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But Miles' genius went alongside some extremely controversial aspects of his personality--his difficult, temperamental behaviour (often exacerbated by cocaine abuse) made him frequently impossible to deal with, and his famous rudeness and disdain towards audiences was based as much on his dislike of his white admirers as on his refusal to pander to any facile concept of being an "entertainer"--Miles was deadly serious about his work, and the astonishing range of his achievement from his days as a sideman for Charlie Parker to his later flirtations with rock (however contentious the latter) kept him at the forefront of his profession.
John Szwed's remarkable So What: The Life of Miles Davis is quite the best book on the trumpeter to appear yet, including the musician's own self-serving autobiography. While admiring Miles inordinately as a musician, (Szwed's analyses of such classic albums as Sketches of Spain is nonpareil), he is unsparing of such aspects of Davis' personality as his racism (while Miles may have been fully justified in responding to the racist behaviour he encountered at the hands of the police, Szwed does not excuse him for his cynical use of such great white musicians as the pianist Bill Evans or the arranger Gil Evans while simultaneously disdaining them: "we don't need your white opinions", he famously said to Bill Evans, even though he greatly valued his musical ideas.
As a picture of a complex and remarkable musician, So What is absolutely definitive--and like all the best biographies, the author's admiration for his subject doesn't blind him to the many unpalatable aspects of the man's personality. --Barry Forshaw
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Book Description Hardback. Condition: Very Good. Illus. With Photos (illustrator). The book has been read, but is in excellent condition. Pages are intact and not marred by notes or highlighting. The spine remains undamaged. Seller Inventory # GOR002860772
Book Description Condition: Good. Illus. With Photos (illustrator). Most items will be dispatched the same or the next working day. Seller Inventory # wbs5413677455
Book Description Condition: Very Good. Illus. With Photos (illustrator). Book is in Used-VeryGood condition. Pages and cover are clean and intact. Used items may not include supplementary materials such as CDs or access codes. May show signs of minor shelf wear and contain very limited notes and highlighting. Seller Inventory # 0434007595-2-3
Book Description Condition: Very Good. Illus. With Photos (illustrator). Very Good condition. Shows only minor signs of wear, and very minimal markings inside (if any). Seller Inventory # 353-0434007595-vrg