“Bebop was met with hostility by racists”

Miles Davis on reading, iconic jazzmen of the 20th century, drugs and perversions

“Gorky” continues the week of texts about music - we published monologues of punks about their reading practices and a review of “The Song Machine” by John Seabrook. From the autobiography of Miles Davis, one of the most influential jazz trumpeters and composers of the 20th century, a pioneer of several jazz styles, we selected quotes about his relationship with books, his closest friends, his love of riding elevators, and white hatred of jazz.

About parents

Mother and father were constantly arguing. They had completely different opinions on everything. When I was very little, they were ready to tear each other to pieces. The only thing that somehow united them was my addiction to heroin, but that happened much later.

About reading

I’m not a big fan of reading, I never read much - I didn’t have enough time. But I read all the magazines and newspapers that I get my hands on. That's where I mostly get my information from. I also love CNN - 24/7 news on television. I am biased towards reading, I just don’t trust writers, many of them are dishonest, especially journalists. These guys will do anything to tell an interesting story. It seems to me that my distrust of writers comes from all those journalists who came across my path, especially those who wrote all sorts of lies about me. Most of them are white. I like poets and some novelists. I loved the poetry of the sixties, especially the black poets—The Last Poets, LeRoy Jones, Amiri Baraka. They spoke and wrote the truth, although many of my friends, both white and black, did not recognize this truth and do not recognize it now. And yet it was the truth, and those who know their country even a little and respect the truth know that it was the truth.

About your favorite writer

In 1964, Frances and I hosted a reception at our home in honor of Robert Kennedy; he was running for senator in New York, and our friend Buddy Gist asked us about it. A bunch of different people gathered - Bob Dylan, Lena Horne, Quincy Jones, Leonard Bernstein - but I don’t remember if Robert Kennedy himself was there. They say he was, but I never met him. Who really made a strong impression on me at that time was the writer James Baldwin. He was brought to us by Mark Crawford, who knew him well. I remember I was in awe of him - he was such an important person with all his wonderful books, I did not know how to approach him. Later I found out that he thought the same about me. But I really liked him right away, and he liked me too. We truly respected each other. He was very shy and so was I. It seemed to me that we looked alike, like brothers. When I talk about our shyness, I mean creative shyness, when you avoid people who steal your time. I saw this in him, I understood that he knew this behind himself. And just imagine - James Baldwin and I in my luxurious fucking house. I read his books and loved and respected him for what he told people in them. As we got to know each other better, we opened up to each other and became true friends. Every time I went to play in Antibes in the south of France, I always stayed with Jimmy in St. Paul de Vence for a couple of days. We just sat in his big beautiful house and told each other different stories, in general, we had a great time. Then they went to his vineyard for the same thing. I really miss him now when I visit the south of France. He was a wonderful person.

About bebop

Many whites didn’t like what they heard on 52nd (a street in Manhattan that was the center of jazz culture in the mid-20th century - editor’s note). They did not understand what was happening, they all saw this as an invasion of the nigers from Harlem, the racists met Bibop in bayonets. In addition, beautiful and rich white whores followed blacks everywhere. They constantly hovered around blacks in public, and they were dressed to the nines and spoke in cool slang. It is not surprising that whites, especially men, were against this new direction. Only two white music critics—Leonard Feather and Barry Ulanov, editors of the music magazine Metronome—understood bebop, loved it, and wrote favorably about it. But the rest of the white bastards hated what we did. They didn't understand our music. They did not understand and hated musicians. And yet the clubs were packed with people flocking to see us, and the team of Dizzy and Bird in the Three Deuces was the “hottest” in New York. The bird was revered as a god. The people followed on his heels. He had a whole retinue.

About Charlie Parker

I remember we were once driving to the Street for a concert, and Bird took a white whore with him - and we were all sitting in the back seat of a taxi. Having smeared himself with a hefty dose, this cretin ate chicken - his favorite food (hence his nickname - editor's note) - and drank whiskey and at the same time ordered a whore to lick him. At that time I was not yet used to such things - I hardly drank, I had just started smoking and I certainly didn’t inject drugs, I was only nineteen years old, I was not interested in this. Well, then Bird noticed that it was awkward for me to watch how this woman was handling his penis and all that, and he was licking her crotch. Then he asked me if everything was okay and if his behavior was annoying me. I told him straight out that I was disgusted to look at what they were doing in front of my eyes - she, like some kind of dog, was working her tongue on his penis, and he was moaning disgustingly and at the same time taking a bite of the chicken. “Yes, how annoying.” And do you know what that bastard said? He said that if I was so irritable, why don't I turn away and look at them? The taxi was terribly crowded, we were all sitting in the back seat, so where could I turn? I then stuck my head out of the window, but I could still hear those bastards cumming there, and in between the Birds smacked their lips while chewing chicken. Well, I already said - he was such a fruit.

About Dizzy Gillespie

The first time I rode an elevator in my life was with Dizzy, on Broadway, in the center of Manhattan. He loved to ride elevators, while he mocked everyone, acted like a madman and scared the white people to death. God, you had to see this. We would come to see him, and his wife Lorren wouldn’t let anyone stay too long except me. She always invited me to the table. Sometimes I agreed and sometimes I didn’t. I've always been picky about what and where I eat. And Lorren placed notes everywhere: “Don’t sit here!” And then she said to Diz: “Why is all this rabble always hanging around with us! Let them get out this minute!” When I got up to leave, she said: “No, Miles, you stay, and let the others get lost.” I don’t know what she saw in me, but it was so. You see, I think people just loved Dizzy and were drawn to him. But no matter who Dizzy was with and wherever he was going, he always took me with him. He'd say, "Come on, Miles." And we'd go to the ticket office or something, or, as I said, we'd ride the elevators, just for fun. He did a lot of different absurd things.

About John Coltrane

Train, pumped up, often nodded off on stage. He and his wife Naima moved from Philadelphia to New York, and he was able to obtain hard drugs that were not available to him in Philadelphia. In New York, he completely sank, and very quickly. I had nothing against Train or the others, I had been through it all myself, but I knew that it was a disease and that it was difficult to cope with. So I didn’t read any lectures to them about this. He only scolded him for being late and dozing on stage; and then declared that I would not tolerate this anymore. When Coltrane came back to us, we were making $1,250 a week—and these guys let themselves nod off on stage! I couldn't stand this kind of crap! The public sees how they nod off and thinks that I’ve gotten involved with drugs again, you know, I seem to be guilty without guilt. But I was as clean as glass, only occasionally allowing myself to snort cocaine.

About Ronald Reagan

When I was introduced to the President, I wished him luck in his business, and he said: “Thank you, Miles, I could use some luck.” In person, he turned out to be a pretty nice guy. I think I was pretending with all my might. He's a politician, God, a right-wing politician. Other politicians are leaning to the left. And almost all of them brazenly rob the country. It doesn't matter whether they are Republicans or Democrats, they are in politics only because there is good money to be made there. Politicians don't care about the fate of the American people. They only think about how to get rich, just like all the other greedy people.

About drugs

Having gotten involved in drugs, I completely forgot about sex; it didn’t give me any pleasure, even if it happened. The only thing I was thinking about then was how to get the next dose. I hadn’t gotten on the needle yet, but I was snorting to the fullest. One day I'm standing at an intersection in Queens, and my nose is running and everything. It seemed to me that I had a fever and a cold. Then a dealer I know, who called himself Matine, comes up to me and asks - how are you? I say - I snort heroin and cocaine, every day, only today I didn’t go to Manhattan, where I usually get a dose. Matine looked at me like I was a fool and said: “You’re addicted.” - “What the hell is addiction?” - I asked. Matine says: “Look, you are complaining of a runny nose, chills, weakness. You're really addicted, nigga." Then he bought me some heroin in Queens.

About perversions

I was interested in what some would call perversion - you know, when you have more than one woman in your bed. Sometimes I watched them please each other. I liked it, I won’t hide it. It excited me - and at that time I was chasing any form of excitement. I understand that whoever reads this will probably think that I hate women, or that I'm crazy, or both. But I didn’t hate women, I loved them very much, maybe even loved them too much.

About jazz

It is shameful to see how our country treats blacks and how it does not value their contributions to society. I think all schools should teach the basics of jazz or black music. Children should know that America's only original contribution to world culture is the music that our black ancestors brought from Africa and which changed and developed here. African music should be studied on an equal basis with European (“classical”) music.