W&M ScholarWorks Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects Theses, Dissertations, & Master Projects 2014 Seeing (for) Miles: Jazz, Race, and Objects of Performance Benjamin Park anderson College of William & Mary - Arts & Sciences Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.wm.edu/etd Part of the African American Studies Commons, and the American Studies Commons Recommended Citation anderson, Benjamin Park, "Seeing (for) Miles: Jazz, Race, and Objects of Performance" (2014). Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects. Paper 1539623644. https://dx.doi.org/doi:10.21220/s2-t267-zy28 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Theses, Dissertations, & Master Projects at W&M ScholarWorks. It has been accepted for inclusion in Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects by an authorized administrator of W&M ScholarWorks. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Seeing (for) Miles: Jazz, Race, and Objects of Performance Benjamin Park Anderson Richmond, Virginia Master of Arts, College of William and Mary, 2005 Bachelor of Arts, Virginia Commonwealth University, 2001 A Dissertation presented to the Graduate Faculty of the College of William and Mary in Candidacy for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy American Studies Program College of William and Mary May 2014 APPROVAL PAGE This Dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Benjamin Park Anderson Approved by T7 Associate Professor ur Knight, American Studies Program The College of William and Mary Associate Professpr 9hartes McGovern, American Studies Program CollegeofWiUiam and Mary Assistant Professor Max Katz, Department of Music 'The College of William and Mary Professor Krin Gabbard, Department of Cultural Analysis and Theory Stony Brook University ABSTRACT Using jazz trum peter Miles Davis (1926-1991) as its primary example, "Seeing (for) Miles" attempts to build on a growing discourse related to the intersection of jazz, race, and visual / material culture that has heretofore largely ignored the role of consumption. Davis' numerous decisions to spend money on expensive things and/or have them custom made, insisting these things be seen by others, and overseeing his image in advertisements are a reminder that famous musicians often found themselves straddling the line between being consumers and objects of consumption. Following Davis on both sides of that line also necessitates following him on and off the stage, in the eye of his fans as well as the general public. Each of the chapters of this dissertation seek to understand how Davis negotiated this variety of viewpoints as a musician, consumer, and African American via his colored trumpets, tailored suits, sports cars, an expensive home, and instrument advertisements. The decisions Davis and others made with regard to their positions as consumers and African Americans reflected back on a longer history of black interaction with the marketplace while positioning themselves within existing debates concerning racial equality, jazz's status as high art, and the merits of capitalism as a catalyst for democracy. At the same time, their careers as public performers, status as celebrities, and the increasing presence of the visual mass media ensured that their consumer-related decisions reached bigger and wider audiences than ever before. In such a context, the marketplace can be understood as having constituted a unique venue in which black jazz musicians performed a variety of roles relative to their musical and racial identities. Understanding the ways Davis and others negotiated this process allows us to shed light on a relatively unexplored aspect of jazz culture while also suggesting ways in which racial and musical identities continue to be impacted by visual / material culture in modern society. TABLE OF CONTENTS Acknowledgements ii Dedications iii List of Figures iv Introduction 1 Chapter 1. Kind of Green, Black, Red, and Blue: Expressions of Individualism and Race in the Colored Trumpets of Miles Davis 24 Chapter 2. Miles Runs the Zoot Suit Down: Jazz, Race, and the Politics of High Fashion during the Civil Rights Movement 56 Chapter 3. “Those Funny Things That Only A Ferrari Can Do”: Miles Davis, Race, and the Issue of Mobility 84 Chapter 4. Interesting Places. Interesting Men: Jazz, Race, and Home Space 122 Chapter 5 Miles and Martin: Jazz, Instrument Ads, and Identity 158 Conclusion Seeing (for) Miles 194 Bibliography 214 Vita 229 i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I wish to express my appreciation to Professor Arthur Knight, under whose guidance this investigation was conducted, for his patience, guidance and criticism throughout the investigation. I am also indebted to Professors Charles McGovern, Max Katz, and Krin Gabbard for their careful reading and criticism of the manuscript. Aside from the aforementioned professors, this dissertation was guided by the patience, feedback, and encouragement of other professors within the American Studies Program as well as numerous family members, friends, co-workers, and fellow graduate students. The education I received at William and Mary has been invaluable and will continue to serve me for the rest of my life, during which I will do my best to use it for serving others. This Ph.D. is dedicated to the members of my immediate family - my wife, Ashlyn; brother, Kjell; mother, Barbara; father, Gene; and future son, Miles, daughter (who has yet to be named) - who were my biggest sources of motivation and support. LIST OF FIGURES 1. Miles Davis’ green and black Martin Magna 25 2. Davis performing in Paris with a red trumpet, July 1991 41 3. Davis playing with his back to the audience, ca. 1958 81 4. Civil rights protesters at an Alabama bus station, 1961 82 5. Davis posing with his red Ferrari, 1969 88 6. The first known ad for 312 West 77th St., 1892 126 7. Davis on the front stoop of his home, 1970 126 8. 312 West 77th St., present day 126 9. Miles Davis and Chet Baker sharing ad space with Martin, 1954 180 10. Martin ad in Down Beat featuring Davis alone, 1974 187 11. Miles Davis’ 2012 USPS Forever Postage Stamp, 2012 200 12. Cover of Wallace Roney’s album Munchin’ 204 iv 1 INTRODUCTION Seeing (for) Miles: Jazz, Race, and Objects of Performance By: Ben Anderson In 1989, Miles Davis was interviewed for a feature story on the popular television news show 60 Minutes. He was asked by a white reporter if black musicians played better than white ones and explained that while he didn’t think either played better than the other, there was nonetheless a fundamental difference in how they played. “White musicians seem to lag behind the beat,” Davis said, “I don’t know why.” But, when the same interviewer asked if black musicians played differently because they came out of slavery and “hurt more,” Davis dismissed the notion completely by saying “that didn’t have nothing to do with it.” He followed that up with a story from his brief stint as a student at Juilliard in the 1940s when one of his instructors (presumably white) gave a similar explanation regarding the origin of the blues. In response, Davis said, “I raised my hand and said, listen, my father’s rich, my mama’s good looking, and I can play the blues. I’ve never suffered and don’t intend to suffer.” In the twilight of his long and influential career, Davis was being featured by an esteemed, award-winning program, famous for its hard-hitting and professional journalism, a unique opportunity befitting his many important achievements. Yet, he found himself having to counter a decades-old notion of racial essentialism when it came to music. Though he ultimately swapped one form of essentialism for another, Davis’ aforementioned response nevertheless forged a link between one’s wealth, race, and musical ability. His aversion to suffering was produced by an upbringing in an upper- 2 middle class home but had been maintained over the years by an incredibly successful career that afforded Davis some of the finest things money could buy. Davis made no apologies for his upper-middle class background and taste for the finer things in life. Rather, bragging about it in this setting provided him an opportunity to counter white assumptions about race and black music, an opportunity he was likely eager to take. As someone whose expensive sports cars attracted unwarranted police attention and whose lavish home in Manhattan’s Upper West Side had convinced a white visitor that Davis couldn’t possibly be the owner, Davis was acutely aware of the performativity of material things and especially how they signified upon matters of racial identity. His insistence on wearing suits tailored for performing in, playing with custom-made colored trumpets, and controlling the images used of him in instrument ads indelibly linked this awareness with his identity as a jazz musician as well. Using Davis as its primary example, this dissertation attempts to build on a growing discourse related to the intersection of jazz, race, and visual/material culture that has heretofore largely ignored the role of consumption. Davis’ numerous decisions to spend money on expensive things, insisting they be seen by others, and overseeing his image in advertisements are a reminder that jazz musicians often found themselves straddling the line between being consumers and objects of consumption. The decisions that Davis and others made in light of this reflected back on a longer history of black interaction with the marketplace while positioning themselves within existing debates concerning racial equality, jazz’s status as high art, and the merits of capitalism as a catalyst for democracy. At the same time, their careers as public performers, status as celebrities, and the increasing presence of the visual mass media ensured that their 3 consumer-related decisions reached bigger and wider audiences than ever before.