Miles Davis and the Search for the Sound

Locations
Call Number: Adult Book / Comics & Graphic Novels / Nonfiction / Biography / Davis, Miles, Adult Graphic Novel / Davis, Miles
On Shelf At: Pittsfield Branch

Location & Checkout Length	Call Number	Checkout Length	Item Status
Pittsfield Adult Books 4-week checkout	Adult Book / Comics & Graphic Novels / Nonfiction / Biography / Davis, Miles	4-week checkout	On Shelf
Downtown 1st Floor 4-week checkout	Adult Graphic Novel / Davis, Miles	4-week checkout	Due 11-06-2024
Malletts Adult Books 4-week checkout	Adult Book / Comics & Graphic Novels / Nonfiction / Biography / Davis, Miles	4-week checkout	Due 11-01-2024

"With narration adapted from Davis' own words and an innovative visual style that shifts to reflect Davis' constant musical changes, this 150-page graphic novel follows Davis through four decades of musical innovation, all centered around his quest to find a mysterious sound he heard on a moonlit country road as a child."--Amazon.com.

REVIEWS & SUMMARIES

Publishers Weekly Review
Summary / Annotation
Author Notes

COMMUNITY REVIEWS

Great submitted by bfields on June 13, 2024, 2:05pm I think there was nothing really new if you've already read about his life, but it's well told and the illustrations were great.

I love so much of the music that was released under his name, but Miles Davis could also be a violent jerk, and I appreciated that they didn't omit that fact.

Graphic Bio Masterpiece submitted by Dan Bonenberger on August 18, 2024, 8:19pm Dave Chisholm's "Miles Davis and the search for the sound" (2023) marks a significant advance in the medium of the graphic biography, particularly as it relates to music. A renowned jazz trumpet musician in his own right, Chisholm has fine-tuned his second craft over the past 15 years, authoring (+ designing, illustrating and coloring) numerous “music-centric” works, including a graphic biography of Charlie Parker (2020), fictional graphic novel “Enter the Blue” (2022), and an experimental project “Instrumental” (2017) that integrates audio of original music with comics art. His most recent book traces the life and music of Miles Davis with compelling prose and beautiful illustrations.

The narration is "adapted from Miles Davis' own words -- from his autobiography, essays, and interviews" (vi). The graphical components range from scribbles to sketches to detailed realism and a wild neo-expressionism, flowing from one scene, page, and chapter to the next, brilliantly capturing the people, places, interaction, emotions, and feelings without drawing undue attention. And the story doesn't simply arc from birth to death, or just jump back occasionally to the past, as the author "remembers" the story. Instead, the artist transcends these traditional organizational schemes. Using Davis' tireless "search for the sound" as the backbone, Chisholm takes us on a creative journey, riffing along the musical life-path of Miles Davis, revealing his contributions to modern music, and exploring his cultural and musical influences -- while not sheltering us from the accompanying discord of drug abuse and the mental, emotional, and physical abuses he exacted on people close to him. Whether you know the Davis story or not, this one is definitely worth a look and listen.

-djb