“Yep…same thing Dizzy (Gillespie) told
me,” Miles said, “he told me: ‘Miles
you wanna master the trumpet—learn
to play the piano.’ Now Diz can play
some piano, too!”
“Wow Dizzy on piano?”
12
“You never heard Diz on piano Bobby?
Oh yeah… he’s on some early stuff
with Bird.”
“No but, I’m going to check that out.
So, Mr. Hunter spent a lot of time with
me after class teaching me basic piano
theory and giving me stuff to work on.
I got the big picture real fast. I’d skip
social studies classes and lock myself in
the private piano practice room when
the band room was free. I worked
out chord progressions and practiced
jazz tunes every day. I began to see
the shape of the scales and chords as
a family of notes in relationship to
other extended families and so on.
Mr. Hunter also had a big band called
The Moonlighters. He was surprised
at my rapid progress and would let me
go set up music stands and sit in on a
couple of numbers on their gigs.
It turns out that some of the members
of Earth Wind and Fire’s horn section
came from his big band along with
Red Holt and Eldee Young. I only
stayed there for two years cause after
my mother passed away, we relocated
to North Carolina. By that time I
could play anything I heard in any key.
That’s the kind of training I received
in Chicago. Later, I studied arranging
privately and the writing just came
naturally. I decided to study business
in college since I already played music
professionally.”
BRN-FALL-2013.indb 12
m
Richard Irving III and Miles Davis.
Rendition or Audition?
“Bobby,” Miles suddenly said, “why
don’t you go play something on the
piano... hasn’t been tuned lately, but it’s
not too bad.”
Now Miles didn’t know me as a pianist.
On the recordings he’d heard, I played
Fender Rhodes electric piano, clavinet,
and a little Minimoog synthesizer.
Did the “Prince of Darkness” summon
me to his palace for an interview and
audition? He did make it sound more
like a casual invitation. Yet I couldn’t
help but think he would size me up
in comparison to jazz piano giants like
Herbie Hancock, Chick Corea and
Keith Jarrett.
“Sure,” I said, though feeling a
little nervous. “Is there anything in
particular you’d like me to play?”
“Just play you… whatever you feel
comfortable playing.”
I sat at the piano, adjusted the bench
and looked down at the keys as if
they might inform me what to do.
The white keys looked back at me like
smiling teeth, as if to say: “We’s not
a player-piano boy, so you better be a
piano player! Now! Or else!” However,
Miles’ words made me feel a little
less self-conscious. So I trusted my
intuition and allowed that familiar,
inviting feel of the smooth piano
keys to arouse my fingers, initiating
tactile tingling, awakening my inner
muse. It’s almost like the blood flow
that engorges a penis making it erect.
Similarly, my fingers became aware and
somehow knew what to do without
the help of my brain, which could
often get in the way. My five phalanges
left and right listened, instead, to my
heart, enabling me to float on the
keys uninhibited. So I started playing,
freely traversing blues, gospel and jazzy
idiomatic styles. Feeling intrinsically
grounded, I immersed myself in these
pianistic expressions until the music
felt as if it flowed through me from
the source.
9/13/13 12:47 AM