- 6.375 x 9.375.
- 568pp.
- 36 glossy B&W photographs.
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Our edition is available in Canada, Philippines, Puerto Rico, United States, Virgin Islands (U.S.)
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- 2007
- Available
- 978-0-472-03260-0
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- $25.95 U.S.
The Last Miles is the first book to center exclusively on the music Miles Davis made in the last decade of his life.
Author George Cole spotlights the final period of Davis's career, when Davis emerged from a five-year hiatus. The focus is on the music Davis recorded and played and how it evolved in the eyes of the musicians with whom he played.
Thousands of new facts are uncovered, including a lost Miles Davis album, how Miles got into hip-hop, and how he worked in the studio and on stage. Cole devotes at least one chapter to each album Davis recorded during this period, and the full track-by-track descriptions contain the stories behind the songs.
Sure to satisfy the most serious Miles Davis fans, The Last Miles offers nearly 100 interviews with some of Davis's closest associates and musical friends, including Paul Buckmaster, George Duke, Chaka Khan, Branford Marsalis, Easy Mo Bee, Steve Porcaro, Wallace Roney, David Sanborn, and many more, as well as interviews with thirty-one of the thirty-six band members Miles had in this period, including Bob Berg, Robben Ford, Darryl Jones, Marcus Miller, John Scofield, and Mike Stern, among others.
In addition, the book includes new photos of Miles, a discography, details of unreleased material, Davis's guest recordings, soundtrack recordings, tribute albums, artists who covered Davis's 1980s music, compilations, and more.
Voted one of the top 10 music books of 2005 by Record Collector magazine
Front cover photograph: Ebert Roberts / Redferns Music Picture Library
"There are large chunks of fresh material here...Fill[s] in quite a few gaps and dismisses blanket condemnations of [Miles's] pop phase."
—Jazzwise
"A fascinating book."
—Mojo
"As with any good musical biography, Cole had made me think again about those albums such as Siesta, You're Under Arrest, The Man with the Horn, that are now stashed in my attic."
—The London Times
"Cole does for Miles' late work what Ian Macdonald's 'Revolution In The Head' does for The Beatles, examining each album in meticulous detail."
—Time Out
"This book is a model of how these types of books should be. . . . If late-period Miles is in the readers' interest, the reader should rush out and purchase this volume. It is invaluable."
—ARSC Journal
Contents
Acknowledgments ix
1. Prelude 1
2. Introduction 3
3. Miles---the man 7
4. Miles---his life and music before 1975 13
5. Into the shadows 30
6. The Man With the Horn 43
7. We Want Miles 89
8. Star People 111
9. Decoy 129
10. You're Under Arrest 159
11. Aura 182
12. The road to Tutu: the background 197
13. The road to Tutu: Rubberband---the lost Miles Davis album 205
14. The road to Tutu: Miles and Prince 226
15. Tutu 232
16. Siesta 268
17. Amandla 282
18. Doo-Bop 307
19. Miles alive 341
20. Live Around the World 410
21. Miles's other recordings 422
22. Miles's guest recordings 427
23. The verdict on the music of the 1980s 437
24. Notes 445
25. References 470
26. Compilations 475
27. Tribute albums 483
28. The eighties music---cover versions 485
29. Unreleased Miles---the music in the vaults 486
30. Miles's live repertoire 1981-1991 496
31. Miles's band line-ups 1981-1991 498
32. Miles's album discography 1980-1991 502
33. Books and websites 511
34. Index 515
Our edition is available in Canada, Philippines, Puerto Rico, United States, Virgin Islands (U.S.)
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