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Miles To Go The Lost Years 1973-1983  Chris
MurphyThunder's Mouth, 2002 Hardback. 258pp. illustrations £17.50 Miles to Go is an affectionate but brutally honest (and bound to be controversial) account about working and living with Miles Davis during the latter period of the jazz maestro's career. Told by Chris Murphy, a young, down-on-his-luck, Irish-American guitarist who devoted himself to Miles Davis, first as his roadie and assistant, and then as one of his most trusted road managers, Miles to Go is a frank and intimate exploration of Davis's eccentric working life, drug habits, paranoia, depression, and subsequent recovery. It also deals with Davis's troubled relationship with his children and the controversial role Cicely Tyson played in his life. Murphy explores the dynamics that made Davis's band work well together, placing Davis's work in a historic, literary and musical framework. It corrects Davis's own almost self-hating autobiography, and attempts to treat with some balance the rumours about Davis being bi-sexual and HIV positive upon his death. Willie Nelson, Mick Jagger, Jimi Hendrix, and a very unlikely Mother Theresa all have walk-on parts in this engaging, intelligent, and often hilarious narrative. It takes us from the small seedy jazz clubs that Davis was often at home in, to the world tours, and then finally to Davis's triumphant return with his celebrated concerts at Lincoln Center in the early '80s. CHRIS MURPHY worked closely with Miles David from 1973 to 1976, first as a crewmember and later as his road manager, then returned to Miles's employ in 1981 when Davis staged his comeback tour. |
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