Emma-Jean Thackray: Dear Miles - A Love Letter

This event will take place in EartH Theatre.

Dear Miles,

I discovered you by accident. As a naive thirteen year old I came across a track by mistake, not knowing your genius, not knowing how that one moment changed the trajectory of my life.

I was learning a brass band solo piece, Concerto de Aranjuez, and found your version on an illegal download site. “Who is this Miles Davis guy?” I asked. No-one in my provincial orbit knew your name, so I assumed you were just some guy, and that I discovered you. After that I looked for you in CD shops, piecing together bits of pocket money to buy your work and playing it on the Discman in my hoodie on the long walk home because I could no longer afford the bus.

I learnt the melody and solo of Four on my trumpet by ear because it stood out to me, not knowing it was an important part of the great American songbook, and not knowing I was already immersing myself in jazz training. I was already starting to write my own music, my own words, but you blew everything wide open and showed me a whole world of music that I hadn’t known. You made me want to play jazz. You made me realise I was an artist. I wasn’t just inspired by you, I studied you - and not just the notes but you. How you had one ear on the notes you played and your other ear on the whole thing, the aesthetic, the production, the vibe. This is how I work, too - splitting my brain to inhabit many roles at once. Not just a musician but a bandleader, a producer, an auteur. 

You pushed boundaries, didn’t let anyone tell you what to do, but followed your own ear. Some people dug it, some people took a minute, some people never caught up. The most important thing was your own artistic integrity because that was everything to you, and I took that to heart. That’s the most important thing to me, too. I don’t care if everybody's into what I do or not; the right people will listen. What I do comes from deep within, maybe even from somewhere else, but it’s like air, it’s my purpose. I recognise that in both of us.

What would you be doing today if you were still here? I truly have no idea, but I know you wouldn’t be standing still, you’d be doing something groundbreaking and mixing things that people had previously thought shouldn’t be mixed to make something new. Would there be dance music textures? Drum and Bass, Jungle, or Techno underpinning improvisation? Blending modern groove with jazz harmony? Drum machines together with live instruments? Would you revisit your classic tunes and make them anew with the ear of a beat maker? Would you make the electric period actually electronic?

I don’t know what you’d be doing, but it doesn’t matter because I’m going to do that for you...