, available to purchase now.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\tMany musicians were born. Miles was lightning that hit the planet on May 26, 1926.<\/p>\n
\n\tHis sound \u2014 pure, harmonic human expression \u2014 is timeless. Since I first heard his name in someone\u2019s mouth, wonder and admiration surrounded it. The first time his music hit my ears, it felt like it belonged in the background of my life. The first time I saw him in a picture or on TV, it made sense to me that he would seem perfectly as black as the solar system, with a clear December-midnight skin tone.<\/p>\n
\n\tMiles had won the world over before I got here. My mother and father shared a common appreciation for real music. My father, being a musician himself with a deep respect for Mr. Davis\u2019 music, was most likely the one who introduced me to one of the world\u2019s most fearless artists.<\/p>\n
\n\tI later grew into all his music. It took me a while to understand what jazz was. I was too young, and my music of choice was hip-hop and popular Eighties hits. But through the years, I found Miles again, particularly his masterpiece album Kind of Blue<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n \t\tEditor\u2019s picks<\/p>\n<\/h2>\n<\/section>\n
\n\tMiles and hip-hop share the same blood, sweat, and tears. The same struggles and triumphs. Hip-hop is heavily influenced by jazz music. It\u2019s our roots. So many of our biggest songs have jazz samples in them.<\/p>\n
\n\tHip-hop and Miles are both innovative and extremely bold. Learning about his personal life was a whole different experience. His journey reflected the times and different eras he lived through. He faced discrimination head-on. He got bloody and received scars, but he kicked his elegant shoes through racism like it was trash on the streets.<\/p>\n
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\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p><\/div><\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\tWhen he was sharing his light with emerging giants, it was something to witness. He had those artists play in his band and gave them the spotlight at his shows. Onstage, Miles would sometimes turn to face his band, leaving the audience with incredulous expressions while his back faced the crowd. That makes me laugh every time I see it.<\/p>\n
\n\tThere are many highs and lows in the shark-infested entertainment business, and they weigh on artists in ways most wouldn\u2019t imagine. But Miles made sure to preserve his soul. Some days were harder than others, and some of his pain was self-inflicted. He didn\u2019t pretend to be something he wasn\u2019t. He spoke his mind to whomever, whenever.<\/p>\n
\n\tI sometimes ask myself, \u201cHow did he casually make music that made the world a better place to live in?\u201d He\u2019s my go-to when I want to chill. When I want to feel safe. He felt free to make the music he wanted to make. We can still learn a lot from him through his music, as well as his classic memoir.<\/p>\n\n\n \t\tRelated Content<\/p>\n<\/h2>\n<\/section>\n
\n\tIn Miles<\/em>, he manages to tell his story in an entirely new way, and his book is a thrilling and revealing experience, just like his music. It is always cool to see further into his work and life. Miles was a once-in-a-lifetime talent who teaches us something new with every listen.<\/p>\n\n\n \t\tTrending Stories<\/p>\n<\/h2>\n<\/section>\n
\n\tNasir bin Olu Dara Jones, 2026<\/p>\n
\n\tCopyright \u00a9 1989 by Miles Davis. Foreword copyright \u00a9 2026 by Nasir bin Olu Dara Jones. From the forthcoming book MILES: The Autobiography (Centennial Edition) by Miles Davis with Quincy Troupe to be published Simon & Schuster, LLC. Printed by permission.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n \u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.rollingstone.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"One of the greatest music memoirs of all time, Miles: The Autobiography, by Miles Davis and Quincy Troupe, is back on bookshelves to commemorate what would have been the trumpeter\u2019s 100th birthday this year. Davis filled the book, originally published in 1989, with vivid tales of sex, drugs, and jazz, including jaw-dropping recollections of Charlie […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2384408,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25179],"tags":[353285,452253,367072,362507],"class_list":["post-2384407","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-music","tag-book-excerpt","tag-excerpt","tag-miles-davis","tag-nas"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Read-Nas-New-Foreword-to-Miles-Davis-Autobiography.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2384407","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2384407"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2384407\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2384409,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2384407\/revisions\/2384409"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2384408"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2384407"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2384407"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2384407"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}