The Classicist: The Summer of Style Icon & Jazz Great Miles Davis

by Jared Paul Stern (RSS feed)
Jul 12th 2010 at 9:02AM

Here at Luxist we write a lot about fashion and style, mainly in the form of luxury goods, but it's also interesting to look at the inspiration and influence behind what some people only see as pricey items in a luxe boutique. Some style influencers are well known and at times over-used; Steve McQueen and John F. Kennedy are two examples that spring to mind. Less well known but equally as influential among the tastemakers who decide what we buy as musicians – see Ralph Lauren's homage to Davis' take on Ivy League style here – is the late jazz great Miles Davis, who's finally getting his due with a new museum exhibition and accompanying book this summer.

Now through August 29, the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts is staging the first major North American multimedia retrospective dedicated to Miles. Entitled We Want Miles: Miles Davis vs. Jazz, the exhibition (designed and organized with help from the Cité de la Musique in Paris with the support of Davis' estate) combines image and sound to offer visitors a sensory experience inspired by Davis himself, who once said, "A painting is music you can see, and music is a painting you can hear." If you can't make it to the museum in person – or even if you can – Skira Rizzoli's book version (above) is well worth buying. The most comprehensive and lavishly illustrated volume on the jazz great to date, it chronicles Davis' life and his relationship to jazz and musicians surrounding him, on the heels of the 50th anniversary of his acclaimed album Kind of Blue and 40th anniversary of Bitches Brew.

Gallery: We Want Miles Davis

We Want Miles includes personal essays and reflections from some who collaborated with him on his most highly regarded tracks, to those who witnessed his descent into hard drugs. However it's the incredible collection of images which are the main draw – photographs from live performances on-stage, in the studio, and from private archives, plus album covers, concert posters, original scores, Davis's own paintings, and other ephemera. Davis "embraced various musical currents with boldness and ingenuity while pushing innovation and improvisation in his own playing," the author, editor-in-chief of Jazz Magazine Franck Bergerot, notes. Bergerot definitely knows his stuff; he oversaw the first volumes of the complete works of Miles Davis released by the Masters of Jazz label, and also wrote the 53 liner notes contained in the box set of Miles Davis: Complete Columbia Album Collection.

Tags: books, coffee table books, exhibit, fashion, jazz, luxury goods, Montreal, museum, music, Ralph Lauren, style

Filed under: Books, Men's Style, The Classicist

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

SIMON Jul 18th 2010 1:33PM

For 30+ years, I was one of those very rare and fortunate FM RADIO DJs that was actually able to play "anything" I wanted! From Rock, World music, Cole Porter to only God knows what. In the last 10 years of that "dream come true"....for the biggest radio network in the world.........In all of that, along side of the Stones and Public Enemy I got to play "The Prince of Darkness" hisseff! MILES DAVIS! Of course it's all matter personal taste but for me "KIND OF BLUE" with John Coltrane and Julian "Cannonball" Adderley is without a doubt a MASTERPIECE!
If you're not a jazz aficionado, this I recommend, will open the door to the beautiful world of Jazz that many people dismiss as noise. If you love music in general, this is one of the greatest gift ever a stranger will ever give you. cayoblues@aol.com

daniel russo Jul 18th 2010 11:07PM

I HAD FRIENDS IN THE MUSIC BUSINESS AND THEY SAID HE HATED WHITE PEOPLE
ON ONE INTERVIEW HE WAS ASKED WHAT HE WANTED MORE THEN ANYTHING IN THE WORLD BEFORE HE DIED AND HIS ANSWER WAS TO HAVE HIS HANDS AROUND A WHITE MAN'S THROAT
ROT IN HELL MILES

Miles Ghost Jul 19th 2010 1:24AM

Assholes come in all colors. It was never white people that I hated, but assholes like you.
Fuck you too Danny.

- Miles

Yon Jul 19th 2010 2:36AM

A good way to discover Miles Davis' music is to take a listen to the music he created/improvised/wrote for movies. As a kid working in the recording studios of Paris, I heard him play stuff that no one had done afore. I used to pickup the studio's tape rejects and take them home for my own use, so I ended up erasing his outtakes! The CDs are available and, of course the vinyls with much better sound quality. Too bad he fell into drugs. He might have done some even better music.