Miles Davis

“Do not fear mistakes. There are none.” Miles Davis It was difficult to shoot him live. He kept his head down and often turned his back on the audience. This was the best frame of the night... read more - every muscle in his body is playing that note.

When I was living in New York, a local bar advertised for paintings to hang there. I offered my pictures, which were put up immediately and hung for several weeks. I remember a customer at the bar remarking... read more I had “balls” to get up so close. Bad at taking compliments - especially based on a falsity - I confessed to him I had used a long lens (300mm) and was actually far away in the pit below. I took this photo at Newport, long before the days when Miles would arrogantly turn his back on the audience to play. Years later at the Nice Jazz Festival, I had to clamber over equipment backstage to get a shot of his face. Here Miles is nursing a sore lip, a feeling most trumpet players will recognise and identify with.

Miles Davis photographed with John Coltrane, Jullian "Cannonball Adderley, and Bill Evans. during the recording sessions for 'Kind of Blue' at Columbia's 30th Street Studio in New York.

Miles Davis during the recording sessions for 'Kind of Blue' at Columbia's 30th Street Studio.