Miles Davis锐评Far Cry, Eric Dolphy

Miles Davis在五六十年代为爵士乐杂志Downbeat做过几次blindfold test，大致形式就是杂志乐评人会给老迈放录音然后记录下老迈的感受，有时老迈还会打分。在DownBeat Volume 58（1964年6月发行）中，Leonard Feather（既是爵士乐手也是乐评人、记者）给老迈做了第三次blindfold test，其中便有Far Cry专辑中的Miss Ann。顺便补充一下，这一时间节点对应老迈第二代五重奏（萨克斯手是George Coleman或Sam Rivers），可以与同时期的爵士乐发展相对照。

听罢录音，老迈和采访者Leonard Feather有了如下对话：

M.D.: That's got to be Eric Dolphy - nobody else could sound that bad! The next time I see him I'm going to step on his foot. You print that. I think he's ridiculous. He's a sad motherfucker.

L.F.: Down Beat won't print those words. [But I do!]

M.D.: Just put he's a sad shhhhhhhhh, that's all! The composition is sad. The piano player fucks it up, getting in the way so that you can't hear how things are supposed to be accented.

It's a sad record, and it's the record company's fault again. I didn't like the trumpet player's tone, and he don't do nothing. The running is all right if you're going to play that way, like Freddie Hubbard or Lee Morgan; but you've got to inject something, and you've got to have the rhythm section along; you just can't keep on playing all eighth notes.

The piano player's sad. You have to think when you play; you have to help each other - you just can't play for yourself. You've got to play with whomever you're playing. If I'm playing with Basie, I'm going to try to help what he's doing - that particular feeling.

大意为：

老迈：这绝对是Eric Dolphy——没人能像他吹得这么糟糕！下次见到他我一定要踩他一脚。你就照我的原话发表。我一直觉得他的音乐荒谬可笑。他就是个可悲糟糕的motherfucker。

采访者：Down Beat杂志不会发表这样的文字的。

老迈：就写“他是一声可悲糟糕的‘嘘——’”就够了。作曲非常糟糕，钢琴（Jaki Byard）也搞砸了，妨碍了演奏，让人听不出曲子的重点。这是一张糟糕的录音，而这又是录音公司的错误。我不喜欢小号（Booker Little）的音色，他什么都没做。如果像Freddie Hubbard或Lee Morgan那样演奏，这场录音还是可以的；但你必须在音乐中加入一些独特的东西，和节奏组互相配合，而不能一直只演奏八分音符。这个钢琴手也很糟糕。在演奏的时候你必须思考你弹的东西；你必须帮助别的乐手、和其他乐手有唱和，而不能只顾自己一个人弹。如果我和Count Basie一起演出，我绝对会配合Count Basie做他在做的东西。（翻译可能不太准确）

另外，在同一次采访中Leonard Feather还给老迈听了Cecil Taylor的录音Live at the Cafe Montmartre，老迈是这样骂的：

M.D.: Take it off! That's some sad shit, man. In the first place, I hear some Charlie Parker cliches. . . . They don't even fit. Is that what the critics are digging? Them critics better stop having coffee. If there ain't nothing to listen to, they might as well admit it. Just to take something like that and say it's great, because there ain't nothing to listen to, that's like going out and getting a prostitute.

L.F.: This man said he was influenced by Duke Ellington.

M.D.: I don't give a shit! It must be Cecil Taylor. Right? I don't care who he's inspired by. That shit ain't nothing. In the first place he don't have the - you know, the way you touch a piano. He doesn't have the touch that would make the sound of whatever he thinks of come off.

I can tell he's influenced by Duke, but to put the loud pedal on the piano and make a run is very old-fashioned to me. And when the alto player sits up there and plays without no tone. . . . That's the reason I don't buy any records.

老迈：拿走！什么垃圾玩意儿。最一开始我听到了一些Charlie Parker的常用乐句（cliche），但它们完全不搭。那些乐评人就喜欢这个？他们没什么可听的可以直说。随便找像那玩意儿的东西拿来说牛逼，仅仅因为他们没什么唱片可以听，这和走到大街上随便招嫖没什么区别。

采访者：这个乐手本人说他是受Duke Ellington影响的。

老迈：关我屁事！这肯定是Cecil Taylor对吧？我不管他受谁启发，那压根不代表什么。最起码，他不会像正常人那样弹钢琴。他的触键所发出的声音和他所想的完全不一样。我猜他大概是受Duke影响的，但是把延音踏板放在琴键上演奏对我来说有点太“过时”了。然后当那个中音萨克斯手（Jimmy Lyons）坐直了准备演奏但完全没调儿的时候......这就是为什么我现在不买唱片了。

Miles Davis Interviews (forghieri.net)

公允与否有待商榷，但至少看老迈这样喷人还蛮有趣的。