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Miles & Me: Miles Davis, the man, the musician, and his friendship with the journalist and poet Quincy Troupe
Soon to be a major motion picture from the producers of Fences and The Hurricane
"Brilliant, poetic, provocative, Quincy Troupe's Miles & Me reveals the man behind the dark glasses and legend."—Ishmael Reed
Poet, activist, and journalist Quincy Troupe's candid account of his friendship with Miles Davis is a revealing portrait of a great musician and an engrossing chronicle of the author's own artistic and personal growth. Miles & Me describes in intimate detail the sometimes harrowing processes of Davis's spectacular creativity and the joys and travails Davis's passionate and contradictory temperament posed to the two men's friendship. Miles & Me shows how Davis, both as an artist and as a black man, influenced Troupe and whole generations of Americans while forever changing the face of jazz.
With a new introduction by film producer Rudy Langlais, an original photo essay of Miles and Quincy together by Jon Stevens, and a new Q&A with Quincy Troupe about how—and why—he came to write Miles & Me.
"Brilliant, poetic, provocative, Quincy Troupe's Miles & Me reveals the man behind the dark glasses and legend."—Ishmael Reed
Poet, activist, and journalist Quincy Troupe's candid account of his friendship with Miles Davis is a revealing portrait of a great musician and an engrossing chronicle of the author's own artistic and personal growth. Miles & Me describes in intimate detail the sometimes harrowing processes of Davis's spectacular creativity and the joys and travails Davis's passionate and contradictory temperament posed to the two men's friendship. Miles & Me shows how Davis, both as an artist and as a black man, influenced Troupe and whole generations of Americans while forever changing the face of jazz.
With a new introduction by film producer Rudy Langlais, an original photo essay of Miles and Quincy together by Jon Stevens, and a new Q&A with Quincy Troupe about how—and why—he came to write Miles & Me.
224 pages, Paperback
First published February 1, 2000
18 people are currently reading
207 people want to read
About the author
Quincy Troupe
48 books39 followersQuincy Thomas Troupe, Jr. is an American poet, editor, journalist and professor emeritus at the University of California, San Diego, in La Jolla, California. He is best known as the biographer of Miles Davis, the jazz musician.
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Displaying 1 - 29 of 29 reviews
January 12, 2019
Quincy Troupe mourns the death of his friend Miles Davis. He relates some of their time together and what his music meant to him at different stages of his life. While Troupe is a poet, this book is an elegy with more music interpretation than poetry.
Being from St. Louis, he first learned of Davis as a “local”. Davis played in the band of a first cousin, but Troupe first heard him on a juke box. The music was empowering. As a youth, it was something he could “get” that peers could not. He identified with its “cool”. Throughout his life, the music spoke to him. Knowing Miles, he appreciated how the music defined and represented his friend as an “unreconstructed” black man.
Miles is a difficult friend to have. He is always challenges and can erupt at any time. He can embarrass, for instance by dropping your friend from his band without notice. Troupe is in awe of him, not only the music he makes, but his persona.
Troupe tells how he wrote his friend's “autobiography”; how he reached for Miles’s voice and how Miles loved the result. There is information on the recordings and their cover art. You learn that Miles paints, likes expensive cars, was diabetic and lived in the present and future (avoiding any repeat of his work) but what really comes through is attitude.
I read the 2018 publication that ends with an interview of the author which repeats too many of the anecdotes of the book.
Being from St. Louis, he first learned of Davis as a “local”. Davis played in the band of a first cousin, but Troupe first heard him on a juke box. The music was empowering. As a youth, it was something he could “get” that peers could not. He identified with its “cool”. Throughout his life, the music spoke to him. Knowing Miles, he appreciated how the music defined and represented his friend as an “unreconstructed” black man.
Miles is a difficult friend to have. He is always challenges and can erupt at any time. He can embarrass, for instance by dropping your friend from his band without notice. Troupe is in awe of him, not only the music he makes, but his persona.
Troupe tells how he wrote his friend's “autobiography”; how he reached for Miles’s voice and how Miles loved the result. There is information on the recordings and their cover art. You learn that Miles paints, likes expensive cars, was diabetic and lived in the present and future (avoiding any repeat of his work) but what really comes through is attitude.
I read the 2018 publication that ends with an interview of the author which repeats too many of the anecdotes of the book.
October 23, 2016
Reheated off-cuts from Miles: The Autobiography together with some giddy gossip and lots of I-was-hanging-with-Miles stories fill up the first half of the book. The second half consists, in the main, of Troupe's pedestrian judgements of the main Miles recordings. Of course they're great but we don't need to be told that again and again. How about some critical distance? And not just of the music, but of the man. There is some tut-tutting about his attitude to women, but nothing about the way he used his position as a very successful African-American to merely replicate the tropes of the wealthy WASPs. How about using some of the wasted space to ask why he never defined a differentiated position for himself, one that was not about fast cars and Playboy. Troupe seems to have been in awe of the life, but what were its values? Women, drugs, a beachfront house on Malibu? Don't look to this ineptly written book for either critique or insight. It's like a celebrity magazine profile, breathless with awestruck befuddlement. Who cares? So what?
November 13, 2020
Miles' personality under a microscope, but not a very sensitive one. I learned something about the man, enough to make me glad I read the book. But the something learned is that Miles Davis was a human being, meaning there is more to him than his public persona as untouchable, or "bad mother...". While not exactly a revelation, the horn is humanized for our listening pleasure. The book is more about friendship than anything else, and that is Troupe's doing. Miles is now your friend, you go to his apartment to watch him paint, he puts on "Tutu" in your beat up Saab as you drive him around New York, harsh remarks and disputes are chalked up to Miles being Miles. In the end, it's not so much jazz legend Miles Davis that dies as it is Miles from around the corner who begrudgingly plays trumpet for your child son. Troupe is a poet, not a music critic, and it shows. To his credit, he does the unpopular thing of focusing more on Miles' later work. Unpopular, but perhaps preferable to someone salivating over "Kind of Blue" again. I liked the book, but my socks are on.
April 12, 2017
Perfecto anexo a la autobiografía escrita por el mismo autor.
Arroja algo más de información sobre la personalidad de Miles Davis, pero es ante todo un ensayo sobre cómo apareció en la vida del escritor Quincy Troupe antes de conocerle en persona y su posterior amistad; de cómo influyó en su vida y en la de miles de personas. También analiza por qué Miles Davis sigue siendo rechazado por los puristas del jazz, y debo decir que comparto todas las reflexiones que este hombre va dejando caer, ya no sobre el estilo de este inigualable músico, sino sobre otros músicos y estilos, gustos, arte, problemas raciales, política... Muy recomendable para los que amamos a Miles Davis en todas sus etapas.
Arroja algo más de información sobre la personalidad de Miles Davis, pero es ante todo un ensayo sobre cómo apareció en la vida del escritor Quincy Troupe antes de conocerle en persona y su posterior amistad; de cómo influyó en su vida y en la de miles de personas. También analiza por qué Miles Davis sigue siendo rechazado por los puristas del jazz, y debo decir que comparto todas las reflexiones que este hombre va dejando caer, ya no sobre el estilo de este inigualable músico, sino sobre otros músicos y estilos, gustos, arte, problemas raciales, política... Muy recomendable para los que amamos a Miles Davis en todas sus etapas.
December 15, 2007
Troupe also collaborated with Miles on the latter's autobiography, but this is a more behind-the-scenes, intimate portrait. Miles doesn't hold back - you have got to read what he says about McCoy Tyner's piano playing!
July 10, 2024
Bro repeated himself so much. Few cool anecdotes. I can’t believe breigh fr won’t eat this cookie rn
October 12, 2015
Miles and Me, by Quincy Troupe is a biography about Miles Davis, a well-known jazz composer and trumpet player from the 1940’s to the 1970s. Miles Davis whether we know it or not, has greatly influenced and changed music through his playing. The book follows Quincy Troupe, a journalist who meets, befriends, and ends up writing a book about Miles Davis life. Throughout the book, he gets Miles to slowly open up to him through stories about him for the book Quincy is writing. I think that this book was definitely effective in its job of informing me, the reader on who Miles really is. The book offers a new insight into who Miles is other than his music, the reader gets to uncover many different aspects about Miles that are shocking. For example Miles is actually a very moody person who can be mean one sec and be intensely playful in another. He is also not usually willing to talk to new people so meeting him can be scary with him being known to outburst at his fans. The issue of racism and the role it plays is also often discussed in the book. For example at the time, Miles fanbase was mixed but heavily in the black community and his music almost helped bring together people. Overall I think that the book was worth reading and enjoyable, I would definitely recommend this book to any Miles Davis fans or anyone who knows or wants to know about who he is.
October 29, 2007
For a poet, Troupe's writing suffers from a severe lack of poetry. The writing in this memoir/critical retrospective is, by and large, somewhere between sparse and clumsy. Troupe's language and constructions certainly lack the musicality, grace, and refinement of his subject matter. More importantly, Troupe's critical voice is an unsteady one. Davis, as Troupe makes clear from the outset, was one of the author's earliest heroes and remained so throughout this his life -- including through their collaboration on Davis' autobiography. Troupe's self-admitted hero worship and close friendship with Davis prevents him from offering much in the way of insightful musical critique. Troupe is more critical of Davis' personal shortcomings, although he is also quick to explain these away, too. He acknowledges Davis' misogyny and history of abuse of women but then qualifies his criticism by noting that he never personally witnessed Davis strike a woman. That Troupe celebrates Davis as an "unreconstructed black man" further undercuts any real critical reckoning with the complexities of Davis the artist vs. Davis the man. If you've read Pearl Cleage on Miles, "Miles and Me" is probably not what you're looking for.
May 20, 2020
Miles and Me. Quincy Troupe. 2000.
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I was inspired to read this one after watching the fantastic documentary of Miles Davis called ‘Birth of the Cool 😎’ on Netflix recently.
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Quincy Troupe is Miles’ official biographer and wrote ‘Miles, the Autobiography’ in 1989. ‘Miles and Me’ is is more of a personal account of his friendship with Miles while interviewing him for the biography.
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This was a decent read but it ultimately just made me want to read the full biography. Quincy only met Miles in the 80’s at the tail end of his life, so most of the info and anecdotes in this book are from that time. It does paint a picture of the good, the bad and the ugly side Miles’ personality but doesn’t really go too deep. I felt like there was a fair bit of filler and that it read a little too awestruck at times but I still enjoyed it. I thought the writing got better as it went along. It seems Miles was quite a hard man to strike up a close friendship with.
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3/5 ⭐️.
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#peterruysbookreviews .
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I was inspired to read this one after watching the fantastic documentary of Miles Davis called ‘Birth of the Cool 😎’ on Netflix recently.
.
Quincy Troupe is Miles’ official biographer and wrote ‘Miles, the Autobiography’ in 1989. ‘Miles and Me’ is is more of a personal account of his friendship with Miles while interviewing him for the biography.
.
This was a decent read but it ultimately just made me want to read the full biography. Quincy only met Miles in the 80’s at the tail end of his life, so most of the info and anecdotes in this book are from that time. It does paint a picture of the good, the bad and the ugly side Miles’ personality but doesn’t really go too deep. I felt like there was a fair bit of filler and that it read a little too awestruck at times but I still enjoyed it. I thought the writing got better as it went along. It seems Miles was quite a hard man to strike up a close friendship with.
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3/5 ⭐️.
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#peterruysbookreviews .
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February 20, 2014
This reads like hero worship, a recollection, and, near the end, a polemic about the direction of jazz. At first, I was put off my the tone of the writing. With quotes around slang and an overly deferential tone, I thought that he'd written this as a ode to those people who wanted Miles Davis 101. And this is NOT Miles 101.
As the book went on, though, and the writer got comfy, it turned out to be an okay summation of the writer's reklation ship with Miles, his experience with working on the Miles autobiography, and some jazz reviews thrown in with a sheen of hero worship. I was okay with all of that, especially as both the writer and Miles feels the same way I do about Wynton Marsalis.
All in all, a decent read.
As the book went on, though, and the writer got comfy, it turned out to be an okay summation of the writer's reklation ship with Miles, his experience with working on the Miles autobiography, and some jazz reviews thrown in with a sheen of hero worship. I was okay with all of that, especially as both the writer and Miles feels the same way I do about Wynton Marsalis.
All in all, a decent read.
April 18, 2020
Part 3 was an education for me in understanding Miles' music. I used my phone to listen to the albums and particular tunes the author was describing, as I read his own personal reactions to and reflections of Miles' artistry. Thank you, Professor Troupe, for your descriptive art.
August 26, 2014
It's a great masterpiece,exactly like Davis music!
December 10, 2020
Outstanding read for jazz fans. Definitely worth while.
March 10, 2022
An unusual look at Miles Davis from an imitate perspective. A must-read for Miles fans.
May 13, 2024
Quincy Troupe's memoir, "Miles & Me", offered an intimate portrait of jazz legend Miles Davis from his friend’s perspective, yet its structure often leaves the reader confused and left to their own imagination to find what really happened. Through Troupe's own experiences and interactions with Davis, the use of imagery and ethos, the book attempts to offer insight into the musician's life. But relying too much on differing stories weakens the book's ability to thoroughly explore its topic.
Troupe's narrative frequently veers off course, leaving readers isolated. At one point, he reflects on his early encounters with Davis, stating, "Our first meeting was like that, unscripted, unheralded, sudden." While this line captures some emotion of their initial interaction, it is unclear as to how Quincy felt and struggles to have a narrative direction. This is shown on the next page where Troupe discusses his admiration for Miles’s music. This change left me confused. Troupe's reliance on these moments fails to create a sustainable narrative, resulting in a disjointed reading experience that leaves readers confused.
Furthermore, Troupe's focus on personal stories instead of deep analysis worsens the book's structural flaws. He recounts, "I can remember him [Davis] saying to me, 'Man, you're the only cat who ever got me to talk about my music like this.' I felt honored, of course." While these moments of intimacy and ethos may offer glimpses into Davis's personality, they didn’t add much to our understanding of how Quincy felt other than ‘honored’. Instead, it serves as a distraction.
Additionally, Troupe's tendency to indulge in poetic tangents obscures the book's structural flaws. For instance, he describes Davis as "like a tree whose roots run deep into the earth." While vivid, this metaphor offers little insight into who Davis was to Quincy. Instead, it detracts from the book's ability to stimulate deeper thought, leaving me grappling with its shallowness.
In conclusion, "Miles & Me" struggled to explore the relationship between Quincy and Miles. Troupe's reliance on disjointed anecdotes, personal musings, and poetic flourishes only pushes the book's ability to offer meaningful insights into the life and legacy of Miles Davis, instead of who Miles Davis was to him. "Miles & Me" often left me to my own imagination and ideas of the story to paint the picture in my head, and as a result left me confused and felt unclear about many details in the story.
Troupe's narrative frequently veers off course, leaving readers isolated. At one point, he reflects on his early encounters with Davis, stating, "Our first meeting was like that, unscripted, unheralded, sudden." While this line captures some emotion of their initial interaction, it is unclear as to how Quincy felt and struggles to have a narrative direction. This is shown on the next page where Troupe discusses his admiration for Miles’s music. This change left me confused. Troupe's reliance on these moments fails to create a sustainable narrative, resulting in a disjointed reading experience that leaves readers confused.
Furthermore, Troupe's focus on personal stories instead of deep analysis worsens the book's structural flaws. He recounts, "I can remember him [Davis] saying to me, 'Man, you're the only cat who ever got me to talk about my music like this.' I felt honored, of course." While these moments of intimacy and ethos may offer glimpses into Davis's personality, they didn’t add much to our understanding of how Quincy felt other than ‘honored’. Instead, it serves as a distraction.
Additionally, Troupe's tendency to indulge in poetic tangents obscures the book's structural flaws. For instance, he describes Davis as "like a tree whose roots run deep into the earth." While vivid, this metaphor offers little insight into who Davis was to Quincy. Instead, it detracts from the book's ability to stimulate deeper thought, leaving me grappling with its shallowness.
In conclusion, "Miles & Me" struggled to explore the relationship between Quincy and Miles. Troupe's reliance on disjointed anecdotes, personal musings, and poetic flourishes only pushes the book's ability to offer meaningful insights into the life and legacy of Miles Davis, instead of who Miles Davis was to him. "Miles & Me" often left me to my own imagination and ideas of the story to paint the picture in my head, and as a result left me confused and felt unclear about many details in the story.
July 20, 2022
A great read for anyone who loves jazz or Miles Davis, or who is interested in learning more about him.
Troupe's writing style is poetic and beautifully captures the essence of Miles' music, even describing the unique rhythms and aspects of various songs and albums. He also captures Miles' spirit and personality quintessentially, gifting us with a Miles who few in the world knew.
The epilogue filled the gaps that I felt this book left, creating a through line that had been missing. The lack of through line was really why I gave this book a 3/5 rather than a 4. It reads as a series of beautifully written stories from Troupe's relationship with Miles. While each vignette is enjoyable in its own right, the book as a whole is missing a clear plot line. This works fine for about 75-100 pages but becomes tedious for more than that. I imagine the book reads better after a reading of the biography, but I have not read that one yet.
That said, the epilogue did tie things together beautifully, and Troupe uses his final words to make a last point, a moral-of-the-story out of Miles' life and music. This book was certainly worth the read, and I'm looking forward to diving deeper into Miles' music (and read more of Troupe's books).
Troupe's writing style is poetic and beautifully captures the essence of Miles' music, even describing the unique rhythms and aspects of various songs and albums. He also captures Miles' spirit and personality quintessentially, gifting us with a Miles who few in the world knew.
The epilogue filled the gaps that I felt this book left, creating a through line that had been missing. The lack of through line was really why I gave this book a 3/5 rather than a 4. It reads as a series of beautifully written stories from Troupe's relationship with Miles. While each vignette is enjoyable in its own right, the book as a whole is missing a clear plot line. This works fine for about 75-100 pages but becomes tedious for more than that. I imagine the book reads better after a reading of the biography, but I have not read that one yet.
That said, the epilogue did tie things together beautifully, and Troupe uses his final words to make a last point, a moral-of-the-story out of Miles' life and music. This book was certainly worth the read, and I'm looking forward to diving deeper into Miles' music (and read more of Troupe's books).
September 28, 2018
I picked this nonfiction piece as my August selection to meet my 2018 New Year’s resolution. As I was pondering what titles to add the list in December 27, I grabbed this one off the shelf. I’ve like jazz music, but I have to admit that I’m extremely knowledgeable about it. I was aware that Miles Davis is one of the greatest of all time.
As I started to flip the pages, I landed on the title page, where lo and behold, was an inscription to me, personally, from the author. It was dated 10/7/06. I must have picked it up at a booksigning, probably at St. Louis’ best indie bookstore, Left Bank Books, but I have absolutely no recollection of the event. So I figured it was time to read this little gem.
The book is about Troupe and Davis and their collaboration on a book, “Miles: The Autobiography,” that was published in 1989.
In the first chapter of Troupe’s memoir, “Meeting Miles,” Troupe pulls no punches telling about their rocky start and how Davis was not an easy many to get along with. In fact, he as a snob, a jerk ad used the most awful language. With that kind of drivel spewing from his mouth, no wonder he hid behind dark sunglasses most of the time.
In the second chapter, “Up Close and Personal,” the two men become friends. Miles is hard to be friends with. He’s really just a jerk who can play the trumpet. I can’t say that I would even have like to have met the man after reading this book. I was struck about how much Davis hated how black he was and wondered if that didn’t contribute to his orneriness.
The third chapter is about the music. I won’t say I can recognize a Davis piece when I hear it, but Troupe’s musical criticism seems right on. Of course, I would have no real clue if Troupe was accurate or not. The final chapter is about the last few years of Davis’s life (he died on 1991) and his legacy.
“Miles and Me” receives 4 out of 5 stars in Julie’s world.
As I started to flip the pages, I landed on the title page, where lo and behold, was an inscription to me, personally, from the author. It was dated 10/7/06. I must have picked it up at a booksigning, probably at St. Louis’ best indie bookstore, Left Bank Books, but I have absolutely no recollection of the event. So I figured it was time to read this little gem.
The book is about Troupe and Davis and their collaboration on a book, “Miles: The Autobiography,” that was published in 1989.
In the first chapter of Troupe’s memoir, “Meeting Miles,” Troupe pulls no punches telling about their rocky start and how Davis was not an easy many to get along with. In fact, he as a snob, a jerk ad used the most awful language. With that kind of drivel spewing from his mouth, no wonder he hid behind dark sunglasses most of the time.
In the second chapter, “Up Close and Personal,” the two men become friends. Miles is hard to be friends with. He’s really just a jerk who can play the trumpet. I can’t say that I would even have like to have met the man after reading this book. I was struck about how much Davis hated how black he was and wondered if that didn’t contribute to his orneriness.
The third chapter is about the music. I won’t say I can recognize a Davis piece when I hear it, but Troupe’s musical criticism seems right on. Of course, I would have no real clue if Troupe was accurate or not. The final chapter is about the last few years of Davis’s life (he died on 1991) and his legacy.
“Miles and Me” receives 4 out of 5 stars in Julie’s world.
July 1, 2019
The author is responsible for the most influential Miles Davis biography. This book is the story of the relationship that developed between the author and Davis. Davis could be a very difficult person and he had his share of quirks. It wasn't easy being his friend. It was an interesting book that contained some little known tidbits about Miles Davis. Nothing too deep.
September 23, 2021
Strictly for hardcore fans, though I suspect Troupe feels he deserves as many as does his subject. I enjoyed both the ‘Birth of the Cool’ documentary on TV, as well as Miles’ autobiography (written by Troupe), more than this book .
December 21, 2018
This book should have another half star.
While not a great book, it is a fun read.
I would recommend reading the Miles Davis biography first
While not a great book, it is a fun read.
I would recommend reading the Miles Davis biography first
November 15, 2020
The man, the music, the myths dispelled.
Great followup read to The Autobiography.
Great followup read to The Autobiography.
July 27, 2024
🐐🐐 an interesting assessment of a legend from a man that was trusted
September 30, 2009
I was assigned Miles Davis to do as a report for a music appreciation class I took. I grabbed this book at the library for some quick insight into the guy and I was surprised with myself reading nearly all of it. The book was a great introduction to the man. It helped my report go over really well.
November 27, 2011
Miles Davis is a legendary figure; I love his music. His autobiography and his music have the same tone: honesty. This book is the experiences of the poet who helped him put together his autobiography. It has the same honesty. Like his autobiography, it leaves me wondering, do you have to be a bastard to have an impact?
March 6, 2008
This is a different view into the life of Miles Davis. The author tells things through his personal vision.
Want to read
January 16, 2011This book was given to me autographed by a friend, the photographer Jon Stevens who photographed Miles Davis over many years, and for this volume.
August 11, 2020
I decent read. Gave me a unique perspective on Miles' later work since Kind of Blue. Can't say I'm a fan of it now, but I do appreciate it more than I did.
Read
October 1, 2017Interesting, but only because troupe is obsessed with miles.
August 4, 2017
Per gli amanti del jazz, questo e' un libro fondamentale.
Displaying 1 - 29 of 29 reviews