On close calls and Miles Davis

Last Monday night, after wishing good night to a few colleagues who stayed at the office after I left, I headed home with my new high tech bicycle. After ascending a steep hill, I started a steep descent. I encountered an ad hoc construction site on the road, and flew head first into the asphalt. I recall being surprised by the bump which later turned out to be a water pipe crossing the road, a desperate effort to find balance, a bitter dissappointment of not doing very well, and then - well - pain.

My elbow was fractured, I broke three front teeth and got some nasty bruises in my face. My helmet was split halfway through - had I not worn it, I probably would have died. I sustained no head, neck or jaw injuries whatsoever (except for the teeth).

As I got out of surgery on Tuesday, there was a card waiting for me on the table. I read
it, my head filled with opiates, and got the message: "you get well soon, we will watch
the fort". My colleagues have been great and I have received a wealth of messages and words of encouragement from friends, relatives and students and colleagues, as has my family. Luckily, the accident turned out to be a nuisance but nothing more serious - who needs a few front teeth? Or at least they can be fixed. My elbow will heal. I think I need to tell my loved ones, friends and colleagues that "hey, it's great that you're alive" more often. At least I know that getting the kind of support that I have been given the last few days has been marvelous.

The incident has re-energized my already vibrant relationship with the music of Miles Davis. After surgery, I was placed in a room with three other men. After having slept through the day , I was waken at night by a choir of snoring males (I have no doubt that I had been a member of the same choir just minutes ago). I needed to get to sleep again and turned to my iPod and noise-reduction headphones for help. What I found was Miles Davis's Prestige quintet albums, Workin', Cookin', Relaxin' and Steamin'.
I listened to all four albums in a semi-conscious, semi-religious state.

The four albums are more or less an immortalization of the small jazz combo sound. After signing a record deal with Columbia, the most prestigious jazz label at the time, Miles had to fulfill his obligation to his old company, Prestige. He went to the studio with his quintet, and recorded four albums in two days.
The spontaneiety of the moment, the relaxed feel with standard material and medium tempos, a "slow burn" groove.

There's the cool and human logic of Miles, the fire and wail of Coltrane, the hip groove of Philly Joe Jones, the rock solid base of Paul Chambers and the light touch of Red Garland.

While the following clip comes from a later incarnation of the same band, with Wynton Kelly replacing Red Garland on piano, and Jimmy Cobb replacing Philly Joe Jones on drums, go ahead and treat yourself a few minutes of Miles on YouTube. The song is "So What", maybe Miles's signature composition.