|
Greetings Brian.
A homage to Mr. Davis, the title alone was enough to get me to read it.
I, too, like where this is going: the sense that his work brought the
listener to another place. Of course, one could say the same for
Coltrane, perhaps more so, but that's an argument for another time.
Since you've posted in the Firebox, I will nitpick.
The first is a matter of personal taste: I loathe the usage of vanilla
as a synonym for "plain." Period. That being said, accepting its modern
usage, vanilla still comes with flavor whether it's ice cream, french toast
flavoring or whatever. The introduction of food flavor strikes me as
completely out of any of the birth of cool imagery invoked
throughout the rest of the piece.
My advice on that point: drop "life's" to the next line with
"key signature." I do like the next line which might allude
for the reader for time as both instances and time signatures.
I might state that life has many key signatures that he was
able to leave. To flatten life into one key signature
misses the opportunity to let Miles progress beyond one simple
thing, when in actuality, he moved beyond wherever he found
himself at the moment or whatever life gave him, so to speak.
I fully appreciate the Kind of Blue reference, but, man, the blue
smoke-filled rooms is such a stronger, and well known, image
of jazz. The two appearances of the color differ:
one for title, one for place, and yet, is it enough? My gut says no,
but your gut will say what is true for this.
I know that 'daring' is the reaction of the listener: can I follow
where he's at and where he's taking me to? Don't consider the
listener so much. Stay with Miles:
his horn:
(imagine indentation) raw and hot like summertime
(imagine again )cool like _______________
cool like what? Not something else, like the birth of cool. No,
I don't mean "cool like the birth of cool" but absolutely not like
"something else." Even if the N (narrator) cannot describe the
coolness factor, then s/he needs to say so, in explicit terms
so there is no misunderstanding about why there's a failure
in the simile.
Ultimately, coming back to the smoke filled room is the most solid
image crafted in the whole piece. The temptation is to run
abstractions about where his music goes. Focus on the player
and the music played. The reader of this piece, especially if they've
listened to Miles, will follow along by the images produced
for associative leaps. Solidify the trip beyond music theory,
or try and extend that metaphor further if you can.
Dig deeper. The layout looks great, the indentations, the spacing,
ultimately, I feel like much is repeated and those repetitions really
serve as placemarkers for something better to come.
Good luck and namaste.
~Tim
|
Pages: 1
Miles Davis (Read 193 times)
