs, like we normally do. They just sort of flow from idea to idea. That's kind of what he did.
FLORIDO: What did that sound like?
CONTRERAS: It sounded like this, man. Check it out.
(SOUNDBITE OF MILES DAVIS' "SO WHAT")
FLORIDO: Felix, what was he doing in the late '60s? I'm thinking 1969, you know, when the Woodstock Music Festival was changing the very structure of popular music.
CONTRERAS: You know, he was actually listening very intently to some of those musicians that played there - Jimmy Hendrix, Sly and the Family Stone. He was also listening to James Brown and, again, changing jazz by mixing it with rock and funk that he was listening to. And we hear that on "Bitches Brew" from 1970.
(SOUNDBITE OF MILES DAVIS' "SPANISH KEY")
FLORIDO: Miles Davis was making music at a tumultuous time for Black America. What was his relationship to the fight for civil rights?
CONTRERAS: He was never really one that really stood in the front of the picket line or on the demonstrations. But, like, it was very clear on where he stood when it comes to race relations here in the United States, especially as a musician. His experiences dealing with record labels, club owners, promoters - the message that he got was that it was still a burden to be Black in America, even if you were famous, and he was not afraid to express those realities to white America. And I think that's part of the legacy that people are embracing as we look back on his 100th birthday.
(SOUNDBITE OF MILES DAVIS' "TIME AFTER TIME")
FLORIDO: NPR Music's Felix Contreras is a Miles Davis fan. He co-hosts the Alt.Latino podcast and is a part-time musician himself. Felix, thank you for this tutorial on the occasion of Miles Davis' 100th birthday this week. It's always great to talk to you.
CONTRERAS: Thanks, man. Same here.
(SOUNDBITE OF MILES DAVIS' "TIME AFTER TIME") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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