Jazz Note #22 – Evolve
When Miles Davis was about to step on stage at Philharmonic Hall at Lincoln Center on February 12, 1964, he mentioned to the band that none of them would be paid. Instead, all proceeds would go to the groups that co-sponsored the concert: the NAACP, the Congress of Racial Equality and the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee.
That was a big deal. The group was going on their one-year anniversary and just found out their check would be donated without their knowledge or consent. Why would Miles do that right before they stepped on stage?
First of all, Miles was Miles, a musical genius, but not the most social person in the world. In his autobiography, Possibilities, Herbie Hancock wrote that he didn’t even know he was hired to join Miles’ Second Great Quintet until Miles told him to be at a recording studio after a multi-day audition.
Chit-chat was not Miles’ strong suit, but no musician pushed musical boundaries further than he. Case in point, “My Funny Valentine,” a song prominently featured in the 1964 concert. It was also a song Miles recorded with his First Great Quintet at Rudy Van Gelder’s studio in 1956, a song that Miles played with direct simplicity.
The revisit at Philharmonic Hall would not follow suit. After all:
- The 1956 recording clocks in at six minutes.
- The 1964 recording surpasses fifteen.
- The 1956 recording had musicians that were Miles’ contemporaries.
- The 1964 musicians were much younger.
- The 1956 recording was a part of the bebop era.
- By 1964 Miles was exploring the endless possibilities of modal jazz.
Using the melody purely as a reference point, Miles played with an introspective, expansive longing, deconstructing the song to the point where the song no longer remained the song but evolved into something else.
Miles was famous for not rehearsing, which may have been a way to bring out the best from his band for they had to hang onto his every note. That acute attentiveness must have been nerve-wracking for a young band playing at one of the most pre-eminent stages for the first time. As Herbie noted in Ian Carr’s bio of Miles: