Analytical blog
Essential Question: How does knowing about a musicians life story effect how one listens to their music.
I came across this question after getting into Stevie Ray Vaughan a few years ago. After hearing him for the first time, I liked his music quite a lot. Following that, I began to read about his life all over the Internet. Stevie had over come drug addiction and begun to help others do the same before dying in a helicopter crash that was meant for Eric Clapton. This story blew my mind. After this, I was totally absorbed into Stevie and his playing. Reading about these three musicians made this question reappear for me. I was fascinated to read about Miles' reactions to when he learnt about the lives of Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie. After being a fan of their music all of his life, he finally got the chance to meet them and learn about who they were and what they were about.
The meeting of Miles and Charlie Parker is what interested me the most. Before knowing Parker, Miles was a huge fan of his music. Miles spent the first half of the book just talking about how great Charlie Parkers playing was. After meeting Parker, Miles' mood towards his music changed. Miles learnt about Parkers massive drug addiction, and experienced first hand his selfish side. Miles would go gig after gig with parker resulting in absolutely no pay. Miles quickly fell out of love with Parker and his music because of this. The exact opposite happened when Miles met Dizzy. Dizzy showed Miles a lot of really important things when it came to music. The most important was helping Miles find his own voice as a trumpeter. This resulted in Miles having a lot more respect for Dizzy and his music.
I can relate to this after reading about the lives of these three great musicians. Especially Miles' story. Before reading Miles' story, I was a fan of his music, but not enough to say that he was my favorite musician. Reading this book gave me a huge amount of respect for Miles and the music that he was playing. It also brought me to listen to some different music too. Miles talked about his playing on Charlie Parkers Donna Lee and Ellington's Round' Midnight. This blew my mind as it gave me the opportunity to hear Miles play in a different scenario than I was use too. Most important, I knew the story behind him playing on these songs. The one that gave me the most amount of respect for Miles was when he gigged with Ellington and had to play the head of Round' Midnight. Miles stated that he played that song every night, yet each night Ellington told Miles that he had played it wrong. It was not until Miles got mad and played the melody the way that he wanted to play it, that Ellington told him he had done it correctly. This resulted in the realization of Miles and the power of his own voice as a musician. Now when ever I hear that song, both from Ellington with Miles featured, or Miles' own recording, I think of this story. It adds a significant amount to the listening experience.
Here is bird and miles when miles was about 19
I came across this question after getting into Stevie Ray Vaughan a few years ago. After hearing him for the first time, I liked his music quite a lot. Following that, I began to read about his life all over the Internet. Stevie had over come drug addiction and begun to help others do the same before dying in a helicopter crash that was meant for Eric Clapton. This story blew my mind. After this, I was totally absorbed into Stevie and his playing. Reading about these three musicians made this question reappear for me. I was fascinated to read about Miles' reactions to when he learnt about the lives of Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie. After being a fan of their music all of his life, he finally got the chance to meet them and learn about who they were and what they were about.
The meeting of Miles and Charlie Parker is what interested me the most. Before knowing Parker, Miles was a huge fan of his music. Miles spent the first half of the book just talking about how great Charlie Parkers playing was. After meeting Parker, Miles' mood towards his music changed. Miles learnt about Parkers massive drug addiction, and experienced first hand his selfish side. Miles would go gig after gig with parker resulting in absolutely no pay. Miles quickly fell out of love with Parker and his music because of this. The exact opposite happened when Miles met Dizzy. Dizzy showed Miles a lot of really important things when it came to music. The most important was helping Miles find his own voice as a trumpeter. This resulted in Miles having a lot more respect for Dizzy and his music.
I can relate to this after reading about the lives of these three great musicians. Especially Miles' story. Before reading Miles' story, I was a fan of his music, but not enough to say that he was my favorite musician. Reading this book gave me a huge amount of respect for Miles and the music that he was playing. It also brought me to listen to some different music too. Miles talked about his playing on Charlie Parkers Donna Lee and Ellington's Round' Midnight. This blew my mind as it gave me the opportunity to hear Miles play in a different scenario than I was use too. Most important, I knew the story behind him playing on these songs. The one that gave me the most amount of respect for Miles was when he gigged with Ellington and had to play the head of Round' Midnight. Miles stated that he played that song every night, yet each night Ellington told Miles that he had played it wrong. It was not until Miles got mad and played the melody the way that he wanted to play it, that Ellington told him he had done it correctly. This resulted in the realization of Miles and the power of his own voice as a musician. Now when ever I hear that song, both from Ellington with Miles featured, or Miles' own recording, I think of this story. It adds a significant amount to the listening experience.
Here is bird and miles when miles was about 19
How on earth is a helicopter crash meant for Eric Clapton? I am just a little confused.
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