The Miles Davis Story (2001)

A Major Disappointment

I really wanted to like this movie. I feel terribly cynical trashing it, and that's why I'm giving it a middling 5. Actually, I'm giving it a 5 because there were some superb performances.

This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

before i talk about the documentary i just want to understand how can anyone say chik corea and keith jarrett "nearly ruined jazz", and were just noodling around? what they were doing was exploring and evolving the music to further realms. hasn't the backbone of jazz always been innovation and exploration? didn't charlie parker himself break rules? what about monk? jazz isn't about staying within certain boundaries (besides miles never claimed what he was playing in his "electric" era was jazz). i just feel that before people start in on the whole "miles sold out when he went electric" routine, they should remember that jazz changes, music changes, it changed from scott joplin to louie armstrong to charlie parker to miles davis, etc. now as far as the DVD goes, i don't understand why someone would spend more time on showing the man's personal life than his musical. if it wasn't for his music no one would even know who he was. i understand that things around him, in his personal life might have reflected in his music, but to spend the majority of the time highlighting his romances, etc., i feel is missing the point of making a documentary about him in the first place. however there is some great (and unfortunately incomplete) footage of some of his live performances. i do appreciate the fact that someone wanted to make a documentary to such a GREAT musician, but i would rather recommend the documentary: Miles Electric: A Different Kind of Blue, because it is truly about the music.

Even though I was very happy seeing rare footage of his concerts in the 60's and 70's I was very much dissatisfied with the documentary and felt it as an incomplete film about the life of a music genius. I wish there was more about his life as a musician than about his life as a father or husband and more of him as "The Figure." I don't think the documentary conveys very well why Miles Davis is regarded as a genius by musicians and listeners around the world. Instead of watching this documentary I would recommend reading his excellent autobiography. By the way, as another reviewer pointed out the music he made in the 70's with Chick Corea and Keith Jarret is not at all "noodling". Miles and his group were pioneers of a music that inspired many musicians for decades like Weather Report and even the late 90's electronic dub and drum and bass music. If one listens carefully, one will find a texture of sheer excellence and musical genius that revolutionized Jazz. Because Jazz is about transformation and also a renewal of the self as well as the sound.

If I couldn't stand this man before seeing this film, this is the coup de grace to my revulsion of the "Miles Industry", and the man(this is a "man"?) it represents. Miles Davis was a good bebop trumpet player in the 50's, when he played with Charley Parker. Although he knew that technically he couldn't handle Parker's blistering tempi, and tried to quit the band, Parker spurred him on and Miles sounded beautiful, especially on "Bird Gets the Worm", which was based on "Lover Come Back To Me". Then, I guess Miles started reading the critics about his "genius", and creativity. What followed from the 70's on, was the "fusion", rock influenced, synthisized, no chords, modal mishmash that almost killed jazz. The chief cuplrits and abbetors were Keith Jarret, and Chick Corea. I'll say they were young, and maybe they were in awe of Miles, but those endless concerts of "noodling" around their instruments are there on record for you to make up you own mind. The film is very watchable because it puts many people we've read about for years to tell their own "Miles" stories. And the women!! THE POOR SUFFERING WOMEN!! I'm going to be a good boy and softly say, to conclude, this was not a nice man.

Somehow, this documentary about Miles manages to include very little music and no complete tunes. Though Miles appears in the film, 95% of the interviews are other folks, not Miles. There are huge chronological gaps, many aspects of his life (his childhood prodigy, his drug addiction) are skipped or glossed over, and you'll learn little about what made the man and his contribution to music so groundbreaking. Skip it.