Stanley Nelson – Miles Davis: Birth of the Cool #LFF2019

PODCAST | Matt Micucci interviews Stanley Nelson, director of the film Miles Davis: Birth of the Cool.

An interview with documentary filmmaker Stanley Nelson, who presented his latest film, Miles Davis: Birth of the Cool, in the Create strand of the 2019 BFI London Film Festival. The film is a comprehensive and beautiful portrayal of the life, times and formidable works of Miles Davis, one of the greatest music artists of the 20th-century and still one of the most popular jazz artists to this day. In this interview, we talk about Davis and Nelson shares with us how he first came across him and the first album of his that he remembers listening to. We also discuss the wealth of archive material and contributions from fans, colleagues and people from Davis’ life, as well as whether he found it challenging to condense this life in a two-hour movie and more.

Miles Davis: Birth of the Cool: Veteran documentarian Stanley Nelson takes on the multifaceted creativity and myriad contradictions of Miles Davis in a mere two hours. This detailed, textured chronology offers something for all, from jazz newbies to viewers who’ve long been drowning in the ocean of genre-expanding music that poured from the musician’s magically muted trumpet. Miles Davis: Birth of the Cool swings through five decades of sonic innovation: from hard bop to heavenly orchestrations, the ambient acoustics of Kind of Blue to the funky fusion of Bitches Brew. It’s a treasure trove of electrifying archive and authoritative interviewees (including several collaborators and ex-lovers), which smartly deploys extracts from Miles’s searing autobiography. The film also explores his impact on black cultural identity and doesn’t flinch from discussing the violent, drug-fuelled ravages of a troubled and troubling icon.