Rating: 
Summary: THE Jazz autobiography
Review: This is definitely THE Jazz autobiography. Miles as controversial as ever. He just could have explained better why he left Jazz and started playing that weird fusion stuff... Mr. Troupe's wonderful ghostwriting job must be acknowledged.
Rating: 
Summary: The Definitive Miles Review
Review: First let me say that I have read this book three times from cover to cover and a fourth time essentially all the way through and I plan to read this book many more times. It is the best book I have ever read and my favorite of all time. This truly is a circumstance where you don't even have to be a fan of Miles Davis music to enjoy this book...though unless you listen to his music you wouldn't be compelled to read this book most likely. Miles is an incredibly interesting man and this book talks about the man with almost a gloss over of all his music. This book treats the specifics and detailed descriptions of his music as trivial lingerings because there are none. I believe the most in depth description of an album came for Sketches Of Spain and ironically this was an album that Miles did not care for in the least. I have read reviews that claim Miles does a lot of whining in these pages and I would personally not want to read that and if I read it in a review I would not buy the book...understanding that I want to assure you that there is absolutely no whining. Another thing I have read is people saying how terrible a person he was...well I have to say after the first time I read Miles' book I didn't think much of him either and I was quite dissapointed in him. But by the second or third time I read the book I really began to understand the man and why he was the way he was, and I think he's a beautiful person...quite troubled...but still beautiful..but you must read the book a few times to really understand him. And Miles would be the first one to admit he had demons but he did finally learn to defeat them. I love reading the parts about the death's of his Father, Mother, and Gil Evans...Why? While it is very sad you really see the man in these moments and you see that for all his rudeness and cold disrespect at times...there is a very caring and sensitive man inside. Plus I believe a lot of Miles' rudeness was justified because of the way people treated him and in the same situation most of us would be the same type person. This book is about the man and reading it is like having Miles there with you and he does speak about the music too but don't buy it for that, because it is minimal, buy it because you want to learn about the man. I love Miles. This book is a Masterpiece.
Rating:
Summary: Miles in his own words
Review: To me, the best type of book is one where someone can tell it in their own words. This is what Miles Davis does to the T. There were times when I would be laughing nonstop because I could picture him saying these things right in front of me. He could cuss like none other, but it brought more authenticity to the work. He had a lot of respect for his peers, like Dizzy, Charlie Parker, and Coltrane to name a few. He had a DEEP respect for the history of jazz and wanted everyone to know that blacks deserve just due for really setting jazz music off. His knowledge of music, period, was unreal, especially now, because it seems that is what is LACKING BADLY with musicians of all genres today. He also speaks about other subjects, such as racism he encountered while in the business, his parents, siblings, and others. He also was his toughest critic, whether it came to his music, his dealings with women, other musicians, and drugs. All in all, Miles Davis was a dynamic, flawed, and an important figure in music history, and his story should be read by anyone who is a fan of music or who is a fan of a good story altogether.
Rating:
Summary: A didactic "Must-read" for Jazz lovers and music historians!
Review: As a Jazz lover, I can't help but consider this book a time machine into the past of jazz. I just finished reading it entirely for the second time (April & May of 2004). The first time I read it was 12 years ago (Spring of 1992). I have collected 3 Miles Davis box sets and a lot of his compact discs
in those 12 years, so reading the autogbiograpy this time around was much more like watching a movie.
I, myself, have also become much more of a musician in the
past 12 years, so I found the book to be very didactic when Mile's shared his thoughts on musical subjects such as the Egyptian mode, the modal conceptualization of songs (all the songs on "Kind of Blue"), using the Fender Rhodes electric piano to cushion his sound, and more.
For those who love John Coltrane, this book makes you feel even the slightest sense of knowing him a little; his extreme dedication to practicing and his repenting reassessment of his own life. Miles became good friends with Coltrane after he hired him into his band, yet they didn't spend much time together where
music was not concerned. Miles describes Trane's death as if it happened yesterday and it's extremely interesting to "hear" Miles
tell where Trane was musically right before he died in relation to the racial & social strife that the United States was experiencing in the 60's (this is even more poigniant when you have heard Trane's music from that period [read my review on "John Coltrane The Classic Quartet-The Complete Impulse Studio Recordings). I find it ironic that later in the book Miles mentions that he couldn't stand Trane's quartet at this period.
This is another major exciting thing about the book; it gives insight on other music greats that Miles knew personally,
like Charlie Parker (especially), Gil Evans, drummer, Philly Joe Jones, Billie Holliday and many others.
The part where Miles tells what he went through as a heroine
junkie is really heart-wrenching, and when he overcame that addiction, you really see and feel his cold-turkey withdrawl; he
overcame it out of self-determination. The last chapter of the book is a look into Miles' thoughts on life, women, racism, etc. He is quite the activist;
he never hated white people out of racism. He had an aversion to
white people because of all the racism that was enacted upon him. This book is musically and historically tremendous!!!
Rating:
Summary: The great Miles Davis.
Review: I first bought this book in 5th Grade and it taught me some new words and catch phrases to say the least. Miles was an interesting man. Not really egotistical at all, but at the same time a very difficult person if you got on his bad side. He's definitely a funny guy sometimes, but he also gets serious when talking about his great albums, his drug addictions, his wives, and his great friends and colleagues such as Gil Evans, John Coltrane, Cannonball Adderley, Bill Evans, Philly Joe Jones, Art Blakey, Jackie McLean, Sonny Rollins, Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Parker, Walter Bishop, Clifford Brown, Max Roach, Wayne Shorter, Herbie Hancock, Paul Chambers, Ron Carter, Tony Williams, Kenny Dorham, Jimmy Heath, John McLaughlin, Sonny Fortune, Gil Coggins, Wynton Kelly, Mike Stern and countless others. He also speaks on some people he made enemies with such as Cecil Taylor, Ornette Coleman, Archie Shepp, Milton Berle and quite a few others. He dishes dirt on a bunch of people, but does so in an interesting and truthful way. Quincy Troupe penned this autobiography and did an amazing job. He was the real poet lauriette this year. I met him this past year and he is an amazing writer and speaker. This book is really Miles, no strings attached. He holds back almost nothing, and sometimes spills more information than the reader had originally wanted to know (like his first orgasm, his thoughts on masturbation, and his slight infatuation with Latin and Asian women, plus more). But this book also has a lot of musical information and really shows who the man with the trumpet and ominous look on his face really is.
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