Black Beauty

Journalist Kevin Le Gendre explores the impact of Miles Davis on popular culture.

As a musician, Miles Davis might be best known as the sophisticated balladeer behind albums like Kind of Blue and Sketches of Spain, but he was also a political figure. He cut a provocative figure: driving expensive cars in the 1960s in defiance of the limitations placed on black masculinity in America. This essay joins the dots between seemingly contrasting albums like Tutu (a reference to Archbishop Desmond Tutu and the anti-apartheid movement) and the politically charged jazz-rock of his album dedicated to African American boxer Jack Johnson. These albums reflect Davis's engagement with historical figures in his art and the oppression he personally experienced, such as his infamous assault by a white policeman in 1959.

Produced by Joby Waldman
A Reduced Listening production for BBC Radio 3.