Miles Davis: Birth of the Cool (2019)

 ROTTEN TOMATOES: 94%

IMDB: 7.3 

Miles Davis: Birth of the Cool (2019) is the new documentary on one of the most popular and ground-breaking musicians of all-time.

Taking its title from one of Davis's most acclaimed albums, the documentary is directed by Emmy Award-winner Stanley Nelson (Freedom Riders and The Murder of Emmett Till), the film faced the enormous challenge of conveying aspects about Miles Davis’s life that haven’t been done before.

How do you make a documentary on someone that has been studied and explored in different mediums over so many years? How do you tell something new?

Well, in Nelson’s effort lies the answer.

The documentary isn’t ground-breaking as its subject, but it does offer some new perspective and access to footage that jazz fans – and in particular Miles’s fan-base – will come to greatly appreciate.

And its for those fans that the documentary really resonates the most. It’s not a deep insightful film on his life for viewers coming in fresh, but instead, it offers you short glimpses into parts of is life and career, making the best of new archive footage, as well as access to some of Davis’s personal manuscripts, voiced by actor Carl Lumbly “a la Miles style”.

We hear from people from all walks of Miles’s life. Childhood friends, musicians who have shared stage and studio and his family.

Naturally, I felt I was gravitating more towards the musicians…

Wayne Shorter, Jimmy Cobbs, Ron Carter and Herbie Hancock (to name a few)…

… but its Miles’s first wife, Francis Taylor, that really steals the show.

Bubbly and filled with confidence, Francis Taylor - who passed away nearly a year ago - really pushes the documentary’s tempo. Her sheer charisma and appealing personality help to bring to life some truly interesting stories.. some entertaining, others tragic.

Even when Taylor talks about some her darkest times near a man who was consumed by the effects of jealously, his ego and drug abuse… even then, you can feel how much she still loved him.

This and much more make for a quick – and sometimes rushed - two hour journey through Davis's different transformative phases, but the “nuggets” I came out with are magnificent.

Here’s an example of personal relevance:

At one point we hear a part of Miles’s manuscripts talking about his trip to Paris with the aim to expand his creative musical thinking. Davis would later come back to the States with a reinvigorated and more sentimental approach to his music, going on to write ballads. In this section, the narration and sit-down interviews are undergoing with It Never Entered My Mind being played in the background.  

This is a track of huge importance to me… Most likely my favorite Miles Davis song and one of the few I remember where I was, how I came across it and how it made me feel.

Roughly three years ago, I was in my Mom’s car which had an old K7 player and in it an old mix-tape. I heard the pound of the first piano notes followed by Miles’s trumpet. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing!

As a jazz lover and a Miles fan, how did I only now come across this? I was shook. I was in love. I was raw. For a moment, it felt like I wasn’t there driving the car, but rather lost somewhere on those turbulent notes. It was a sensational experience for me, one that will always make me think of my Mom.

The experience only got better, as the following track was his cover of Disney classic Someday My Prince Will Come which I was also hearing for the first time.

Long story short, this documentary gave me really interesting insight into those two tracks… stuff that I had never heard before.

I’ve discovered much more throughout, leaving the cinema feeling that I had learned quite a bit.

The documentary does scrape the barrel a little bit, stretching the material as much as possible to avoid the “talking-head” taking custody of a lot of the air-time, something that critics have pointed out.

“So what”? (See what I did there?)

As a viewer who is into jazz, I always felt gripped by an interesting line-up of people who had something to say, particularly the ones who had been intimate – in one way or another - with Miles Davis.

As much as Miles Davis: Birth of the Cool won't change your life, it can still be appealing for anyone, regardless of your interest in jazz and how much you think you know Miles Davis.

So go watch it… enjoy the intimate access, the testimonials and most of all… enjoy the music!

Oh, and on that note, good luck trying to keep yourself from tapping your foot, swigging your arm, scatting or just screeching  somehow with sounds of pure joy and delight. That was my biggest battle throughout. 

Miles Davis: Birth of the Cool (Soundtrack on Spotify)
https://spoti.fi/2NBjvxA