https://pitchfork.com/the...aborators/

I always tell my jazz snob friends when they smirk at my admiration of Prince "hey if Miles Davis dug his music you can put down your snobbery for a listen too" lol

Cool little read and thanks for sharing. It's kinda' funny to hear how M.Davis was trying to hang with Prince at the time! I guess he heard things in that music that were compelling for him to explore in his own vein--I guess it was the James Brown funky thing that really roped his yoke!

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BTW, today at the bottom of the article was a link to the official announcement of the Sign O' the Times Super Deluxe Remaster.

I always thought Full Nelson had to be a Prince track. So no direct Prince involvement, but nice to read Marcus Miller's take on it!

You only have to read Miles's Autobiography for plenty of evidences of his Prince-obsession.

"The most mentioned people in the Miles Davis Autobiography"

https://www.reddit.com/r/...les_davis/

Prince had his funky style in the rhythm along the JB and Sly vein which Miles was already into, and Prince being a young virtuoso mixing various styles in his works I guess were a magnet, just like these people in the OP's featured article describe.

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I saw that SOTT concert video, too. It looked and sounded to me like Miles was having a hard time trying to slip into the band's groove and add something to it. The band was playing like a top-notch machine but Miles couldn't get a solo or anything going. And once Miles tried to cue the band, Prince was, like, NOPE that's my band!

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So, moment squashed, and now it is accessible for posterity in the Sign O' the Times SD remaster dvd.

It might be interesting to hear MD and P noodling around during their studio jam just to hear what they tried to do in the same room.

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TheGloved1 said:

I find their friendship very fascinating and at once puzzling. I've seen a youtube upload of the 1987 new years eve performance where Prince appeared to be egging Miles on throughout the performance. To my eyes at least, it was antagonistic to a degree. So much so, now that the performance is being officially released on Sign O The Times Deluxe set I felt a sense of dread. Maybe I'm looking in to it to much, but the performance is a disappointing meeting of the minds. Its good to read they had great respect for one another though. Im looking forward to hearing Can I Play With U, which I've resisted listening to via boots for some time now.

TheGloved1 said:

I find their friendship very fascinating and at once puzzling. I've seen a youtube upload of the 1987 new years eve performance where Prince appeared to be egging Miles on throughout the performance. To my eyes at least, it was antagonistic to a degree. So much so, now that the performance is being officially released on Sign O The Times Deluxe set I felt a sense of dread. Maybe I'm looking in to it to much, but the performance is a disappointing meeting of the minds. Its good to read they had great respect for one another though. Im looking forward to hearing Can I Play With U, which I've resisted listening to via boots for some time now.

In the Eric Leeds interview he did in 2017 where he was actually asked by one of the interviewers about Prince egging Miles on, Eric if I remember correctly said he wasn't egging Miles on but rather he knew Miles could adapt to the changes and variations the band would do so Prince threw a bunch of stuff at him musically

TheGloved1 said:

I find their friendship very fascinating and at once puzzling. I've seen a youtube upload of the 1987 new years eve performance where Prince appeared to be egging Miles on throughout the performance. To my eyes at least, it was antagonistic to a degree. So much so, now that the performance is being officially released on Sign O The Times Deluxe set I felt a sense of dread. Maybe I'm looking in to it to much, but the performance is a disappointing meeting of the minds. Its good to read they had great respect for one another though. Im looking forward to hearing Can I Play With U, which I've resisted listening to via boots for some time now.

not sure if there was a friendship. Seemed more that they were mutually interested and mystified by eachother and could not grab real momentum to get past that point.

P did say (in that 1985 Rolling Stone interview) that Miles came to his house once. He said when he walked past the piano he started playing these beautiful chord passages which surprised P...He also said he went to Miles' house once where Miles answered the door naked. He said; "When you see him naked, it'll make you not want to eat for a week"....So they probably had their moments where they talked shop in private.

interestingly, according to the mayan calendar, which has 260 astrological signs, Prince and Miles Davis have the same sign ("12 rain"). additionally, they are both gemini in western astrology and their dog and tiger years are in a triangle of affinity in the chinese calendar. kindred souls.

[Edited 7/5/20 5:17am]

SPYZFAN1 said:

P did say (in that 1985 Rolling Stone interview) that Miles came to his house once. He said when he walked past the piano he started playing these beautiful chord passages which surprised P...He also said he went to Miles' house once where Miles answered the door naked. He said; "When you see him naked, it'll make you not want to eat for a week"....So they probably had their moments where they talked shop in private.

lol

Cool article - Prince was the real deal, Miles could see that. I think the "Rubberband" sessions were clearly influenced by Prince but a shame he wasnt there - at that point Miles & Prince could have done something very special imo. Loved what they ended up doing later though and that these two titans had such respect for each other.

ForceofNature said: