Miles Davis at Konserthuset

In Uppsala in 1970 I shared a student flat with a guy from the same University course. I had just started to listen to Miles Davis, and In A Silent Way and Jack Johnson was on my record player every day. My room mate listened a lot to Wishbone Ash and Deep Purple and he hated jazz and Miles Davis and he told me that every time. A year later, there was a knock on my door one night. "What is this record?" "Why do you ask?" "I must say I like it", he said. It was Bitches Brew by Miles Davis. Two years later we were riding together in his yellow VW to go to Stockholm and see Miles Davis play at Konserhuset. Mike Henderson on bass and Dave Liebman on saxophones. Two guitarists: Reggie Lucas and Peter Cosey. Al Foster and Mtume on percussion. Miles really loud and with a wah-wah pedal for his trumpet. His back to the audience all through the concert. We were two big fans - but really unprepared for the new sound and the really loud volume and the impact. After the concert we were happy and exhausted and rode back to Uppsala. I was in the back seat with some red wine. We later celebrated together at one of the bars in Uppsala, both getting really drunk and happy and we were probably the two biggest Miles Davis fans in Sweden ever. Much later that night my drunken friend apparently drove his car home. It was not far but he was really drunk and he had big problems staying on the road. He followed the tail-lights of another car heading in the right direction and finally got home safe. A crazy thing to do but jazz has sometimes been a bad influence on people.

 

< Prev		Next >