DJ Logic: Miles Davis

Miles has influenced music in many ways. He opens up people to being creative and not having boundaries. He has influenced me musically, by pushing me to have no boundaries, to be experimental and to try new things, like different collaborations. He taught me to be open-minded musically and to take elements from here and there, and to experiment with. When I mix his music, it adds a certain element of expression and I try to engage in something that’s unique. I listen to the record and try to add little loops and work it how I hear it.

I’m actually about to do a tour called “Miles Davis Bitches Brew” where we play selected tracks off of “Bitches Brew“. I’m doing that with Graham Haynes, Lonnie Plaxico, James Blood Ulmer, Cindy Blackman, Marco Benevento, and Antoine Rooney. We’re doing some jazz festivals in the States, a free show in Brooklyn, Montreal Jazz Festival, and the New Mexico Jazz Festival. We’re hitting all of the jazz festivals and hopefully heading over to Europe as well. I’m looking forward to playing with those musicians in the spirit of Miles.



He influenced a lot of people and his music and albums always came out at the right time. They felt a certain way, at that right time. Like with what’s going on right now in the world with politics, racism, the economy, and the oil spill; there’s a whole lot of stuff going on. You look back at certain records like “Kind of Blue”, that came out at the right time. His records have so many different feels to them. It’s not just jazz, it has a rock vibe to it, a classical vibe to it. It all has a type of feeling that you can relate to, with the certain situations of that time. My favorite of his records are “Kind of Blue” and “Bitches Brew”. I listen to them a lot. “Sketches of Spain” is another one he did it when he was in Europe. He’s created some amazing music just from being in certain places and getting a feel or a certain vibe.

The time was right to talk about this, It’s his birthday and he’s looking over everybody who is associated with his life. Patting everybody on their backs, and it feels good. I knew his birthday was this month, but it hadn’t dawned on me until Justin said it. But, I’ve worked with a lot of people who worked with Miles, from Marcus Miller to Pete Cosy, Teo Macero who produced the majority of Miles’ records. Just to be able to be a part of working with those guys feels good.

-DJ Logic
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