The music written by Miles Davis calls it “So What”.
It takes Robert Herridge less than four seconds in front of the camera to introduce the trumpeter quintet with those words before starting to play that delicately devastating theme, the first cut of the album “Kind of Blue”, released by Columbia in August 1959.
The recording was part of The Sound of Jazz series of programs, which Herridge, a creative producer at CBS, launched in December 1957 to help solidify a sound that wasn’t so easy to accept. Jazz had ceased to be hall music and was headed, complex, to clubs and recording studios where people like Davis could play their notes without fear of being booed.
On April 2, 1959, the trumpeter arrived on the set of the network to record a special episode of the show, “The Sound of Miles Davis”, which Herridge described on screen as “a story told in the language of music”. The show finally aired on July 21, 1960 and the “So What” segment can be seen and heard on YouTube.
Herridge had previously developed a collection of “outdoor theater” shows for which he would gather a group of actors and actresses and “throw” them onto a rough stage to improvise around classic lyrics while being followed by multiple cameras at various angles. With “The Sound”, the producer wanted to do the same, but with jazz musicians.
The “So What” video testifies to the glorious success of Herridge’s formula. Directed by theater and film director Jack Smight, the cameras captured the atmosphere in multiple ways, enveloping the delicate sparks drawn by Davis, John Coltrane on saxophone, Wynton Kelly on piano, Paul Chambers on double bass and drums. Jimmy Cobb.
Somehow, Smight has managed to encompass moments of imperfect perfection for eternity. Specifically, when – nine minutes into the music – Miles runs from the center of the stage and makes room for Coltrane for his solo. Commenting on the solo makes no sense: what else can be said about the beauty generated by Trane?
What is priceless is seeing Davis on the sidelines, smoking a cigarette, chatting with the musicians of Gil Evans’ orchestra and glaring at Coltrane. What would go through Miles’ head? (His relationship with the sax player has always been pretty rocky.) Are they looks of hate? Of love, envy, admiration or contempt?
After you’ve finished listening to Herridge and Smight’s recorded piece, the answer to possible speculation (“Miles was jealous” / “Miles was embarrassed”) is simple: “So what?”
