What's wrong with Miles Davis' gravestone? (2 things)

So Miles Davis has a gravestone, and it's wrong - twice. Sort of. Mostly twice. Definitely once, and arguably the second time, depending on how Catholic you are. But it is interesting that even on the tomb of one of Jazz's most influential minds, that the real book comes to mess things up.

I'm Tim Beau Bennett, and I'm making videos about jazz history. Sometimes I talk about jazz musicians, sometimes the songs, and sometimes about genres. I play jazz guitar, though I would call myself a keen amateur, rather than a professional. These videos are a work in progress, but there are many more to come - so please subscribe and let me know what you'd like to see in the comments!

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[johnparadise]

Being “Miles Davis” is cooler than any “sir.”

[DonRich]

I work at a cemetery and technically a family can put anything for a name on a headstone, the burial record however must be accurate. Sir doesn't have to be a title bestowed by any entity. Good point with Solar, they should have used the first three bars of So What or Miles.

[ihaveexactlysubscribers]

What great professional content, you are so underrated and interesting. (You got yourself a new subscriber.

[imnotlaurakightlinger]

Keep the content coming. The algorithm will find you.

[walterwally]

Great investigation! This is important even though we still love Miles who was Miles ahead❤ thanks, this was great!

[hazworther]

This is a great video! Can't wait for the follow-up about Solar

[alexleonardmusic]

Chuck Wayne told me personally that Miles came up to him at a gig interested in the tune Chuck was playing. Chuck showed him the tune (named after a trumpet player named Sonny Berman) and sometime later he heard his tune being played by Miles who had taken credit and re-titled the song "Solar". For years Chuck had no way to prove this until an early recording of Chuck playing the tune out west surfaced.

[zdunas]

I can't believe that there is a young vloger that makes videos about 50s and 60s jazz which I love.

[Kabirdix]

Seconding not-Laura’s comment. The quality of content here feels very high especially for a relatively young channel

[ramonpooser]

All this makes for more conversation but sounds like it found its way to the center of things. People in families have their own ideas and probably didn’t ask Miles about any of it, any more than people who weren’t family but knew and spoke to him actually asked him about anything.

[LinusBoman]

Berkeley students! (Insert Abe Simpson yelling at cloud gif)

[jeffreycraven]

Had a good conversation with Miles about 43 years ago, one of the funniest & cockiest persons I ever met, and I liked him. Here's to SIR Miles Davis!

[FLMN]

Keep posting. It's truly Thanks a lot

[sfamoramarco]

I wonder why they used the concert C version of the melody rather than starting it on the D that a trumpet player would play...? Any insight?

[ChipTheMusicMan]

Nice job, Sir Tim Beau Bennett the Knight of Jazz 😎

[playing_jazz]

Whats interesting to me is J. J. Johnson who played on the original Miles recording of Solar plays it the way its displayed on the gravestone. I too noticed something was wrong when I transcribed the tune then double checked with the real book. A lot of people play it the way Miles did but I wonder if J. J. Johnson was handed a lead sheet on the original session? I've never really understood how those recording gigs went down. My teacher usually chalks these errors up to something with the original published copy of the music. Perhaps there was a copy available at the time and the Berkley students, like J. J. Johnson were referencing that isn't popping up on google?

[danf]

I haven’t watched the video yet but when I saw the pic of his gravestone the notation of solar bothered me plus he didn’t even write it right??

[TheloniousCube]

I'm curious why the issue of whether or not the US gov't would officially recognize the 'Sir' affects whether or not it should be on his gravestone.

If Sir Paul McCartney chose to be buried in the US, would you think it inappropriate to put 'Sir' on the gravestone - why?

Also wondering whether the 'legitimacy' of the 'Sir' is really an issue - what does Count Basie's gravestone say?

[zizzfilm]

You are one smart dude. Thank you for the info. (“Dude” technically is an honorarium exclusive for Americans, but you get it for being super-smart.)

[tafimutekwe]

I feel it is the thought and effort that count and not the academic interpretation on the gravestone. This sound very frivolous.