It’s 1979 and Miles Davis, the great jazz musician, has not been heard from in five years. His fans miss him, but it isn’t clear why he’s become a recluse, a latter-day Howard Hughes.
The raspy-voiced composer, trumpeter and band leader whom Don Cheadle portrays in Miles Ahead, in an amazing performance, has reached a nadir.
He rarely leaves his cluttered apartment in New York City. He struggles with a writer’s block and a painful hip. He’s verbally abusive, the profanities flying off his tongue. He’s a drug addict, being partial to cocaine, and he smokes too much, a cigarette usually dangling from his lips.
In short, he’s dysfunctional and unpleasant.
At this juncture of Miles Ahead, which opens in Canada on April 15, Dave Braden (Ewan McGregor), a freelance Scottish journalist apparently on assignment from Rolling Stone, knocks on Davis’ door. He wants to write a “comeback” story on Davis, who prefers to call jazz “social music.” But the curmudgeonly Davis is not even remotely interested in what he contemptuously dismisses as “some dumb fuckin’ article.”
Not one to give up easily, Braden works his way into Davis’ graces, such as they are, and becomes his driver, sidekick and chief promoter. The rapport they establish is little more than tentative. Davis has a volcanic temper and Braden never knows when it will explode.
When Davis finally appears at his manager’s office, he behaves badly, prompting a promoter/agent (Michael Stuhlbarg) to quip, “He’s probably more profitable dead than alive.”
This may be true. In death, Davis would surely generate reams of revenues from signature albums such as Sketches of Spain. In life, he’s next to useless. Davis, in truth, is resting on his laurels.
“Let’s get you in fighting form again,” says his manager, hoping to elicit new material from his client. Despite the funky mood that weighs heavily on him, Davis — a master of improvisation — is not yet a basket case. He’s written a score for a new album and has transferred it to an audio tape, which will become the object of desire.
Don Cheadle and Ewan McGregor star in Miles Ahead
The film takes a sharp turn when Davis meets Frances Taylor (Emayatzy Corinealdi), a dancer almost half his age. Besotted by Taylor, he hands her a $20 bill with his telephone number on it. Before too long, they’re a couple. Davis’ relationship with Taylor will be tempestuous, given his wandering eye.
Cheadle deals with the issue of racism in one brief scene. A cop on the beat accuses Davis of loitering. When Davis informs him he’s standing in front of his nightclub, the policeman pretends not to hear and reaches for his baton.
Three-quarters of the way through, Miles Ahead loses some of its momentum. Davis’ chaotic lifestyle eventually grates on the nerves and becomes burdensome and repetitive. One can tolerate only so much of his antics. Yet the movie has its riveting moments, and Cheadle is in excellent form.