Miles and Me. - Review - book review

African American Review, Spring, 2001 by Douglas Henry Daniels

Quincy Troupe. Miles and Me. Berkeley: U of California P, 2000. 189 pp. $19.95.

This is Quincy Troupe's book on interviewing Miles Davis for the autobiography on which they collaborated. It also analyzes his discoveries of the music of his St. Louis homeboy. The accounts of his first meetings with the artist in New York, the encounter that resulted in an all-day interview, the subsequent sessions, and his memories of the man and his music are sufficient to warrant considering this an invaluable work. But Troupe does far more, examining not only Davis's influence on music, but on dress styles, slang, and on the general demeanor of Black urban males. Davis was an "unreconstructed black man" like Troupe's Uncle Albert.

This work is also autobiographical. Glimpses of Troupe's family, his relations with classmates, his introduction to the St. Louis music scene, and his maturation as a poet are one theme in the work. Troupe points out that he uses the rhythms of jazz music and speech in his writings. Even more, Miles Davis was "'The Man' who showed the way for millions like me all over the world." His music "taught me to see the importance of inclusiveness rather than separation." Also, it helped him to realize it was "imperative that we learn to respect our differences."

Then, too, Troupe reveals aspects of Miles Davis that are not apparent in the autobiography, such as his spiritual or mystical effect on the biographer, and his sensitive, delicate, childlike, and feminine side, not to mention his love of horses and of eating and cooking savory dishes. The human side of the artist is also presented. Troupe's three-year-old son is admired and entertained by Davis, who plays especially for him whenever he is brought over, until the trumpeter tires of the routine. We can also appreciate Davis's struggles with diabetes during his last decade, or how he tested Troupe again and again, demanding that he justify his opinions on music and musicians, just like he constantly tested himself and everyone else.

Troupe's encounters with and memories of the music are a third theme in the work, and they are often insightful. He starts with his first hearing of "Donna" in a St. Louis fish joint; as a college student he managed to get into a local club to see the man's quintet play, and relates how "Bags Groove," "Kind of Blue," and "Sketches of Spain" affected him profoundly. Davis's later experiments with fusion, rock, and Indian and African music are also explored. As Troupe must know, however, John Coltrane, a former sideman, delved into World Music before Davis.

While the author claims the "running sound" characteristic of Davis came from the St. Louis milieu, the trumpeter maintained in his autobiography that Lester "Pres" Young was the one who inspired him to play this way. Also, Troupe states that Amandla, the title of one CD, is Kiswahili, when actually it is Zulu, and has been associated with the South African freedom struggle for decades. Nonetheless, this is an insightful and original work.