Plagiarizing your own autobiography, and other strange tales
Miles Davis, jazz discourse, and the aesthetic of silence
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1558/jazz.v4i1.15Keywords:
autobiography, discourse, Miles Davis, silenceAbstract
Miles Davis was known for his troubled relationships with writers, often expressing disdain for those who would comment upon his life and music. As a result, critical understanding of Davis has often been obscured, resulting from a self-generated silence from Davis himself, as a means to direct his own critical discourse. The allegations of plagiarism surrounding the publication of Miles: The Autobiography illustrate Davis’s imposition of a discursive silence on his critics and admirers alike. By refusing to speak openly and honestly about himself, Davis forced critics and scholars to fill in gaps in his narrative, with speculation and, in the case of the autobiography, other written work. By being ‘difficult’ or ‘uncooperative,’ Davis engaged in a process that was similar to his interactions with musicians, leaving spaces for others to fill. Thus, an aesthetic of silence underscores both his approach to music, and his engagement with the broader discourse.
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Vaidhaynathan, Siva (1997) ‘Jazz’. In The Oxford Companion to African American Literature, ed. William L. Andrews, Francis Smith Foster and Trudier Harris, 395–97. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press.
Walser, Robert (1993) ‘Out of Notes: Signification, Interpretation, and the Problem of Miles Davis’. The Musical Quarterly 77/2 (Summer): 343–65. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/mq/77.2.343
Yardley, Jonathan (1989) ‘Miles Davis Blows his Own Horn’. Washington Post, 1 October: N3.
Zwerin, Mike (2008) ‘Prince of Silence’. In Miles on Miles: Interviews and Encounters with Miles Davis, ed. Paul Maher and Michael K. Dorr, 309–316. Chicago: Chicago Review Press. Originally published in International Herald Tribune, 5 August 1998.
Alkyer, Frank (ed.) (2007) The Miles Davis Reader. Milwaukee: Hal Leonard.
Basie, William ‘Count’ and Albert Murray (1995 [1986]) Good Morning Blues: The Autobiography of Count Basie. Cambridge, MA: Da Capo Press.
Blaise, Clarke (1996) ‘Your Nearest Exit May Be Behind You: Autobiography and the Post-Modern Moment’. In The Seductions of Biography, ed. Mary Rhiel and David Suchoff, 201–209. New York and London: Routledge.
Crawford, Marc (1996) ‘Memories of Miles’. In The Miles Davis Companion, ed. Gary Carner, 217–31. New York: Schirmer Books. Originally published in Daily Challenge, 21 October 1991.
Crouch, Stanley (1990) ‘Play the Right Thing’. New Republic, 12 February: 30–37.
Chambers, Jack (1989) ‘Back from the Wallow’. Globe and Mail, 30 December.
——(1998) Milestones: The Music and Times of Miles Davis. Combined edition. Cambridge, MA: Da Capo Press.
Davis, Clive (1990) ‘Jarring Jazz Notes; Books. (Features)’. The Times (London, UK), 3 March.
Davis, Miles, and Quincy Troupe (1989) Miles: The Autobiography. New York: Simon and Schuster.
——(1990) Miles: The Autobiography. New York: Simon and Schuster. Reprint with additional ‘Afterword’ by Quincy Troupe.
DeVeaux, Scott (1992) ‘Book Review’. American Music 10/1: 89–94. http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/3052145
Dyson, Michael Eric (1996) ‘Inventing and Interpreting Malcolm X’. In The Seductions of Biography, ed. Mary Rheil and David Suchoff, 43–53. New York and London: Routledge.
Ellington, Duke (1973) Music is My Mistress. New York: Doubleday.
Epstein, William H. (1991) ‘Introduction’. In Contesting the Subject: Essays in the Postmodern Theory and Practice of Biography and Biographical Criticism, ed. William H. Epstein, 1–8. West Lafayette, IN: Purdue University Press.
Foucault, Michel (1978) The History of Sexuality. I. An Introduction, trans. Robert Hurley. New York: Random House.
Gabbard, Krin (2008) ‘How Many Miles? Alternate Takes on the Jazz Life’. In Thriving on a Riff: Jazz and Blues Influences in African American Literature and Film, ed. Graham Lock and David Murray, 184–200. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press.
Gates, Henry Louis (1989) The Signifying Monkey: A Theory of African American Literary Criticism. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press.
Gennari, John (2006) Blowin Hot and Cool. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Giddins, Gary (1989) ‘Juilliard Dropout Makes Good’. New York Times, 15 October, New York edition: 77.
Gillespie, Dizzy, and Al Fraser (1979) To Be or Not to Bop. New York: Doubleday.
Goodwin, James (1993) Autobiography: The Self-Made Text. New York: Twayne.
Greenstein, Fred I. (2000) ‘Review: Reckoning with Reagan: A Review Essay on Edmund Morris’s Dutch’. Political Science Quarterly 115/1 (Spring): 115–22. http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/2658036
Grobel, Lawrence (2001) Endangered Species: Writers Talk about their Craft, their Visions, their Lives. Cambridge, MA: Da Capo Press.
Harlos, Christopher (1995) ‘Jazz Autobiography: Theory, Practice, Politics’. In Representing Jazz, ed. Krin Gabbard, 131–68. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.
Helmling, Steven (1991) ‘Review: Twilight of the Idols’. The Kenyon Review 13/1 (Winter): 177–87.
Holliday, Billie (1956) Lady Sings the Blues. New York: Doubleday.
Malcolm X and Alex Haley (1965) The Autobiography of Malcolm X. New York: Grove Press.
Masur, Kate (1999) ‘Edmund Morris’s Dutch: Reconstructing Reagan or Deconstructing History?’ Perspectives 37/9 (December): 3–5.
Mingus, Charles (1971) Beneath the Underdog: His World as Composed by Mingus. New York: Knopf.
Morris, Edmund (1999) Dutch: A Memoir of Ronald Reagan. New York: Random House.
Ogren, Kathy (1991) ‘Jazz Isn’t Just Me: Jazz Autobiographies as Performance Personas’. In Jazz in Mind, ed. Reginald Buckner and Steven Weiland, 112–27. Detroit: Wayne State University Press.
O’Sullivan, John (2004) ‘Flashback: From the Archives’. National Review. http://old.nationalreview.com/flashback/jos200406052119.asp
Porter, Lewis (1999) John Coltrane: His Life and Music. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.
Sanders, Mark A. (1994) ‘Theorizing the Collaborative Self: The Dynamics of Contour and Content in the Dictated Autobiography’. New Literary History 25/2 (Spring): 445–58. http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/469458
Santoro, Gene (2007) ‘Miles Davis: The Enabler, Part I’. In The Miles Davis Reader, ed. Frank Alkyer, 140–43. Milwaukee: Hal Leonard.
Sendbuehler, Frances (1994) ‘Silence as Discourse in Paradise Lost’. https://facultystaff.richmond.edu/~creamer/silence.html.
Sturrock, John (1993) ‘Theory versus Autobiography’. In The Culture of Autobiography, ed. Robert Folkenflik, 21–37. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.
Tate, Greg (1996) ‘Silence, Exile, Cunning’. In The Miles Davis Companion, ed. Gary Carner, 232–36. New York: Schirmer Books. Originally published in Village Voice, 15 October 1991.
Tomlinson, Gary (2002) ‘Cultural Dialogics and Jazz: A White Historian Signifies’. Black Music Research Journal 22 (Supplement: Best of BMRJ): 71–105.
Troupe, Quincy (2000) Miles and Me. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Vaidhaynathan, Siva (1997) ‘Jazz’. In The Oxford Companion to African American Literature, ed. William L. Andrews, Francis Smith Foster and Trudier Harris, 395–97. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press.
Walser, Robert (1993) ‘Out of Notes: Signification, Interpretation, and the Problem of Miles Davis’. The Musical Quarterly 77/2 (Summer): 343–65. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/mq/77.2.343
Yardley, Jonathan (1989) ‘Miles Davis Blows his Own Horn’. Washington Post, 1 October: N3.
Zwerin, Mike (2008) ‘Prince of Silence’. In Miles on Miles: Interviews and Encounters with Miles Davis, ed. Paul Maher and Michael K. Dorr, 309–316. Chicago: Chicago Review Press. Originally published in International Herald Tribune, 5 August 1998.
Published
2011-11-15
Issue
Section
Articles
How to Cite
Prouty, K. (2011). Plagiarizing your own autobiography, and other strange tales: Miles Davis, jazz discourse, and the aesthetic of silence. Jazz Research Journal, 4(1), 15-41. https://doi.org/10.1558/jazz.v4i1.15
