This is a revelation. I've gone for years wondering what Miles sounded like before his throat surgery. I'd say that it was nice of the DJ to let Miles get a few words in edgewise, on the other hand Miles didn't seem any more talkative then than he was later in life.
It's interesting to compare Miles' speech to Coleman Hawkins (b. 1904, grew up in Missouri) and Charlie Parker (b. 1920, also grew up in Missouri). Hawkins and Bird are pretty fastidious speakers of English, and almost sound like professors or television announcers at times (though still showing some accents in their speech that let us know their backgrounds as Black folks). Miles grew up in the same region, in a very middle-class household, and he almost sounds like a guy you find walking down the road in the Mississippi delta. Okay, that's a bit of an exaggeration, but Miles clearly wasn't as interested in trying to impress the world with middle-class or white-sounding speech. This is all trivial stuff, of course, but it gives us a little bit of insight into the personalities of these guys.
@@zenobardotvery true. Bird & Duke sound so polished in their interviews. I imagine prior to Hip-Hop and Counterculture it was culturally encouraged to assimilate into the dominant (white), mainstream culture including in speech and intonation. Miles was always more interested in being his authentic self.
@@P.Rose_frmchrchst All true, though I'd argue Coleman Hawkins was being his authentic self just as much as Miles. Hawkins was basically a conservative (not in the political sense) person. Ellington is a whole 'nother story. I love him madly, as he loved to say, but he rarely seems completely candid or freewheeling, and his stage personality was so consciously artificial that it almost seems like very dry comedy.
I've been interested in hearing what he sounded like before his surgery my entire life. Whats interesting about this interview is that for whatever reason he sounded cool with the raspy voice. Guess he wouldn't be Miles without the whisper! Rip Mr. Davis! 🎺
Interviewer hardly let him get a word in, but it's still really cool to hear what Miles sounded like when he had a voice. I wonder how Miles felt every time the guy referred to him and the other musicians as 'boy' lol!
Narduar i think just has a classic interview style. Where you can learn all about an individual from an interview without any preknown context of the individual. No very common anymore
This was during the period of Miles kicking heroin with his fathers help.. he returned to my shortly after this time and lived s somewhat cleaner life.
This interview and the Miles Davis and Tadd Dameron Live at Festival International de Jazz, Paris, France - May 1949 (Miles speaks between some of the songs) are the only 2 recording of his early voice I know of. His voice here sounds pretty rough compared to 1949.
I was listening to that dameron recording and was struck by that voice. Needed to find out if it was really miles, he sounded quite different from both this interview and of course his later voice.
It would have been nice to hear the music...interspersed with the conversation. Important documentation of a singular great musician! This was an overall all right interview, period! I would not assume that Miles Davis was high in this interview. I think Harry Frost did an all right interview here.
I can just imagine how that conversation went when the interviewer found out he was high. He is really trying to help Miles with his answers. Life is really something else😒
vo·cal cords /ˈvōkəl kô(ə)rdz/ Learn to pronounce noun folds of membranous tissue that project inward from the sides of the larynx to form a slit across the glottis in the throat, and whose edges vibrate in the airstream to produce the voice.
Maybe this is the only recorded example of his “normal” voice available to the public. I don’t know, but it’s the only one I’ve heard. The interviewer is smart and congenial, but it sounds to me like Miles might have been a little high. Not a very engaging voice or tonal quality, which of course was not the case with his trumpet playing.
Miles Davis and Tadd Dameron Live at Festival International de Jazz, Paris, France - May 1949 is the other example. Being before heroin, Miles speaks much more fluently.
They got a recording of Miles Davis. How come they didn't get a recorded interview with perhaps the singular greatest composer since Mozart, Cole Porter ?
I don't think he meant it as a derogatory term, more a term of endearment - like 'those are good boys'. This was before the use of the word 'guys' was common.
I also do not appreciate the reference of Charlie Parker, and Dizzy Gillespie referred to as boys! Especially then! Imagine luminaries like that referred to as boys while two others referred to as fellas! Well! The times... Although little or no excuse!
HARRY FROST TALKED TOO MUCH. Maybe he was interviewing him self ? He may have been too sensitive of dead air. I heard Mile's voice a little here. Very little.
@@barthelemyd.1115 Agree. During this time he was always high or trying to get high. Also I doubt that he was very comfortable doing interviews. I'm pretty sure he sounded totally different when speaking with his friends. Miles giving interviews in his later years liked to challenge the interviewer. In this interview I noticed the guy interviewing him calling him boy which would have never happened after he "kicked" his heroin addiction which would have happened about another year after this interview. In his autobiography he says that once he got out of the grips of heroin he felt better about himself and that he would no longer allow people to speak to him like they did during his addiction. Case in point was when the woman who created the Newport Jazz Festival along with her husband referred to Miles a boy Miles said: " They had all these parties that night in this big fucking mansion. We all go there, and all these rich white people are everywhere. I was sitting over in a corner, minding my own business, when the woman who had organized the festival, Elaine Lorillard, came over with all these grinning, silly-looking white people and said something like, "Oh, this is the boy who played so beautifully. What's your name?" Now she's standing there smiling like she's done me a fucking favor, right? So I look at her and say, "Fuck you, and I ain't no fucking boy! My name is Miles Davis, and you'd better remember that if you ever want to talk to me." And then I walked away leaving them all shocked as a motherfucker. I wasn't trying to be nasty or nothing like that, but she was calling me "boy," and I just can't take that kind of bullshit."
This is a revelation. I've gone for years wondering what Miles sounded like before his throat surgery. I'd say that it was nice of the DJ to let Miles get a few words in edgewise, on the other hand Miles didn't seem any more talkative then than he was later in life.
It's interesting to compare Miles' speech to Coleman Hawkins (b. 1904, grew up in Missouri) and Charlie Parker (b. 1920, also grew up in Missouri). Hawkins and Bird are pretty fastidious speakers of English, and almost sound like professors or television announcers at times (though still showing some accents in their speech that let us know their backgrounds as Black folks). Miles grew up in the same region, in a very middle-class household, and he almost sounds like a guy you find walking down the road in the Mississippi delta. Okay, that's a bit of an exaggeration, but Miles clearly wasn't as interested in trying to impress the world with middle-class or white-sounding speech. This is all trivial stuff, of course, but it gives us a little bit of insight into the personalities of these guys.
@@zenobardotvery true. Bird & Duke sound so polished in their interviews. I imagine prior to Hip-Hop and Counterculture it was culturally encouraged to assimilate into the dominant (white), mainstream culture including in speech and intonation. Miles was always more interested in being his authentic self.
@@P.Rose_frmchrchst All true, though I'd argue Coleman Hawkins was being his authentic self just as much as Miles. Hawkins was basically a conservative (not in the political sense) person. Ellington is a whole 'nother story. I love him madly, as he loved to say, but he rarely seems completely candid or freewheeling, and his stage personality was so consciously artificial that it almost seems like very dry comedy.
"whatever you be, be a good one"
and he became the best ever
I've been interested in hearing what he sounded like before his surgery my entire life. Whats interesting about this interview is that for whatever reason he sounded cool with the raspy voice. Guess he wouldn't be Miles without the whisper! Rip Mr. Davis! 🎺
Crazy hearing Miles real voice
A very rare invaluable gem. Thanks🎩
Interviewer hardly let him get a word in, but it's still really cool to hear what Miles sounded like when he had a voice. I wonder how Miles felt every time the guy referred to him and the other musicians as 'boy' lol!
I was thinking the same damn thing.... The Motherfucker!!
Didn't like that at all
thats Jim Crow for ya
No kidding - I think the guy was interviewing himself with Miles providing color.
He called him boy intentionally to talk down to Miles.
this interviewer reminds me of narduar in how he interrogates miles about his life and discography. it's great. perhaps time travel?
Narduar i think just has a classic interview style. Where you can learn all about an individual from an interview without any preknown context of the individual. No very common anymore
He sounds smacked off his head. Fantastic musician.
Yeah, I believe that's the same year he decided to quit.
@@fleet4fingers cold turkey
1953? This would’ve been a year before he cold turkeyed heroin.
This was during the period of Miles kicking heroin with his fathers help.. he returned to my shortly after this time and lived s somewhat cleaner life.
he sounds like some big tough guy with that voice
Amazing!!!!!!
His voice before he lost it
Damn. It's 5:55 AM. Is it a dream?
This interview and the Miles Davis and Tadd Dameron Live at Festival International de Jazz, Paris, France - May 1949 (Miles speaks between some of the songs) are the only 2 recording of his early voice I know of. His voice here sounds pretty rough compared to 1949.
He's in a euphoric place here, tryin' not to nod off! He still sounds more intelligent than most folks.
I was listening to that dameron recording and was struck by that voice. Needed to find out if it was really miles, he sounded quite different from both this interview and of course his later voice.
I like his "after" voice. The before voice sounds......"regular"!
jazzier
👍🏾👍🏾
It would have been nice to hear the music...interspersed with the conversation. Important documentation of a singular great musician! This was an overall all right interview, period! I would not assume that Miles Davis was high in this interview. I think Harry Frost did an all right interview here.
Very interesting indeed.
High as a kite 😂🤣😁
He sounds reaaally relaxed😅
I love that this starts with Lady Bird
I can just imagine how that conversation went when the interviewer found out he was high. He is really trying to help Miles with his answers. Life is really something else😒
His voice!?!?!
Call me crazy, but Miles’ speaking voice here isn’t too different from the speaking voice of William S. Burroughs.
It’s the sound of junk
Coincidentally both Burroughs and Miles Davis grew up in St. Louis.
Miles’ voice before he damaged his vocal chords! He also seemed under the influence of something…
He was a heroin addict at the time; he didn't kick his habit until a year or two later.
@@kafenwar Fits what the documented history says. Just neat to hear an audio recording of this!
vo·cal cords
/ˈvōkəl kô(ə)rdz/
Learn to pronounce
noun
folds of membranous tissue that project inward from the sides of the larynx to form a slit across the glottis in the throat, and whose edges vibrate in the airstream to produce the voice.
Maybe this is the only recorded example of his “normal” voice available to the public.
I don’t know, but it’s the only one I’ve heard.
The interviewer is smart and congenial, but it sounds to me like Miles might have been a little high.
Not a very engaging voice or tonal quality, which of course was not the case with his trumpet playing.
Miles Davis and Tadd Dameron Live at Festival International de Jazz, Paris, France - May 1949 is the other example. Being before heroin, Miles speaks much more fluently.
Can't Not hear his gravely voice, even while listening to this.
🌈❤️❤️❤️❤️🥰🥰🥰🥰💐💐💐💐💐🌈
This is great to hear, but I sure wish the interviewer would shut up and let Miles talk.
Imagine if Miles had become a dentist instead
known for his improvisational dental techniques
Loool
I wouldn’t feel too comfortable sitting in his chair.
If only the interviewer would shut up
and let him speak. damn
Couldn't. If you're on an analogue radio, you gotta keep talking otherwise people can skip your frequency when tuning for radio stations.
Miles sounds like he's about to sing "We're a couple of misfits"
Right before Terry Gross took over.
He sounds as high as a sleepy Willow.
its like listening to Zev
Gil Evans and Gerry Mulligan are fellas but Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Park are boys. sigh...
Heroin's a hellava drug
7:18
They got a recording of Miles Davis. How come they didn't get a recorded interview with perhaps the singular greatest composer since Mozart, Cole Porter ?
Lol who is Jimmy Taylor?? Too funny 😂
Does anyone else hear Maya Angelou at certain points? 😂
😂😂😂 youre silly as hell but... yes I do certain words he pronounce sound the same as her
lmao
It's so jarring to hear Miles without his signature rasp
He called Parker and Gillespie boys, smh
I don't think he meant it as a derogatory term, more a term of endearment - like 'those are good boys'. This was before the use of the word 'guys' was common.
@@gfx2943 learn some american history. he meant it in the worst way possible. and he called miles boy, too.
@@jamescaleb9676 Yup. Note the stony silence from Miles when he says
"St. Louis Boy" at the start of the interview. Ugh...
I also do not appreciate the reference of Charlie Parker, and Dizzy Gillespie referred to as boys! Especially then! Imagine luminaries like that referred to as boys while two others referred to as fellas! Well! The times...
Although little or no excuse!
I would not have expected it to be so pinched and nasally. He almost sounds like Burroughs.
Miles & Burroughs were both from St Louis, which has a nasal accent
sounds like lil wayne
I think Miles would agree: This is a very boring interview.
DJ Harry Frost needs to shut up…he speaks way too much.
DJ Harry Frost did nothing wrong
HARRY FROST TALKED TOO MUCH. Maybe he was interviewing him self ? He may have been too sensitive of dead air. I heard Mile's voice a little here. Very little.
Miles doesn’t sound ‘right’ here . . . but I dunno. I know he had that throat surgery later.
I think it may be due to his heroin habit, he does sound "relaxed" if you know what I mean.
@@barthelemyd.1115 Agree. During this time he was always high or trying to get high. Also I doubt that he was very comfortable doing interviews. I'm pretty sure he sounded totally different when speaking with his friends. Miles giving interviews in his later years liked to challenge the interviewer. In this interview I noticed the guy interviewing him calling him boy which would have never happened after he "kicked" his heroin addiction which would have happened about another year after this interview. In his autobiography he says that once he got out of the grips of heroin he felt better about himself and that he would no longer allow people to speak to him like they did during his addiction. Case in point was when the woman who created the Newport Jazz Festival along with her husband referred to Miles a boy Miles said: " They had all these parties that night in this big fucking mansion. We all go there, and all these rich white people are everywhere. I was sitting over in a corner, minding my own business, when the woman who had organized the festival, Elaine Lorillard, came over with all these grinning, silly-looking white people and said something like, "Oh, this is the boy who played so beautifully. What's your name?"
Now she's standing there smiling like she's done me a fucking favor, right? So I look at her and say, "Fuck you, and I ain't no fucking boy! My name is Miles Davis, and you'd better remember that if you ever want to talk to me." And then I walked away leaving them all shocked as a motherfucker. I wasn't trying to be nasty or nothing like that, but she was calling me "boy," and I just can't take that kind of bullshit."