Oh yea. He walked out on stage with his trumpet and had sunglasses on. I swear he is Miles reincarnated.
Too cool for his own good. lol But man, he sounded just like Miles. Big sound and some killer solos. Jimmy even commented that if Miles couldn't of made it to a gig, he would of sent Roney.
Funny you mention that. I now remember Roney was sort of disgusted with himself, shaking his head, and in between blasting it. I know for performance's sake, what he was doing is a no-no. Have to make the audience comfortable, you're paid to entertain, and even if you're crapping everywhere, smile, and continue.
I also remember Marty Ehrlich played with them on a number of tunes. Are you familiar with him, I'm guessing you are since you're a sax player? I was REALLY impressed, but I never bought an album of his (I blame it on competing interests).
By far, the craziest stories of Davis I've ever heard was from Dave Holland, who I had the privilege of seeing in masterclass at the Monk Institute. Unfortunately, like most jazz masterclasses I've seen, they don't teach much, but just talk about their life story. I've mentioned seeing him, but never told his story, because I didn't know if it would be worth typing out (if anyone would care; but you'd probably be interested). Here was his story
:
He was a kid in England. Started attending Royal Academy or Guildhall can't remember, playing gigs at a place owned by (oh crap I don't remember... someone famous though...) and was bummed when his group got to tour Germany, but he couldn't join them due to age. Famous people would stop in every now and then to hang, Mingus, whoever, and one day Davis.
After the gig, the owner told Holland, still a kid, hey Miles wants to play with you. He didn't believe him. Owner said if Miles said so, then it's true, believe him, you will hear from him.
He waited days. No contact made at all. He thought, oh well, and continued with life for a while. One day, out of the blue, he gets a call, from Davis' manager I believe, and at the end of the week he is to play gigs with him in New York . . . Remember, Holland had never even left the country yet. He scrambled to sell his beater to afford a ticket over there. He got there a couple of days early to go over tunes, but none of the musicians answered his calls. Can you imagine? He hired a pianist to go over some possible charts with him.
Day of first gig, he's nervous as all hell as you can imagine. He sees Miles standing in the lobby, sunglasses on, and he doesn't even acknowledge that Holland is there. Won't even talk to him. In walks Tony Williams, walks right past both of them, doesn't even say hi to Miles, bee lines right to the stage.
Holland described the event as hanging on to a tiger's tail. He said that they were trying to play through him, kill him. He found out that since Ron Carter's departure, they were going through dime a dozen bassists to find someone who could survive.
And thus a long and reputed career was born.
edit: I think I now remember the owner might have been Philly Joe Jones.
