Miles Davis Biopic & Albums Coming Soon

With the New York Film Festival 2015 and the Sundance Film Festival 2016 in the rearview mirror, Miles Ahead – written by Steven Baigelman and Don Cheadle – will get a pair of screenings at the South by Southwest music festival this week.  Don, along with Robert Glasper will be there speaking about it as well.

The film, one that Cheadle learned to play trumpet for as well as his directorial debut, is not a standard birth to death biopic.   It focuses on a pivotal point in the life of the genius musician who grew up in East St. Louis and moved to New York in 1944.  The past is illuminated through flashbacks.  Cheadle has been quoted as referring to the narrative as modal.

Robert Glasper composed music for the film and scored its soundtrack.  A handful of tracks that Glasper wrote, co-wrote, produced and/or performed appear on the soundtrack along with eleven choice Davis tracks.  The project led to a whole other album as well in which Glasper interprets Davis’ music along with a mob of talented artists eager to paint their own musical colors on a Miles canvas.  Everything’s Beautiful features Bilal, Illa J, Erykah Badu, Phonte, Hiatus Kaiyote, Laura Mvula, KING, Georgia Ann Muldrow, John Scofield and Ledisi, and Stevie Wonder.  The film is in the now as much as that forthcoming album.  The closing concert sequence boasts Gary Clark Jr and Esperanza Spaulding along with Herbie Hancock and Wayne Shorter aside Cheadle’s Davis.

The flick and soundtrack will be out a week from Friday (4/1) while Everything’s Beautiful will be released on May 27th which is the day after what would have been Miles’ 90th birthday.

…you know, the ones I saw!

1 Dinosaur Jr; Irving Plaza
2 Metallica; Apollo
3 Robert Plant; Prospect Park
4 Erykah Badu; BAM
5 Elvis Costello & The Roots; Brooklyn Bowl
6 The Hives; Irving Plaza
7 Tom Morello; Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Allen Room
8 Television; Rough Trade NYC
9 Charles Bradley; Apollo
10 Gary Clark Jr; Apollo

The goddess Badu sings with the phil…

…the links are to my video reviews of the album or a concert appearance by the band.

1 Spoon: Transference
2 Corinne Bailey Rae: The Sea
3 Grinderman: Grinderman 2
4 Black Keys: Brothers
5 Erykah Badu: New Amerika 2 – Return of the Ankh
6 Broken Bells: S/T
7 The Dead Weather: Sea of Cowards
8 Citizen Cope: The Rainwater LP
9 The Hold Steady: Heaven is Whenever
10 Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings: I Learned the Hard Way

Here’s what I said about Part 1 two years ago…