I got the chance to attend the release (and very crowded) party hosted by Davis’ family, as Cheryl Davis, Erin Davis (respectively Miles Davis’ daughter and son) and Vince Wilburn, Jr. (Davis’ nephew) were in attendance. It’s not really unusual for musicians to become visual artists (John Lennon, Charlie Parker, Joni Mitchell and many others come to mind) and I could totally see how this innovative musician, who has explored the limits of creativity in music, got to make these large and colorful abstract paintings, partially reminiscent of Picasso or other abstractionist, partially inspired by African art and other tribal connections. Some of Miles Davis’ work was in sight and I looked a bit through the pages of the beautiful book whose foreword was written by Quincy Jones. There were also several smaller scale drawings, looking like abstract dancing female silhouettes. I am certainly no modern art critic, and I can’t say I was blown away by what I saw, but Davis’ artwork has been recently featured in Paris, Brazil and Montreal to outstanding acclaim, and ‘Miles Davis: The Collected Artwork’ has been described as ‘a comprehensive collection of the musician’s artwork’, ‘a treasure for art lovers and music aficionados alike, who will appreciate this extraordinary window on the life of a creative genius’.
This is how Miles Davis was describing his approach to painting: ‘The color. I get the color first. Then all the rest I improvise. Lines and circles. Maybe I’ll want to wiggle the lines, maybe I’ll draw a breast and an eye. I work from the subconscious, like music. It has to do something to me. I couldn’t write a piece of music that doesn’t make me tap my foot or make me feel something inside. Once the form is there, it’s like an arrangement with openings for solos. It’s a matter of balance. You can’t have too much black. Like you can’t have too much saxophone. Supposing there’s a composition and the saxophone player can’t get the style. You have to get another guy to fit in there. Like another color. Don’t force it.’
Of course, the spectacle was also among the crowd, as a lot of celebrities and musicians showed up for the occasion. I am far from being good at recognizing celebs, but each face looked familiar to me! I recognized (with some help!) comedian Don Barris, the warm-up comic for Jimmy Kimmel Live, Metallica’s Robert Trujillo greeting Darryl Jones (bass player for the Rolling Stones since Bill Wyman’s retirement), Quiet Riot’s Frankie Banali, Lucinda Williams, KING (the adorable trio and Prince’s protégés), Don Was, Mark Bell (Blakkat) of Shaboom Records, Don Cheadle (whom I unfortunately failed to take a picture of!), Hip Hop group the Pharcyde, ,… and probably many more!
They were making t-shirts outside using some of Davis’ doodles of female silhouettes and were apparently selling lots of them. ‘A painting is music you can see, and music is a painting you can hear’, said Davis and he obviously was a man who saw the correspondence between both art expressions.
