Somebody Likes It

At some point during the week before we laid down this episode, one of us circulated a Honda scooter ad starring Miles Davis from the 1980s. If you've ever seen it, it's more or less...terrifying, which is a helluva thing to accuse of a Honda scooter commercial from the 1980s. Miles could be well and truly ominous when he wanted to be, even when (sort of) pitching something. He was, after all, known in his later years for playing entire sets with his back to the paying audience. He wasn't here, specifically, for you. In 1959, sixty or so years (almost to the day) prior to this episode, Davis assembled a team of players in the stratosphere of their careers: John Coltrane and Cannonball Adderley on sax, pianist Bill Evans, bassist Paul Chambers, drummer Jimmy Cobb and new band pianist Wynton Kelly, who sat in for a track. It was heady company, and by the time they hit the studio, Miles had considered the ideas and signatures behind Kind of Blue thoroughly. The result was a legendary "conversation" bet