dollars and we take in money, you know. This place is not a poor place. It’s not extravagant, but it’s alright. CSQ: In the book you don’t talk about your personal life much, like about your marriage. . . MG: Well, I was married. I got married and have two children. I was separated from my wife, but now we’ re together again. I’m 83 years old and I need someone to take care of me. I’ve got her! We’re closer than we were ten years ago. CSQ: That’s good. MG: (shrugs) Well. . . CSQ: When you look at the history of the music and all the artists that have recorded here, how do you feel? MG: Well, I don’t know. When I stop to think about it, which I don’t always do, I feel kind of a certain pride. And especially when I hear people come to me and tell me this and that (about the music they heard here). And then when I see the interviews and the write-ups that have occurred on this place over the years, I can’t help but feel like I’ve done something worthwhile. I don’t go around shooting my mouth off. I’m not that kind of a guy, that’s allCSQ: You still do all the booking then? MG: Yeah. CSQ: But you don't stay till closing like in the old days. . . MG: I’m 83, you know, I’m not so young anymore. CSQ: You still live in the Village, just a couple of b locks from here. You’ve watched it grow and change. Does it still have that bohemian artist culture that drew you here? MG: Yeah, it does. Rents are high, terribly high. But otherwise, it’s pretty much the same. “Cept it isn’t so wild now. Now you have to have money to live in the Village. CSQ: You went to Russia on a jazz tour. Did you visit Lithuania? MG: Well, I flew over it, but I couldn’t see my little town where I was born. So that’s how it goes. CSQ: Have you ever been back to Portland? MG: Once, in ‘47. A lot of my friends come from Portland. Gus Solomon, a E X C E R P T MILES-A PORTRAIT By Max Gordon What do you do when the place is jammed and the star of your show walks off the bandstand in the middle of the set because his girlfriend is drunk in some uptown joint and phoning him to come and get her? Of all the jazz men who have worked at the Vanguard, Miles Davis was the toughest to handle. Miles always liked to get one thousand dollars front money before he’d open. If I didn’t have it, he might open, but after the first set on opening night, he’d come up to me and, scanning the crowd, whisper,’’Don’t forget the grand if you want me to come in tomorrow night.” Miles voice is like no other voice I’ve ever heard. A loud whisper through fog and haze you can barely hear. You can hear it once you get used to it. And I was used to it. “And move that fuckin’ spot out of my eyes. Or turn the goddamn thing off altogether. I’ ll work in the dark, if that’s the way you wanna run your place.” But whatthehell, he was money in the bank. Miles belongs to the cool school of jazz. He invented it. You go up and play what you’ re gonna play. Ifthe audience likes it, OK; if they don’t like it, OK. Sure, you expect people to be quiet and listen, but if they don’t, they don’t. You play the same, quiet or no quiet. Miles never asks an audience to be quiet, as I’ve heard some jazz musicians do. In fact, he never talks to an audience, never says a word to them. I asked him once, “Why not announce a number? Why not take a bow at the end of the number? Why not announce the names of the men in your band, let people know that you’re Miles Davis? They don’t know you, never saw you before, some of them.” He looked at me with a puzzled, suspicious look, as if I were crazy. “ I’m a musician. I ain’t no comedian-. I don’t go shooting my mouth off like Rashan Roland Kirk. Don’t get me wrong. I like Rashan. If you want a big mouth in your place, don’t hire me. I don’t smile, I don’t bow. I turn my back. Why do you listen to people? The white man always wants you to smile, always wants the black man to bow. I don’t smile and I don’t bow. OK? I’m here to play music. I’m a musician.” W U N A H RESTAURANT Unique a n d Exotic Chinese cuisine specializing in spicy dishes from H unan a n d Szechuan Provinces Moderately Priced. 515 S.W. Broadway 2 2 4 - 8 0 6 3 Morgan's Alley Building Free parking after 6:00 p .m . City Center Parking IOth &. Washington New at R.J. Jaggs Brandon Weinreb LMT professional licensed massage therapy call 241-0761 for appointment 525 S.W. 12th (between Alder’& Washington) VISIT OUR NEW RESTAURANT HUNAN GARDEN • 11814 N.E. 8TH ST • BELLEVUE. WA. ------ PERSONAL INJURY | ------ . WE KEEP YOU INFORMED OF OUR PROGRESS Call us for a Free Consultation EMERGENCY ON CALL AFTER HOURS & WEEKENDS DIXON & FRIEDMAN Clinton St. Quarterly—Winter, 1987 41
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