Miles Davis
trumpet
Trumpeter and bandleader (1926–1991) who lived in Detroit for a time in the early 1950s, when Barry played with him at the Bluebird; later Barry said he did not believe Miles was the greatest thing in the world and thought Miles and those who followed had corrupted the music.
- mentions
- 33
- recordings
- 15
- Barry speaking
- 16
What Barry says
Barry played with Miles at the Bluebird while Miles was living in Detroit, the city where, Barry says, Miles came to straighten himself out. When Panken reads him a liner note giving him a three-month stint with Miles, Barry says it was not that long. He thinks he may have been the first pianist to play ‘Solar’.
Detroit Jazz: Ancient to the Future32:32Barry Harris on WKCR-FM ¶179Barry Harris on WKCR-FM ¶181Barry Harris on WKCR-FM ¶215Barry Harris on WKCR-FM ¶216
Barry does not believe that Miles Davis is the greatest thing in the world, and thinks they corrupted the music. He used to keep quiet about it but, now that he is old, says it openly and tells those who do not like it to leave; some do, because they believe in Miles so strongly.
Believe: a talk to musicians9:4910:20Jazz schools and the basics0:33
At jam sessions everywhere, Barry says, players play modal music because they think jazz means Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Wayne Shorter and Herbie Hancock. He does not agree, and complains that the players at these sessions cannot play triplets, only eighth notes.
Believe: a talk to musicians1:101:44Jazz schools and the basics0:00
For Barry, Miles was lucky to play with Charlie Parker, and some of his best playing is with Bird; it was after Parker died that Miles came up.
Believe: a talk to musicians46:16
Barry says that with Miles, Red Garland suddenly started playing chords way up high because Miles had fallen for Ahmad Jamal’s little touches, and the band began playing very straight. He mocks the idea of Miles playing ‘Someday My Prince Will Come’.
Believe: a talk to musicians47:25
Pointing listeners to a newly issued record with Paul Chambers, Donald Byrd and Phil Woods, Barry says Chambers never took a solo that good with Miles Davis.
Believe: a talk to musicians46:50
Arguing that the music should never have been separated from dancing, Barry contrasts Monk’s ‘Round Midnight’, which has a tempo you can dance to, with Miles’s much slower version, made by someone who was not thinking about dancing.
Barry will not let anyone, not even Coltrane, Miles or Herbie Hancock, lead him away from Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie and Bud Powell, whom he calls the greatest musicians.
Ep.1 | Everything no one has ever told you about jazz | Barry Harris0:06
In his own words
I don’t believe in Miles Davis as the greatest thing in the world, I don’t believe in that stuff, I think they corrupted the music
Miles Davis played with Charlie Parker... some of his best playing is with Charlie Parker.
I played there when Miles Davis was living in Detroit you know Detroit is where Miles Davis came and straightened himself up
No. I played with Miles there, but it wasn’t that long. Positively. I think I might have been the first pianist to play “Solar.”
If you listen to Monk, you will not hear Monk play “Round Midnight” as slow as Miles Davis played it. I don’t know why Miles Davis played it that slow
Every mention
33 moments in the recordings, 16 of them Barry speaking. Each says who is talking.
Believe: a talk to musicians
- 9:49
Does not believe Miles Davis is the greatest thing; thinks they corrupted the music.
- 10:20
People believe in Miles so strongly that some walk out when he says this.
- 46:16
Doubts a claim about Miles’s playing; Miles was lucky to play with Bird, where some of his best playing is.
- 47:25
Miles fell for Ahmad Jamal, so Red Garland’s chords went high; mocks ‘Someday My Prince’.
- 46:50
Paul Chambers never took a solo as good with Miles as on a newly issued record.
- 1:10
Jam-session players think jazz means Miles, Coltrane, Shorter: modal music. Caption garbles the names.
- 47:57
Recalls Miles’s first wish in the Baroness’s ‘three wishes’ collection; caption partly garbled.
Detroit Jazz: Ancient to the Future
- 32:32
Played at the Bluebird while Miles lived in Detroit, where Miles straightened himself out.
- 24:46
Someone else
A Detroit musician recalls Charlie Parker coming to town with Miles Davis, and skipping school.
- 48:48
Someone else
A later Detroit musician says Coltrane and Miles Davis opened up his thinking.
- 2:12
Someone else
A spoken-word opening lists Miles Davis among the great names of Black music.
- 54:37
Someone else
A musician names Miles Davis in the line of tradition he follows.
Ep.1 | Everything no one has ever told you about jazz | Barry Harris
- 0:06
Won’t let anyone, not even Coltrane, Miles or Herbie Hancock, stray him from Bird.
Jazz schools and the basics
Barry Harris2 2
- 16:34
The same speech excerpt in a workshop film: people think Miles Davis and others are jazz.
‘I am jazz’, set to animation
- 1:14
The ‘greatest thing in the world’ remark again; caption keeps only ‘Davis’.
The 2016 workshop, part 3: Monk’s tunes, not his style
- 30:59
Says Cannonball and (apparently) Miles’s crowd took over; caption reads ‘miles of them’.
Interview: Detroit and after
- 2:22
Points to Miles Davis’s autobiography for its mention of a Detroit trumpet player.
Master Class de Barry Harris en 2009
- ¶3
French voice-over: after Bird died, even Miles Davis did not really understand what Bird represented.
Ep. 20 | Charles McPherson: Meeting Charlie Parker, Studying with Barry Harris, and the Art of Bebop
- 8:28
Someone else
Charles McPherson: Miles stayed in Detroit about two years in the early 1950s, when Barry played locally.
- 18:33
Someone else
McPherson: Miles was a bebop player who played with Parker; the modes he popularised came from bebop.
- 1:10:42
Someone else
McPherson agrees that Miles and Trane come from Bird but the music got watered down.
- 1:09:01
Interviewer
Host says Berklee puts heavy emphasis on Keith Jarrett, Chick Corea and Miles Davis.
- 1:10:09
Interviewer
Host finds newer players like Miles only touch what Bird, Bud and Dizzy had.
The Spirit of Bebop
- 25:44
Someone else
Documentary narrator: visiting stars such as Miles Davis and Dexter Gordon used Barry in Detroit.
12-15-18 “Mr. Barry Harris aka The Man Who Walks on Notes” - Star Eyes
- 2:39
Someone else
Announcer: at the Bluebird and the Rouge Barry backed travelling soloists such as Miles Davis.
Artists House Master Class Barry Harris - Introduction by Gary Giddins
ManagersPro.com “Barry Harris talks about as a mentor to developing pianists.”
Interview: tap dance and bebop
In the interviews and notes
When Panken reads him a liner note crediting him with a three-month stint with Miles at the Bluebird, Barry says no: he played with Miles there, but not for that long. He adds that he may have been the first pianist to play ‘Solar’.
Barry Harris on WKCR-FM ¶179Barry Harris on WKCR-FM ¶181Barry Harris on WKCR-FM ¶215Barry Harris on WKCR-FM ¶216
Barry calls the split between jazz and dancing the biggest drag that happened to his generation. Monk’s ‘Round Midnight’ keeps a danceable tempo; Barry cannot see why Miles played it so slowly, since he was plainly not thinking of dancers.
Tommy Flanagan says he played at the Bluebird with Miles for about two months. When Panken suggests a liner note credited Barry with Flanagan’s three-month Miles gig, Flanagan says Barry did not do it in Detroit and agrees it must have been him.
Ted Panken (interviewer); Tommy Flanagan, Tommy Flanagan ¶36Ted Panken (interviewer); Tommy Flanagan, Tommy Flanagan ¶39Ted Panken (interviewer); Tommy Flanagan, Tommy Flanagan ¶40Ted Panken (interviewer); Tommy Flanagan, Tommy Flanagan ¶41Ted Panken (interviewer); Tommy Flanagan, Tommy Flanagan ¶42
Charles McPherson met Barry when Miles Davis was living in Detroit and working at the Bluebird. Barry heard the teenagers sit in and told them they needed to learn theory and harmony, and so they started coming to his house.
Ted Panken (interviewer); Tommy Flanagan, Tommy Flanagan ¶188Ted Panken (interviewer); Tommy Flanagan, Tommy Flanagan ¶190
McPherson recalls that after Miles had left Detroit and formed his band with Coltrane and Cannonball, Coltrane came to town with Miles and spent time at Barry’s house, where travelling musicians knew something was always happening.
Ted Panken (interviewer); Tommy Flanagan, Tommy Flanagan ¶200
A forum member who spoke with Barry weekly asked why he was so hard on Herbie Hancock and Miles. Barry said he hated them because they had deserted the music, which the poster glosses as that of the 1940s to early 1960s, and would not be moved.
jazzguitar.be members (usernames kept per post), Tom Jobim - Wave Analysis using Barry Harris Method ¶484jazzguitar.be members (usernames kept per post), Tom Jobim - Wave Analysis using Barry Harris Method ¶485jazzguitar.be members (usernames kept per post), Tom Jobim - Wave Analysis using Barry Harris Method ¶486jazzguitar.be members (usernames kept per post), Tom Jobim - Wave Analysis using Barry Harris Method ¶488jazzguitar.be members (usernames kept per post), Tom Jobim - Wave Analysis using Barry Harris Method ¶490
De Lima transcribes Barry’s Almeria speech, in which Barry says people take Miles Davis, Coltrane, Wayne Shorter and Herbie Hancock for jazz, and files it under Barry’s criticism of the newer generation of players.
Brian Jude de Lima, Reanimating Dissonance: Cultivating the Antecedents of Barry Harris’ Concept of Movement as a Multidimensional Pedagogical Tool for Ontario Post-Secondary Jazz Curricula ¶908Brian Jude de Lima, Reanimating Dissonance: Cultivating the Antecedents of Barry Harris’ Concept of Movement as a Multidimensional Pedagogical Tool for Ontario Post-Secondary Jazz Curricula ¶909
Stryker writes that Barry led the resident trio at Detroit’s Blue Bird Inn and accompanied the star players who came through, Miles Davis among them.
Recordings that name them
Barry’s performances and records in the archive that credit or name them.
- Barry Harris2 2Almería, 2014, 18 min YouTube
- 12-15-18 “Mr. Barry Harris aka The Man Who Walks on Notes” - Star Eyes2018, 15 min YouTube
- Kenny Dorham & Barry Harris - 1964 - New York - 04 - ‘Round Midnight2016, 8 min YouTube
- Kenny Dorham & Barry Harris - 1964 - New York - 02 - Confirmation2016, 7 min YouTube
- Kenny Dorham & Barry Harris - 1964 - New York - 03 - Ma, He’s Making Eyes at Me2016, 6 min YouTube
- Kenny Dorham & Barry Harris - 1964 - New York - 05 - The Theme2016, 4 min YouTube
Method ideas nearby
Ideas of the method taught in the classes where they come up, with how many mentions fall in each.
- 11.1Two hands together8
- 1.4Triplets and thinking in six7
- 11.2Keep the left hand low and make it interesting7
- 12.2Know the song; learn many songs; find your key7
- 2.2The two whole-tone scales (‘man and woman’)7
- 2.3The three diminished seventh chords (‘the children’)7
- 8.3Four dominants from every diminished chord7
- 8.6The diminished scale as diminished chord + four dominant roots7