In response to an editorial marking the centenary of Miles Davis's birth, two readers offer perspectives on his musical intelligence and legacy. Dr Richard Carter of Putney, London, argues that the editorial understates Davis's genius. He notes that Davis lacked the technical facility of trumpeters like Dizzy Gillespie and Fats Navarro, but rather than focusing on this limitation, Davis adapted by developing a gentler, more lyrical approach. Carter points to Davis's early recordings with Charlie Parker, where he struggled with chord changes, as evidence of his decision to concentrate on a softer style. This emerged in collaborations with arranger Gil Evans, as heard in Birth of the Cool, Miles Ahead, Porgy and Bess, and Sketches of Spain, and later in his quintets with John Coltrane and Wayne Shorter. Carter asserts that Davis's conscious choice to emphasize lyricism over technical prowess is the real genius of his career, though this was overshadowed by his later rock-influenced work, which Carter compares unfavorably to jazz, likening it to the difference between Test cricket and the Hundred.
Flugelhorn and Tippett's Symphony
Meirion Bowen of London adds that Davis was also a fine exponent of the flugelhorn, a detail omitted from the editorial. Bowen recounts that when composer Sir Michael Tippett was working on his Third Symphony, he sought a special sound for the blues numbers in the second part. Bowen played Tippett Davis's version of Porgy and Bess, featuring flugelhorn solos, which excited Tippett. In the end, the flugelhorn obbligato was performed by jazz trumpeter Henry Lowther alongside the London Symphony Orchestra, demonstrating that stylistic divisions can dissolve in the presence of pure music.
Davis's Enduring Influence
Both correspondents agree that Davis was a unique figure who saw jazz as a living art form to be developed with new ideas, not stuck in past modes. His ability to transcend technical limitations and collaborate across genres continues to shape modern music. As Bowen concludes, 'There was just music.'
