Today is the day on which all good music lovers everywhere remember the birthday of one Miles Dewey Davis III, born some ninety years ago in East St. Louis.
Wait… what?!?
You don’t know to whom I am referring…?
Well… I mean… what can I say…?
If you don’t know Miles’ music, then you’ve been remiss.
Deprived, as it were, of a joy that cannot readily be quantifiable.
Shame on you for being so very busy that you haven’t had the time to develop an appreciation for one of the seminal composers/musicians of the 20th century.
And don’t even get me started on Coltrane!!!
Miles is everywhere.
No… really!
He has permeated into our culture like no other musician.
It is steeped deep within our very infrastructure.
Don’t believe me?
Just listen to the following…
That…
Is…
AWESOME!
You can find a door like this for your very own.
It’s in the home furnishings section of your local Lowe’s.
I hear you can also find it at some aptly named True Value stores.
Just make sure to lay in a supply of Post-Bop Rust in a Can®.
(It’s in the paint aisle.)
Home Depot has a version coming out sometime early next year, but it’s not a real door.
More of a Lite Door… or Smooth Door.
Kind of a Herb Alpert door, with overtones of neo-classical Chuck Mangione and a tepid setting of flimsy Kenny G(lass).
You know Home Depot’s version isn’t a real door, because you don’t even have to think when you go through it.
You can through hours of them, and not even remember what the doors were.
Their version almost opens itself for you.
A real door requires effort.
A real door requires concentration.
It requires rhythm, and daring.
Where was I?
Oh yeah… a be-birthday bop, if you will.
Here, for (I hope) your enjoyment, is Kind of Blue, Miles’ stunning magnum opus, in its entirety.
My mind actually boggles so much you can probably hear it from your house, at the thought of what Miles would be doing were he to still be writing in this day and age.
The sound of my mind boggling has been variously described as the sound of traffic, children playing – or birds – or the wind in trees and/or sweeping across an open bit of land, or even the sound of water gurgling or surging against a shore.
Go ahead…
Go outside and see if you can’t hear my mind boggling from where you are.
Meanwhile…
Happy Birthday, Miles…
Image found here.
This is just what today called for…awesome, thanks for the link.
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You’re very welcome…
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Sorry, I posted the same album. Miles Davis. What more need be said…
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No worries…
Maybe if more people posted it, that many more people would listen to it…
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I cannot hear your mind boggling but I live in a valley. I’ll check again next time I go up to The Height of Land. (Your use of that expression is among the few “correct” instances I have ever heard in this country. Most of our compatriots say “it boggles the mind” but you and I know it’s “the mind boggles.” Sorry, just being English Grandma, again.)
Miles Davis….yes, yes, and yes. His renditions of old standards, too, are to die for….My Funny Valentine, Tenderly, Smoke Gets In Your Eyes. I’m going to run Kinda Blue later today when there’s time to pay good attention to it.
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Well, my list of appropriate resemblances was more illustrative than exhaustive…
Try it again when you get a chance.
The important thing, of course, is the listening!
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