Episode 105 - Miles Davis: The Man Who Quit His Own Genius

In today's episode, we're going to make an argument that is going to make some of you uncomfortable. The argument is this: Miles Davis, the most influential musician of the twentieth century - did not become extraordinary because he mastered his craft. He became extraordinary because he kept destroying it. Every time he reached the top, he walked away from the sound that got him there and started over from nothing. We are going to talk about the music, the five or six times he blew up his own career on purpose, and what the jazz world, the critics, and his audiences did to him every single time he did it. We’re going to talk about what all of it says about a much bigger question: do we actually let the people we love change? Or do we only love them for who they already were? He would have turned 100 this month. This is not a tribute episode. It is a question about what we do with genius - and whether we deserve it.