Analytical Blog - Past life and now
Essential question June 26th: How does ones past life effect who they are as a person?
After reading 140 pages of my book, I have begun to notice a common thread between all of Miles' actions as a musician and a person. A lot of the people that he has spent his time with in New York came from either very poor environments, or very racist environments. Miles and some of his Julliard friends have not come from this environment. Miles' father was a very wealthy black doctor in the town of St Louis. In addition, Miles' father was a very pro black activist who influenced Miles to think very differently about the ways that black people should be treated in a society. Miles was also well respected in the area that he grew up in due to his fathers profession. This taught miles the importance of respect and professionalism.
When looking at the details of his career spent in New York, it is easy to see how these aspects of his childhood carried through. In my past blog, I shared a quotation that was about the importance of knowledge and freedoms in relation to using the public music libraries in NY in order to gain significant knowledge of music. Miles talked about the other musicians who did not want to use these resources as they were seen as primarily "white" and would ruin their playing using "white people things". This shows the differences in Miles and the rest. Coming from a background with knowledge on racism and race in general, Miles understood the importance of knowledge and that it is ignorance that makes one scared of obtaining knowledge. He calls the fear of knowledge a Ghetto Mentality as it is black people limiting themselves because they feel as though thats how it should be. Thanks to his past, Miles does not think this way. Instead he looks ahead and tries new things. I personally believe this is why Miles' career outlasted all the rest of the 52nd street jazz musicians career.
Another area that Miles shows his past is when living in LA. Miles and jazz drummer Max Roach entered a bar and sat down at a family style table for some drinks. It was at this time, four white guys walked in and sat across from them. Miles notes that he ignored them because they gave the appearance of racists and most likely where due to the huge racial issues happening in LA at the time. One of the men then asked the two of them what they did. Miles made note to ignore them as he knew what type of people they were. Max Roach on the other hand answered in a very expressive style which then provoked the four men. Miles then upturned the table and marched the two of them out quickly and explained to Roach that they were not in NY anymore and that those men could have put them in serious danger. This clearly shows past experiences effects on who someone is. When Miles was much younger, in Alton Illinois, he was chased up a street by a man with a shotgun shouting racial slurs at Miles. This, among many other tense moments involving race taught Miles about being cautious in a world full of racists during the 40s and 50s. Roach on the other hand grew up in a black neighborhood in NY where he had not experienced anything of the sort. Due to this, he responded completely differently to the situation. This different response shows how past experience effects who someone is.
Here is a recording of Miles and Max called Sippin' at Bells. Bells was a bar that a lot of the musicians use to go to to talk about music and have a few drinks at.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lvn7vhMcfcU
After reading 140 pages of my book, I have begun to notice a common thread between all of Miles' actions as a musician and a person. A lot of the people that he has spent his time with in New York came from either very poor environments, or very racist environments. Miles and some of his Julliard friends have not come from this environment. Miles' father was a very wealthy black doctor in the town of St Louis. In addition, Miles' father was a very pro black activist who influenced Miles to think very differently about the ways that black people should be treated in a society. Miles was also well respected in the area that he grew up in due to his fathers profession. This taught miles the importance of respect and professionalism.
When looking at the details of his career spent in New York, it is easy to see how these aspects of his childhood carried through. In my past blog, I shared a quotation that was about the importance of knowledge and freedoms in relation to using the public music libraries in NY in order to gain significant knowledge of music. Miles talked about the other musicians who did not want to use these resources as they were seen as primarily "white" and would ruin their playing using "white people things". This shows the differences in Miles and the rest. Coming from a background with knowledge on racism and race in general, Miles understood the importance of knowledge and that it is ignorance that makes one scared of obtaining knowledge. He calls the fear of knowledge a Ghetto Mentality as it is black people limiting themselves because they feel as though thats how it should be. Thanks to his past, Miles does not think this way. Instead he looks ahead and tries new things. I personally believe this is why Miles' career outlasted all the rest of the 52nd street jazz musicians career.
Another area that Miles shows his past is when living in LA. Miles and jazz drummer Max Roach entered a bar and sat down at a family style table for some drinks. It was at this time, four white guys walked in and sat across from them. Miles notes that he ignored them because they gave the appearance of racists and most likely where due to the huge racial issues happening in LA at the time. One of the men then asked the two of them what they did. Miles made note to ignore them as he knew what type of people they were. Max Roach on the other hand answered in a very expressive style which then provoked the four men. Miles then upturned the table and marched the two of them out quickly and explained to Roach that they were not in NY anymore and that those men could have put them in serious danger. This clearly shows past experiences effects on who someone is. When Miles was much younger, in Alton Illinois, he was chased up a street by a man with a shotgun shouting racial slurs at Miles. This, among many other tense moments involving race taught Miles about being cautious in a world full of racists during the 40s and 50s. Roach on the other hand grew up in a black neighborhood in NY where he had not experienced anything of the sort. Due to this, he responded completely differently to the situation. This different response shows how past experience effects who someone is.
Here is a recording of Miles and Max called Sippin' at Bells. Bells was a bar that a lot of the musicians use to go to to talk about music and have a few drinks at.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lvn7vhMcfcU
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