Happy Birthday, Miles

If Miles Davis were still with us, he would be eighty-nine years old today. Of course, Miles is still as close as your CD player, on discs reaching from his early days as a sideman with Charlie Parker through the classic sessions with Gil Evans and his big hit--"Kind of Blue"--to his fusion years.

A most interesting man on various levels--his sense of fashion, for example. Like Fred Astaire, who sometimes wore a necktie as a belt, Miles invented his own style. He liked to box, which isn't surprising; what is surprising is that he rode horses on an Arkansas ranch his family owned. (He grew up in East St. Louis, where an early teacher, before he set off for Juilliard and 52nd street, was Clark Terry.)

Miles played Vancouver twice, first at Howie Bateman's Inquisition Coffee House. He drove up from San Francisco, and had Howie meet him at the border to guide him in. It would have been fine to have seen Howie's Morris Minor leading Miles's Maserati.

The second time he played Vancouver was during Expo '86. His band was cooking on the Queen Elizabeth Theatre stage when Wynton Marsalis, carrying his horn, thought he would join in. Miles requested that Wynton please leave the stage, although those may not have been his exact words.

Final favorite Miles Davis story: Riding to Kennedy Centre to receive an award, he found himself sharing the stretch limo with another award recipient and that person's wife, who smiled sweetly and said,"Your mammy must be very proud." Miles's response is unrecorded, but we believe the poor lady said not another word that night.