Miles Davis explained how “prejudice” fuelled his music
When it comes to music as a tool for social protest and revolution, most people will likely think about abrasive styles of punk or metal. In reality, though, the world of jazz has produced some of the most important protest tracks of all time. From Billie Holiday’s ‘Strange Fruit’ to the early work of Nina Simone, jazz has always been a vehicle for artists – particularly Black artists – to voice their anger at the discrimination and prejudice they face. Throughout the history of jazz, there are few figures as revolutionary or essential as Miles Davis.
Perhaps the greatest jazz trumpeter of all time, Davis enjoyed a long and illustrious career, storied by some of the most radical and excellent jazz records ever produced. One of the things that is so appealing about Davis, other than his obvious musical mastery, is how the trumpeter adapted his sound over the years. From the likes of 1953’s Blue Period to the free jazz improvisation of the early 1960s and the off-the-wall psychedelia of Bitches Brew, Davies never seemed to stay in one place.
Unsurprisingly, for a prominent Black musician operating at a time of widespread segregation and racist attitudes in his home nation, Miles Davis had to field a lot of questions about race during his career. For the most part, the jazz master put across his defiant stance exclusively through his music. However, instrumental protest tracks are a lot easier to misinterpret than something like Nina Simone’s ‘Mississippi Goddam’ or ‘What’s Going On’ by Marvin Gaye. As such, Davis was occasionally required to put his views into words.
Within the unlikely setting of Playboy magazine, Davis spoke about the motivation behind his music and how deeply ingrained racist attitudes have affected his work. Given the segregation of the period, Davis affirmed that he had not grown up around white people, but he could still see disparities in how he was treated versus white children.
“I didn’t grow up with any, not as friends, to speak of,” Davis shared, “But I went to school with some.”
It was in high school that Davis was set on a path towards musical greatness, though the origins of that inspiration were mainly rooted in spite. “I was the best in the music class on the trumpet,” he explained, “I knew it, and all the rest knew it — but all the contest first prizes went to the boys with blue eyes.” The idea of anybody beating Miles Davis in a music competition is frankly ridiculous, but it does go to show just how inherent racist attitudes were in virtually every aspect of American society at the time.
“It made me so mad,” remembered Davis, “I made up my mind to outdo anybody white on my horn”. If that was his aim, then Davis definitely achieved it. Not only did the jazz master eclipse every white musician on the horn, but potentially, he eclipsed every other trumpeter regardless of race.
“If I hadn’t met that prejudice,” he said, “I probably wouldn’t have had as much drive in my work. I have thought about that a lot. I have thought that prejudice and curiosity have been responsible for what I have done in music.”
These feelings of anger over the discrimination in society undoubtedly inspired a wealth of young Black musicians to greatness, but Davis is among the most prominent examples of this. Although his work rarely contained vocal performances, works like Bitches Brew remain some of the most prominent examples of protest records, spurred on by the discrimination Miles Davis was forced to endure throughout his life and career.
