Episode #102 | 5.17.22
Miles Davis Pt 2: Mountains of Pills, Bitches Brew, and the Reinvention of the Original Motherf#%*er
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In this episode
When it came to music, Miles Davis wasn’t about no safe, tired yesterday bullsh*t. After kicking his heroin addiction, he traded bespoke suits for fringe jackets and spearheaded an experimental blur of jazz and rock, eclipsing his contemporaries with a complete reinvention of himself. But the second act of Miles’ life came fraught with failures and new fixes, including a wrecked Lambo, two broken legs, and a mountain of coke and pills so massive that Miles almost never made it down the other side. This episode contains themes that may be disturbing to some listeners and includes descriptions of domestic violence.
Sources
American Masters: Miles Davis – Birth of the Cool (2019, dir. Stanley Nelson)
Miles Ahead (2015, dir. Don Cheadle)
The Two Sides of Miles Davis (Rolling Stone)
When Miles Davis crashed his Lamborghini, I was there (Road and Track)
Miles Davis beat his wives and made beautiful music (AV Club)
Davis arrest studied (New York Times)
Even Fame Could Not Protect Miles Davis from Police Violence (American Masters)
Miles Davis and John Coltrane: Yin and Yang (Jazzwise)
Grappling with the cool and rage of Miles Davis (New York Times)
Miles Davis: Our 1985 Interview (Spin)
Disgraceland is a podcast about musicians getting away with murder and behaving very badly. It melds music history, true crime and transgressive fiction. Disgraceland is not journalism. Disgraceland is entertainment. Entertainment inspired by true events. However, certain scenes, characters and names are sometimes fictionalized for dramatic purposes.
Music
Hosted, written, and scored by Jake Brennan.
Copy editing by Pat Healy.
Mixed and Engineered by Matt Beaudoin.
Disgraceland theme song, "Crenshaw Space Boogie" written and produced by Jake Brennan. Performed by Jake Brennan, Bryce Kanzer, Jay Cannava and Evan Kenney. Mixed and engineered by Adam Taylor.
*illustrations by Avi Spivak @avispivak