Episode #101 | 5.3.22
Miles Davis (Pt. 1): Blasting Bebop, Blasting Racism, and a Devastating Heroin Habit
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In this episode
Miles Davis is jazz’s first and only rock star, with the rap sheet to prove it. He did enough cocaine to run down the entirety of 52nd street, and pimped out women when performing wasn’t paying the bills. At one point, his heroin habit was so public that clubs who had once welcomed his brilliant bebop instead froze him out completely. When he wasn’t vying to keep his rightful spot in jazz’s upper echelon, he was doing time at Rikers Island or dodging racist cops on the prowl for any junkie they could find. Miles Davis invented cool, but nearly destroyed himself in the process. This episode contains themes that may be disturbing to some listeners and includes descriptions of domestic violence.
Sources
American Masters: Miles Davis – Birth of the Cool (2019, dir. Stanley Nelson)
Miles Ahead (2015, dir. Don Cheadle)
The Two Sides of Miles Davis (Rolling Stone)
When Miles Davis crashed his Lamborghini, I was there (Road and Track)
Miles Davis beat his wives and made beautiful music (AV Club)
Davis arrest studied (New York Times)
Even Fame Could Not Protect Miles Davis from Police Violence (American Masters)
Miles Davis and John Coltrane: Yin and Yang (Jazzwise)
Grappling with the cool and rage of Miles Davis (New York Times)
Miles Davis: Our 1985 Interview (Spin)
Disgraceland is a podcast about musicians getting away with murder and behaving very badly. It melds music history, true crime and transgressive fiction. Disgraceland is not journalism. Disgraceland is entertainment. Entertainment inspired by true events. However, certain scenes, characters and names are sometimes fictionalized for dramatic purposes.
Music
Hosted, written, and scored by Jake Brennan.
Copy editing by Pat Healy.
Mixed and Engineered by Matt Beaudoin.
Disgraceland theme song, "Crenshaw Space Boogie" written and produced by Jake Brennan. Performed by Jake Brennan, Bryce Kanzer, Jay Cannava and Evan Kenney. Mixed and engineered by Adam Taylor.
*illustrations by Avi Spivak @avispivak