Myles jones duke. Myles Jones: Breaking Barriers in Collegiate Lacrosse at Duke University

Who is Myles Jones and how did he impact collegiate lacrosse. What records did Myles Jones set during his time at Duke University. How did Myles Jones become a role model for black athletes in lacrosse.

The Rise of Myles Jones: From High School Star to Duke University Recruit

Myles Jones, born in 1993 in Rockville Centre, New York, emerged as a remarkable figure in the world of lacrosse. His journey began in 2006 when he first picked up a lacrosse stick as a sixth-grade defender. Despite facing criticism from his African American peers for participating in what they called a “White Sport,” Jones persevered and excelled in both lacrosse and football during his high school years.

Standing at an impressive 6’5″, Jones’ physical stature played a significant role in his athletic prowess. His exceptional performance in high school led him to graduate in 2011, followed by a post-graduate year at Salisbury School, a prestigious all-boys college-preparatory institution in Connecticut. Throughout his high school career, Jones consistently ranked among the top 10 recruits nationwide, ultimately securing the eighth position as a post-graduate recruit.

The Duke University Recruitment

Jones’ exceptional skills caught the attention of Duke University, leading to his recruitment in 2013. This marked the beginning of a new chapter in his lacrosse career, one that would see him break records and set new standards in collegiate lacrosse.

Trailblazing in Collegiate Lacrosse: Myles Jones at Duke

Myles Jones’ entry into collegiate lacrosse was nothing short of groundbreaking. In a sport dominated by white athletes, Jones stood out as part of the mere 2.83% of black players among the 3,100 NCAA lacrosse athletes. His impact was immediately felt during his freshman year at Duke University.

• Played in 18 out of 21 games in his freshman year
• Started at midfield for five games
• Participated in the 2013 NCAA Tournament, including the National Championship game
• Contributed to Duke’s second National Championship victory in school history

Sophomore Year Success

Jones’ sophomore year (2014) saw him further cement his position as a key player for the Blue Devils:

• Played in all 20 games
• Started 16 games in the midfield line
• Led the team through the NCAA tournament with outstanding performances
• Scored three goals and five assists in the first round against The Air Force Academy
• Contributed two goals each in the semi-final and National Championship games
• Secured his second National Championship title

Record-Breaking Junior and Senior Years: Myles Jones’ Legacy at Duke

As Jones progressed through his junior and senior years at Duke, his impact on the sport became increasingly evident. His performances not only set new records but also earned him prestigious accolades.

Junior Year Achievements (2015)

• Started all 18 games in the midfield
• Led NCAA midfielders in scoring
• Ranked fourth in points per game
• Became the top-scoring midfielder in Duke history
• Achieved nine hat tricks during the season
• Received the Donald MacLaughlin Jr. Award for nation’s best midfielder

Senior Year Triumphs (2016)

• Recognized as the NCAA top midfielder
• Named ACC Offensive Player of the Year
• Set Duke midfield record for career points with 231
• Became the first Midfielder in NCAA history to obtain 100 goals and 100 assists
• Selected as the number one pick in the 2016 Major League Lacrosse draft by the Atlanta Blaze

Breaking Barriers: Myles Jones as a Role Model for Black Athletes in Lacrosse

Myles Jones’ impact extends far beyond his impressive statistics and accolades. As a black athlete excelling in a predominantly white sport, Jones has become a beacon of inspiration and a role model for aspiring black lacrosse players.

John Danowski, Duke’s coach, recognized Jones’ potential to elevate the sport both on campus and in the wider community. Despite initial concerns about bringing Jones to Durham due to the 2006 Duke lacrosse scandal, Danowski believed in Jones’ strength of character and his ability to make a positive impact.

Inspiration for Young Players

Jones’ influence on young lacrosse enthusiasts is undeniable. As Danowski noted, “If you ask kids, ‘who is your favorite player,’ it’s Myles Jones.” This popularity among young players underscores Jones’ potential to inspire a new generation of diverse lacrosse athletes.

The Physical Advantage: Myles Jones’ Imposing Presence on the Field

At 6-foot-5 and 240 pounds, Myles Jones stands out on the lacrosse field not just for his skill, but also for his physical stature. This unique combination of size and athleticism has contributed significantly to his success in the sport.

Impact on Gameplay

Jones’ physical attributes allow him to dominate in ways that many other players cannot. His height gives him a reach advantage, while his strength enables him to power through defenders. This physical prowess, combined with his exceptional skill set, makes him a formidable opponent on the field.

Recognition from Coaches

John Tucker, coach and general manager of the Atlanta Blaze, emphasized Jones’ physical presence when explaining why he was selected as the top pick in the Major League Lacrosse draft. Tucker stated, “He’s physically imposing. I think his skill set speaks for itself, and he’s a great character kid from what I’ve heard. It was an easy pick.”

Myles Jones’ Professional Career: From College Star to MLL Draft Pick

Jones’ exceptional collegiate career paved the way for his entry into professional lacrosse. His selection as the number one pick in the 2016 Major League Lacrosse draft by the Atlanta Blaze marked the beginning of his professional journey.

Sponsorship and Team Changes

• Received a sponsorship from Adidas in the summer of 2016
• Traded to the Chesapeake Bayhawks in 2017
• Currently plays for the Chesapeake Bayhawks

Jones’ transition to professional lacrosse demonstrates the continued recognition of his exceptional skills and the potential for his influence to grow beyond the collegiate level.

The Legacy of Myles Jones: Changing the Face of Lacrosse

Myles Jones’ impact on lacrosse extends far beyond his personal achievements. As one of the few black athletes in a sport historically dominated by white players, Jones has become a symbol of change and progress in lacrosse.

Representation Matters

Jones’ success at Duke and his subsequent professional career serve as a powerful example for young black athletes considering lacrosse. His visibility in the sport challenges longstanding perceptions and opens doors for increased diversity in lacrosse at all levels.

Inspiring Future Generations

The impact of Jones’ career on young lacrosse players cannot be overstated. His success story provides a roadmap for aspiring athletes from diverse backgrounds, showing that with talent, dedication, and perseverance, it’s possible to excel in lacrosse regardless of race or background.

Overcoming Challenges: Myles Jones’ Journey in a Predominantly White Sport

Myles Jones’ path to lacrosse stardom was not without its challenges. From his early days playing the sport, he faced criticism and skepticism from his African American peers who questioned his participation in what they perceived as a “White Sport.”

Breaking Stereotypes

Jones’ decision to pursue lacrosse despite these social pressures demonstrates his determination and passion for the sport. By excelling in lacrosse, he has helped to break down stereotypes and preconceptions about who can succeed in the sport.

Navigating the Duke Lacrosse Program

Jones’ recruitment to Duke came in the aftermath of the highly publicized 2006 Duke lacrosse scandal, which had heightened racial tensions surrounding the program. Coach John Danowski’s initial hesitation about bringing Jones to Durham reflects the complex racial dynamics that still existed within the sport and the program.

However, Jones’ strength of character and his ability to elevate the sport both on campus and in the wider community proved to be transformative. His success at Duke has helped to shift the narrative surrounding the program, focusing on positive achievements and progress rather than past controversies.

The Future of Lacrosse: Myles Jones’ Influence on Diversity and Inclusion

As Myles Jones continues his professional career, his influence on the sport of lacrosse is likely to grow. His success story has the potential to inspire significant changes in the sport’s demographics and culture.

Increasing Diversity in Lacrosse

Jones’ prominence in the sport could encourage more young athletes from diverse backgrounds to consider lacrosse as a viable option. This increased interest could lead to greater diversity at all levels of the sport, from youth leagues to professional teams.

Changing Perceptions

As more players like Jones achieve success in lacrosse, it could help to shift perceptions of the sport away from its image as a predominantly white, upper-class activity. This change in perception could make the sport more accessible and appealing to a wider range of athletes.

Inspiring Leadership

Jones’ journey from a criticized young player to a college star and professional athlete positions him as a potential leader in efforts to increase diversity and inclusion in lacrosse. His experiences and insights could prove valuable in shaping policies and initiatives aimed at making the sport more inclusive.

Myles Jones’ Impact Beyond the Field: Community Engagement and Mentorship

While Myles Jones’ on-field accomplishments are impressive, his impact extends beyond his playing career. His position as a prominent black athlete in lacrosse provides him with a unique platform to engage with communities and mentor young players.

Community Outreach

Jones has the potential to use his status to promote lacrosse in communities where the sport is less prevalent. By participating in clinics, camps, and other outreach programs, he can help introduce the sport to a more diverse group of young athletes.

Mentorship Opportunities

As one of the few black players to achieve such high levels of success in lacrosse, Jones is uniquely positioned to mentor young black athletes interested in the sport. His experiences navigating the challenges of being a minority in lacrosse could provide valuable guidance to the next generation of players.

Advocating for Inclusivity

Jones’ voice could be powerful in advocating for more inclusive policies and practices within lacrosse organizations at all levels. His insights could help shape initiatives aimed at increasing diversity in the sport and creating more welcoming environments for players from all backgrounds.

The Evolution of Lacrosse: Myles Jones as a Catalyst for Change

Myles Jones’ career trajectory represents more than just individual success; it symbolizes the potential for significant evolution within the sport of lacrosse. As the sport continues to grow and diversify, Jones’ impact is likely to be felt for years to come.

Expanding the Reach of Lacrosse

Jones’ success story could help lacrosse expand its reach into new communities and demographics. By showcasing the opportunities available in the sport, he may inspire more diverse participation at all levels.

Challenging Traditional Narratives

The visibility of players like Jones challenges traditional narratives about who plays lacrosse and who can excel in the sport. This shift in perception could lead to more inclusive marketing, recruitment, and development strategies within lacrosse organizations.

Inspiring Innovation in the Sport

As lacrosse becomes more diverse, it may also become more innovative. Players from different backgrounds bring unique perspectives and playing styles, potentially leading to exciting developments in how the game is played and coached.

Conclusion: Myles Jones’ Lasting Legacy in Lacrosse

Myles Jones’ journey from a young player in Rockville Centre to a star at Duke University and a professional athlete is a testament to his skill, determination, and character. His success has not only earned him individual accolades but has also paved the way for greater diversity and inclusion in the sport of lacrosse.

As Jones continues his professional career, his influence on the sport is likely to grow. His story serves as an inspiration to young athletes, particularly those from underrepresented backgrounds, showing that with talent and perseverance, it’s possible to excel in lacrosse regardless of race or background.

The impact of Jones’ career extends beyond his personal achievements. He has become a symbol of change in lacrosse, challenging long-held perceptions about the sport and opening doors for increased diversity at all levels. As the sport continues to evolve, Jones’ legacy will likely be remembered not just for his on-field accomplishments, but for his role in shaping a more inclusive future for lacrosse.

Ultimately, Myles Jones’ story is about more than just lacrosse. It’s a narrative of breaking barriers, challenging stereotypes, and creating new opportunities. As the sport of lacrosse continues to grow and evolve, the influence of trailblazers like Jones will undoubtedly play a crucial role in shaping its future.

Myles Jones (1993- ) •

Born in Rockville Centre, New York, Myles Jones began playing lacrosse in 2006 on his 6th grade team as a defender.  He also played football in his youth and was quarterback of his high school team, Walt Whitman.  In school, Jones was constantly critiqued by his African American friends about why he was participating in a “White Sport.”

At 6’5”, Jones’ size helped him excel in athletics. Jones was outstandingly successful in high school and graduated in 2011.  He attended Salisbury School, a private, all-boys college-preparatory school in Salisbury, Connecticut, for a post-graduate year. Throughout high school, Jones was among the top 10 recruits for the country and was the eight best post-graduate recruit.  His skills allowed him to be recruited by Duke University in 2013.

Jones was a trailblazer in the realm of Collegiate Lacrosse.  Of the 3,100 athletes in the NCAA, Jones was one of the 2.83% that were black.  His freshman year he played in 18 of the 21 games and started at midfield for five of them.   He played twice in the 2103 NCAA Tournament. Once in the double overtime win versus Loyola and once in the National Championship game against Syracuse.  Duke won the game over Syracuse and become National Champions for the second time in school history.

In his sophomore year (2014), Jones played in all 20 games for the Blue Devils and started, in the midfield line, for 16 of them. Jones led his team through the NCAA tournament again scoring three goals and five assists in the first round against The Air Force Academy.  He tallied two goals in both the semi-final game versus the University of Denver and in the 2014 National Championship game versus Notre Dame crowning him a two-time National Champion.

In his junior year (2015), Jones started all 18 games in the midfield.  He led the NCAA midfielders in scoring and fourth in points per game.  He became the top scoring midfielder in Duke history, and he had nine hat tricks, which consists of three or more goals in a game, during the season.   He was given the Donald MacLaughlin Jr. Award for nation’s best midfielder in 2015.

In his senior year (2016), Jones was the NCAA top midfielder and the ACC Offensive Player of the year.  He earned the Duke midfield record for career points with 231 and became the first Midfielder in NCAA history to obtain 100 goals and 100 assists.  His achievements earned him the spot at number one for the 2016 Major League Lacrosse draft where he was taken by the Atlanta Blaze in Georgia. In the summer of 2016, Jones received a sponsorship from Adidas and in 2017 he was traded to the Chesapeake Bayhawks and currently plays for them.

Duke’s Myles Jones has chance to be role model for blacks in lacrosse

DURHAM

It’s not hard to pick out Myles Jones, Duke’s top lacrosse player, in a crowd of his teammates. At 6-foot-5, 240 pounds, he’s taller and bigger than anyone on the field. He wears a Mohawk with a dark blonde top.

And he’s black.

In a sport where it is common to see all-white teams, Jones is not only one of a few black athletes playing lacrosse at the collegiate level, he’s also the very best, many former and current coaches say. In January, Jones was the No. 1 pick in the Major League Lacrosse draft, selected by the Atlanta Blaze, an expansion team starting its first season.

When asked why the Blaze made Jones the top pick in the draft, coach and general manager John Tucker felt the answer was obvious: “Have you ever seen him?”

“He’s physically imposing,” Tucker said. “I think his skill set speaks for itself, and he’s a great character kid from what I’ve heard. It was an easy pick.”

Jones is also a black athlete playing for the Duke lacrosse team, a program that’s perhaps best known for a 2006 scandal involving three white Duke lacrosse players being falsely accused of raping Crystal Mangum, a black woman, at an off-campus party. The charges were dismissed more than a year later. But during that time, racial tensions surrounding the program were high.

“I didn’t want to bring him to Durham if it was going to be difficult, because of what happened in 2006,” Duke coach John Danowski said. “But I thought that (with) his personality and his strength of character, that he could maybe elevate this sport, not only here on campus but in our own community here in the Triangle. And I think he’s done that.”

Jones said the case did not factor into his decision to come to Duke.

Since Jones’ arrival in 2012, he’s helped Duke win back-to-back national championships in 2013 and 2014. Duke had won only one prior to that, in 2010. A native of Long Island, Jones was the 2015 Donald MacLaughlin Jr. Award winner, given to the nation’s best midfielder.

“If you ask kids, ‘who is your favorite player,’ it’s Myles Jones,” Danowski said. “If you ask adults on campus, ‘who is your favorite player,’ they’ll tell you Myles Jones.”

With a 10-7 record this season, the Blue Devils were ranked No. 14 in the country as of May 1.

But Jones, a senior, is more than just a great player on a national powerhouse team. He’s a role model for young black boys interested in a sport, where they are desperately searching for someone who looks like them. Duke has two black incoming freshman next year, Jones said. It’s something he’s proud of.

When black lacrosse recruits visit Duke and meet with Jones, they often ask what it’s like to be the only black player on the team. Their parents ask the question too. He’s always felt welcome at Duke, he tells them.

“I feel kind of responsible for changing the face of the program,” Jones said. “With more minority kids coming to play, it’s a special feeling.”

Few blacks in LAX

Of the more than 3,100 lacrosse student-athletes on NCAA Division-I teams last season, only 2.83 percent were black. That number was 1.89 percent 10 years prior.

“It’s hard,” Danowski said of recruiting black athletes to come to Duke. There just aren’t that many playing, he said.

Hampton coach Lloyd Carter can attest to that. The Virginia school became the first Historically Black College and University (HBCU) to field a Division-I varsity lacrosse team when it started play this season. Each of its 22 players are black, and a few had never played lacrosse before joining the program, Carter said.

“The African-American community is completely untapped,” Carter told The News & Observer’s HBCU Voice podcast recently.

The number of blacks playing professional lacrosse isn’t much different, said Tucker, the coach and general manager of the Blaze.

“I think the league needs to reach out to the minority base of possible players,” he said. “I think that is key to the future growth. I think that is something Myles has a very good opportunity to affect that part of the population.”

Professional lacrosse is also among the lowest paid sports, coaches and former players say. Many lacrosse players hold second jobs.

Bill Daye, a former North Carolina lacrosse player, former professional player and former coach with the Boston Cannons, says increasing minority participation must start at the youth level.

He said there are a variety of reasons black youth have not played lacrosse, including resistance from other black people.

Daye, who graduated from UNC in 1993, said when he was growing up playing lacrosse, some of his black friends would ask ‘why he played a sport only white kids are playing?’

“There weren’t too many black lacrosse players on the field,” Daye said. Therefore there were few role models in the sport, he said.

An inspiration

Lacrosse has become the fastest growing collegiate sport in the U.S., according to a 2015 NCAA Sports Sponsorship and Participation Rates report. And the numbers are not even close. From 2000 to 2014, participation in men’s lacrosse increased by 95 percent. Second was volleyball, which increased by 54 percent.

Daye said black youth must also have the opportunity to play lacrosse. He said accessibility and the high costs for equipment has been problematic, but there are groups trying to combat that by bringing the game to inner city neighborhoods.

“Hopefully more young African American lacrosse players see what is happening at Hampton and see Myles Jones,” Daye said, “they see these guys playing professionally and they too can have a goal of playing at a top lacrosse school or playing professionally. Because lacrosse is definitely a sport for everyone.”

Jones said he often gets Facebook messages from parents telling him he is an inspiration to their children. And he often gets messages on Twitter and Instagram and letters from young children who say they wear No. 15 because he too wears that number.

“It’s also very motivating now that I know some kid wants to play lacrosse because he saw me play it,” Jones said. “It makes me want to play a little harder.”

Syracuse residents Alton Hicks and his friend Ken Curry, who are both black, drove 623 miles from Syracuse to Durham last month – children in car – just so they could watch Jones practice and play in person the next day.

“(There are) only a few Myles out there,” Hicks said. “So it’s not too many people (my son) can model after, and we can say ‘hey, go out and see how he’s working and what he’s doing.’”

Hicks’ son, Kellen, said Jones has been his favorite player since the first time he watched him play in Syracuse two years ago. He likes the way Jones plays the game.

“He’s like the best lacrosse player,” Kellen, 11, said as he watched Jones practice. “He’s basically like a linebacker in the NFL.”

After practice, Kellen ran up to Jones with a pen in his hand. Jones took off his helmet and gave Kellen a high-five. They posed for a picture.

“Can you sign your autograph?” Kellen asked him.

“Sure,” Jones said, signing the autograph.

Kellen forgot the words he had planned to say to Jones next. He turned around to his dad, then remembered what he wanted to say. He turned back around and faced Jones.

“My mom is from Long Island, too!” Kellen said, excitedly.

Jones smiled. “Really? OK. Nice.”

Facing adversity

Being the only black player on his lacrosse team isn’t new to Jones. It’s been that way since he started playing competitively at 12. He was first introduced to lacrosse in sixth grade. The few black neighborhood children that did play, never traveled, he said.

They either didn’t have the money or didn’t take the game as seriously as he did. He said his family was fortunate enough to support him in lacrosse.

Jones’ two main sports in elementary school were basketball and football. That was until a football teammates’ father asked him about playing lacrosse.

He had no idea what lacrosse was.

But Jones decided to give the sport a try and quickly caught on playing in different leagues in Long Island. He started playing defense and continued to improve. He eventually moved to midfield. Jones was always bigger than his peers.

When he got to high school, he won rookie of the year and all-league honors.

“Myles Jones is a once (in) a lifetime for a coach,” his high school coach Bob Howell said. “He’s probably the finest athlete I’ve ever had the opportunity to coach. He had all the tools to be great and took us to the next level.”

‘Words are words’

Howell said Jones helped jump start the program, and they have been successful ever since.

“Not only is he talented, but he’s a nice person,” Howell said. “He’s a bright kid.”

Those attributes showed during his sophomore season.

Although Jones was used to it, being the only black player had its challenges. More so from other teams rather than his teammates.

One incident sticks with him the most though.

He was a sophomore at Walt Whitman High School in Huntington Station, N.Y. It was the school’s first winning season in a long time, and Jones was one of the top players on the team.

Their opponents were a high school team 11 miles down the road in Lindenhurst.

As the two teams were playing, Jones noticed the players and some in the crowd yelling racial slurs at him. But he did what he always does and smiled.

“I just kind of laughed and just kept playing,” Jones said. “Every time I would score a goal I would kind smile at the kid who was kind of talking to me.”

He scored four goals and added four assists in that game. It was one of his best games of his career, and a defining moment in his life. When the game ended, he shook everyone’s hand and didn’t say a word.

“They all looked at me. It was one of those looks like ‘why isn’t he rattled,’” Jones said. “Words are words. It’s kind of one of those things that if that is your tactic to stop me then I kind of already won the game.”

Jones said that was one of the most proudest moments his dad had of him. Jones said his coach reported the matter to the league.

Howell, his high school coach, said he’d rather not talk about the incident.

A great responsibility

Jones’ talent in New York was no secret. He was a rising star in lacrosse. After his freshman season he tried out for one of the top club teams in Long Island, where only the best 20 made the team. And most who do make the team are high school All-Americans. Jones made it to the top 50 but was cut. That’s when he first got a hand-written letter from Danowski at Duke, who thought he was a rising junior.

Jones told him he was a sophomore. The next year, he heard back from Danowski reiterating his interest in Jones playing for Duke.

“When I saw I got a letter from coach John Danowski from Duke University, the school I’d been watching since I first started playing lacrosse, I couldn’t help but get excited and kind of understand maybe this is my calling,” Jones said. “Maybe lacrosse is for me.”

Since signing on with Duke, Jones has continued to make a name for himself. In 17 games this season, Jones is second on the team in points scored with 32 goals and 33 assists. He also became the first midfielder in Division-I lacrosse history to record 100 goals and 100 assists for his career

Some have compared him to NFL Hall-of-Fame running back Jim Brown. Brown is considered by some to be the greatest lacrosse player to ever play the game.

Jones said he is honored by the comparison. He said being the best is what motivates him.

“Being a very noticeable person, I think people always talk a lot about what you can’t do,” Jones said. “When you can do a lot of things, people say ‘oh, he can do this, but he can’t do these things.’”

Jones said he took notice and worked on everything the doubters said he couldn’t do. Now rarely do scouting reports on Jones list any weaknesses. But he credits his teammates and feeling welcome at Duke.

He said when he signed with Duke, he knew he had great a responsibility.

“I knew that being a black male in a very watched culture, I knew that I would have to behave a certain way, act a certain way and hold myself accountable in certain situations,” he said. “But I think it’s all positive, because being a role model you want to have all those qualities anyway.”

The Craziest Myles Jones Theory Yet

A lot of people have a Myles Jones theory. Usually it revolves around: 1) what makes him so dangerous, 2) why they like/dislike him, 3) if he has a shot at the Tewaaraton this year, or 4) how good he could potentially be in Major League Lacrosse…

In summation, those theories amount to: 1) lots of stuff, 2) I don’t really care, 3) if Duke does well, he does, and 4) Very.

My personal Myles Jones Theory has a lot to do with all four of those things, but it’s not about any one of them specifically, and it’s a whole lot crazier than anything presented so far. It also involves Jones sitting out of the upcoming MLL season in 2016.

This theory will take some patience, and a hefty amount of willingness to think differently, on top of accepting some questionable assumptions, but that doesn’t mean it couldn’t happen. Oh, and it will also require a TON of serendipity to come true. It’s such a slim shot that I hope Myles Jones never even reads this post. It’s that crazy.

Ok, enough build up, let’s get to it.

Myles Jones Theory 101

Why am I assuming Jones would sit out MLL 2016?

Under the laws of my theory, Jones would have another goal in mind before he could play MLL, and that would be to enroll in Duke again next year, and make Duke’s legendary basketball team. Is this even possible? I don’t know, but it sure is tantalizing. Duke’s basketball team is obviously still highly elite, but I’m not so sure they couldn’t use another hard-working, athletic, and tough player to do the dirty work and be an emotional leader.

Jones happens to be a pretty solid basketball player, and he has size and athleticism to compete. What he has to his true advantage is the experience of playing FOUR YEARS of D1 men’s lacrosse. No other NCAA D1 basketball player has that kind of toughness. He is becoming more accustomed to being “the guy” now, and has shown he can also play other roles in past years. He is athletically diverse, and his game IQ is continuing to climb, even though it’s currently about as high as it gets in the college game.

While Myles Jones may not have been a Duke caliber basketball recruit out of high school, he just might be after his lacrosse career is over. His experience last year as a Tewaaraton contender showed him how to deal with pressure. This year, that pressure has only increased, and Jones continues to rise to the occasion. When you do as much as Jones is expected to do, and you still deliver, you’ve proven you can handle the pressure. Duke is a good lacrosse team, but Jones makes them a totally different monster and challenge.

With that kind of experience, Jones could be reasonably well-prepared for a run at making Duke’s basketball team. Does this even have a shot at happening? It’s WAY too early to even talk about it seriously, but a lacrosse guy can dream, can’t he? Follow on, this insane theory gets better.

We would have to assume that Jones spends the next Summer playing a lot of basketball. He finds a great coach who helps him get back into the speed of the court and playing at the D1 level. He makes the team at Duke next year (a spot magically opens up – serendipity!), Coach K needs an emotional worker, and over the course of the season, he finds ways to earn some minutes. With Jones supporting, and the other Blue Devils clicking, Duke has a great season, builds some hype, and enters March Madness with a shot at the title.

Now, the stage is set for potential adversity, or greatness. It’s the kind of moment sports networks pray for quietly. Maybe a star gets injured, and Jones’ minutes begin to spike. He hits a shot to beat Michigan State in OT on the weekend anniversary of his 11 point performance against UNC on the lacrosse field. ESPN pumps the story of a lacrosse player who found the game of basketball all over again, and then the NBA comes calling because the story is just too potent to ignore. A 12th man spot on a struggling team? Why not? Everyone has to sell tickets!

So, Jones makes an NBA team, and is low on the roster, earning that 12th man spot. His hunger for involvement, and contact, eats away at him. He asks his coach if he can play pro lacrosse during the Summers as long as it doesn’t conflict with the basketball stuff. The coach’s son plays lacrosse (serendipity!), and convinces his dad to say yes. Eventually he earns more minutes on the court, and continues to play MLL.

Jones then becomes the first two-sport professional athlete that EVERYONE knows about since Deion Sanders and lacrosse becomes more popular and respected amongst the general sporting community. Oh, and Nike signs him and pumps the heck out of him as the next Bo Jackson. Bo knows Myles, etc.

A pro football player, like, I don’t know… Chris Hogan… then decides to do the same thing, and all of a sudden lacrosse is everywhere. Interest in the sport from the football and basketball communities increases, and boom, we’re in serious business. Lacrosse becomes mainstream, and the deal is done.

See I told you this was crazy… And I TOLD YOU I didn’t want Myles Jones reading this! Why did you share it with him? Stop tagging people on social media, you kids.

Obviously the chances of this happening are next to zero, and it’s way too much pressure for any college kid to handle. So Myles, if someone DID tell you to read this, and then you did, I am SORRY. I don’t mean to put this on your shoulders. It’s just if anyone could do it, I think it’s going to be you. No pressure though, seriously. Go play MLL and have fun, I don’t know what I was thinking.

Or…

Myles Jones: The Making of a Dominant Physical Presence

Myles Jones has always been the biggest player on his team, whether it was football or lacrosse. At 6-foot-5, he towered over opponents in lacrosse during his time at Walt Whitman High School and entered his college career at Duke weighing 235 pounds — without ever spending much time in the gym.

Jones was too busy with lacrosse to take part in workouts with the football team. So when he had to transition to a Division I regimen, it wasn’t easy.

VITALS

Myles Jones
Team USA/Chesapeake Bayhawks

No. 15
College: Duke ’16
Position: Midfield
Height: 6-5
Weight: 240
Squat: 500
Bench: 340
Power Clean: 320

“When I got to college, it was kind of a shock for me,” he said. “There was a lot of terminology I had no idea about. I had no idea what a power clean was. I had no idea what a clean was. All I knew was the bench press, squat, curl and the dead lift. There were a lot of things that I had to learn when I got to college, but then it became fun, because it was something new to me.”

It didn’t take long for Jones to develop a passion for the weight room. He realized that the more work he put into his workouts, the more intimidating he could be on the field — and that made for a scary proposition for opponents.

After he finished his career at Duke with an NCAA title and as a two-time Tewaaraton finalist, Jones still weighed 235 pounds. Much of that weight, though, came from his muscle mass. He consulted with experts in the field of exercise science to help him maintain his shape and prevent injuries.

Jones’ professional career got off to a slow start, but he has flourished with Major League Lacrosse’s Chesapeake Bayhawks and was the MLL All-Star Game MVP. He has an endorsement deal with adidas and qualified for the 2018 U.S. training team.

And he’s still the tallest player on the field.

“I had no idea what a power clean was. I had no idea what a clean was. All I knew was the bench press, squat, curl and the dead lift. There were a lot of things that I had to learn when I got to college, but then it became fun.”

Power Snatch

Works on … Lower body and traps
Helps with … Explosiveness
Jones does … 5 sets of 5 reps with 225 pounds

1. Set up. Grip the bar wide with your hips low and your back flat.

2. For the first pull, deadlift the bar with speed until it reaches just above your knees.

3. For the second pull, explode and shrug the bar and let your elbows float high.

4. Reset.

For Gym Mice

Jump off a bench, land in a deep squat position and then jump as high as you can. Tutorial by Blue Streak Sports Training at uslaxmagazine.com/fuel.

Pull-Ups

Works on … Back, biceps and forearms
Helps with … Strength
Jones does … 4 sets of 6-10 reps

1. Dead hang from the bar with your arms fully extended​

2. Pull up fast, but smoothly, without using your legs or hips for momentum.

3. Hold for one second at the top.

4. Hold a three-second negative on the way down.

5. Hang for one second, then repeat.

For Gym Mice

Hand underneath the parallel bars at the playground and pull yourself up. Tutorial by Blue Streak Sports Training at uslaxmagazine.com/fuel.

Men’s lacrosse: Syracuse scorches Myles Jones, Duke defense in win

After being destroyed in Durham last year, Syracuse exacted its revenge on Sunday by dominating Duke and shutting down arguably the country’s best player, midfielder Myles Jones.  

Now the only remaining undefeated team in the country, No. 1 Syracuse (7-0, 2-0 ACC) defeated the two-time defending national champion, 19-7, at the Carrier Dome. 

“I was really happy with the performance of our team,” Syracuse head coach John Desko said. “I think we just played well from one end of the field to the other, like the opposite of what we did when we went down to Duke last year, so we feel really good about a team that’s getting better and better this year.” 

Coming into the game, Myles Jones was the leading point-scorer in the ACC and had scored a hat trick in every game except for one. 

Against the Orange, though, he scored no goals and assisted on only one with 6:26 left in the 3^rd quarter when the Blue Devils were trailing 14-1. 

“A player like Jones, you got to really slide hard or else you are probably going to get knocked over yourself,” SU defender Brandon Mullins said. “We knew we had a good midfield and we were going to slide pretty early to them. I think our game plan was pretty successful.” 

Thanks to the excellent play of Syracuse face-off man Ben Williams, who is second nationally in face-off win percentage, the Orange won the first seven draws and limited Jones’ ability to possess the ball on offense. After 10:07 of the game, the Orange had a 5-0 lead and the Blue Devils had only one offensive possession. 

“It’s night and day,” Mullins said of the advantage provided by face-off wins. “When we are winning a lot, it keeps our legs fresh in there defensively so that when they do get the ball, we can slide fast and recover and really play fast.” 

By the time the Blue Devils (7-2, 0-1 ACC) finally had opportunities to score, Jones started forcing the ball and dodging into multiple defenders instead of staying calm and making the smarter play, according to Duke head coach John Danowski. 

With an onslaught of five goals in 10 minutes and 13 by the end of the first half, the Orange’s unrelenting scoring pace put non-stop pressure on Jones to score, forcing Jones to play that way.  

The Orange scored at that pace without senior starting attackman Randy Staats, who ranks in the top 20 in the NCAA in points per game and is on the Tewaaraton watch list. 

“We all needed to bring our A game today,” SU senior attackman Kevin Rice said. “I thought Timmy Barber did a really good job stepping in. He had the diving goal. He was great on ground balls and riding. I thought everyone just came focused and ready to play.” 

Desko said Staats suffered a lower body injury during the first quarter of last weekend’s victory against John Hopkins. He said Staats should only be out another week or two before returning and is doubtful to play next week at Notre Dame. 

Part of the reason Syracuse was able to have such success on offense even without Staats was the Blue Devils’ extremely aggressive defense, which Rice said caters to the way his team likes to work on offense. 

“They come out and they play you anywhere on the field,” Rice said. “With our motion offense, that is sort of what we want. We want to be able to put people around and lead defenders where we want to take them.”

Myles Jones Is the Future of Lacrosse

Reginald Jones remembers the day he realized that his tall, gifted son was going to need a new sport.

“Myles’s last AAU tournament was at Rutgers,” said Reginald. “I looked around and we have 300 black dads in the stands, and everyone thinks their kid is going to the NBA. I was looking around, thinking, ‘I got up at 5 AM and drove to Jersey for this?'”

Myles, then in junior high, was playing with kids two years older in Long Island’s famously stacked AAU leagues. But no matter how well Myles played, Reginald could never get comfortable with the sacrifices basketball demanded.

“The culture of basketball and football had very low graduation rates,” said Jones. “The reason I know this is I was a part of that culture.”

Read More: Hampton University’s Lacrosse Team Aims to Break Stereotypes

In the stands at Rutgers, he had a vision of Myles going on that same path.

“After the game, we usually would stop for dinner. I kept on driving back to Long Island,” said Reginald. “We needed a new sport. We had heard lacrosse, but didn’t know much.”

Now, a decade later, Myles Jones is a senior at Duke, an All-American, and a leading candidate for the Tewaaraton Trophy, lacrosse’s Heisman. A 6’5”, 240-pound midfielder with track-star speed, Jones scored a team-high 77 points last year. In an early-season test for the No. 3 Blue Devils last weekend, he led the team with a hat trick and two assists in a 14-12 loss to No. 2 Denver.

Late last month, he was the No. 1 pick in the Major League Lacrosse college draft. The Atlanta Blaze, an MLL expansion team that will begin play this spring, made Jones their first-ever selection—the instant face of the franchise and, to an extent, the league.

Jones is expected to make an immediate impact on the field for Atlanta. Beyond that, MLL officials view the Duke All-American as a possibly transformative figure for the sport: an African-American superstar in an overwhelmingly white game.

Which is exactly what Jones wants to be.

“It’s always been something I had this vision of, what I would mean to the game of lacrosse and what I would mean to the kid from an urban area who maybe was kind of discouraged by lacrosse or didn’t have the opportunity to play,” Jones says. “I think the African-American community in urban areas is really excited about the game, but seeing a face that’s like them will give those kids some energy to want to go out and throw a ball against the wall.”

The power of a superstar to drive public interest is well understood by MLL’s founder, Jake Steinfeld, the eponymous pitchman and self-made fitness guru behind “Body By Jake.” Steinfeld built a fitness and media empire in the 80s and 90s based mostly on his face and buoyant personality.

“He’s got a lot riding on him, not for us but for him, for the brand of Myles Jones,” Steinfeld says. “Because it could be huge. I hope he knows he can be the beginning of something great in terms of diversity in our sport. “

Like Jones, Steinfeld played high school lacrosse on Long Island before taking up bodybuilding at the dawn of the fitness era. His big break came when Ted Turner, a fitness client, asked Steinfeld to do one-minute fitness spots for his new network, CNN, which Steinfeld cast with Playboy Playmates, provided by another client, Hugh Hefner. In 2001, after selling much of his fitness interests, Steinfeld launched MLL with a partner, believing that his boyhood sport had reached a cultural tipping point.

Lacrosse has indeed grown quickly in recent years, particularly in the South and West. In 2015, 22 states sanctioned lacrosse as a full varsity high school sport, including California, Florida, and Colorado. MLL, meanwhile, has had hits and misses: franchises in California failed to find an audience, but the league has a stable core of teams in New England and a thriving Western team in Denver. As the league follows the sport’s migration South, Steinfeld says, it needs stars who can resonate in lacrosse’s new, diverse markets.

“I run into people, they’ll say, ‘Oh, you founded the MLL, isn’t that just a Northeastern game?’ I wanna hit somebody when I hear that, you know?” Steinfeld says. “With what is happening with football and the concussion issue, we have a real opportunity to grow the game in these new areas.”

Atlanta is MLL’s third Southern expansion team, joining clubs in Charlotte and Boca Raton, but the players who pick up the game as kids, fill out elite college rosters, and make it to the pros still tend to emerge largely from affluent, overwhelmingly white leagues in the Northeast.

“It’s as bad as the Academy Awards,” Steinfeld says. “It’s silly, but you know what? I was just out at a tournament my 14-year-old son played in. Thousands and thousands of people were there in Palm Springs. And maybe there were 20 black families. That’s wrong. It’s really wrong.”

Jones is not MLL’s first potential non-white superstar. Last year’s No. 1 draft pick, Lyle Thompson, is Onondagan and, along with his brother Miles, is among the sport’s most popular players. Kyle Harrison, a former Johns Hopkins player and a MLL All-Star in 2015, is black.

While lacrosse continues to grow as a college sport, the explosive growth in youth and high school participation has shown signs of leveling off in recent years. To reverse that trend, Steinfeld says, the sport needs new faces for a new audience.

“If the sport succeeds, MLL succeeds,” he says. “In order for the game to grow, it has to reach everywhere, and ‘everywhere’ leads us to Myles Jones.”

Lyle Thompson, left, in the NCAA quarterfinals last year. Photo by Chris Humphreys-USA TODAY Sports

If Jones arrives in MLL as a ready-made role model, it will be because Reginald raised him that way.

“He comes from a family of giants,” Reginald says. “I’m only 5-foot-11, but both my family and his mother’s family are giants. His grandfather was 6′ 7”.”

As early success in sports came easy and Myles grew bigger and faster than his peers, Reginald peppered his son with cautionary tales from his own youth. During the mid-1980s, as Reggie worked his way up in Long Island basketball circles, he says he watched a handful of his peers get recruited by Division I schools. None ever got a degree, Jones says, or made the NBA. Several wound up in jail.

These were the stories Reginald made sure Myles heard over and over. There was Derek Brower, who led North Babylon High School to a state title in 1983 and who played at Syracuse but by 1990 was in prison for trafficking cocaine. And his Babylon teammate, Russell Pierre, who washed out of both North Carolina State and Virginia Tech before pleading guilty to charges of federal housing fraud.

“I call them the Long Island Class of ’85 and ’86,” Reginald says. “There were about 10 cats from Long Island. None of them graduated. And nobody cares, because they have the next new freshman coming up behind you.”

Jones at the 2013 championship game. Photo by Rich Barnes-USA TODAY Sports

After that AAU tournament in junior high, Myles picked up lacrosse—a sport his friends were already playing. As he moved up through club teams, the sidelines where Reginald found himself looked nothing like the Rutgers gym.

“We’re walking into wherever the tournaments were, in Pennsylvania or wherever, we’re the only black family in the hotel,” Reginald recalls. “And my son is 6’2”, so he’s the target. There were certain things you notice with refs, with head checks or whatever. Those things were subtle and you’re going crazy because your kid is getting slashed to the face and no one is calling it. I mean, I’ve gotten thrown out of games and tournaments.

“But what’s fun is it provided like 9,000 teachable moments. I would tell him, ‘It’s me and you against all of them. I got your back, what are you going to do?'”

Myles thinks Reginald probably dealt with more off-color comments on the sidelines than he ever had to on the field, where, after all, both the rules and physics of lacrosse provide 6-foot-5, well-built midfielders with a wide range of responses to mouthy opponents. But he knew that with dominance comes attention.

Myles with the next generation of lacrosse players. Courtesy Reginald Jones.

“My whole thing was to see the bigger picture,” Myles says. “If there was someone who came to watch me for the first time, or if they saw it without sound and understanding the emotion, all they would see was me reacting.”

By the middle of high school, Jones was a three-sport star in Huntington. As the school’s quarterback, he was named All-County as a junior; in basketball, he graduated as the school’s all-time leading scorer. But knowing it was better to be a big fish in lacrosse’s smaller pond, Jones skipped his senior year in football to concentrate on lacrosse and, despite scholarship offers from most lacrosse powers his senior year, he spent a post-grad year in prep school to improve his grades for admission to Duke.

In Durham, Jones sparked the Blue Devils to national championships in both his freshman and sophomore years, and was named the country’s top midfielder as a junior. Unsurprisingly, there is no shortage of Vines and YouTube videos of Jones bulling his way to a goal past three, four, or five defenders from what in his path looks like a harmless youth team but is in fact, say, Harvard.

During the off-season at Duke, Jones has headlined camps and clinics in Harlem, Brooklyn, and inner-city Baltimore, where majority-black high schools with no lacrosse programs sit within a few miles of elite private schools cranking out dozens of Division I prospects a year.

“Being from Long Island, it’s easy to go to the urban areas of New York and bring my experience and talk to them about playing the game,” says Jones. “One thing I always tell them is what an opportunity this game can be. Someone asked me to play in sixth grade and I was like, ‘OK, I’ll give it a try.’ Fast-forward seven or eight years later, here I am. I always try to tell them there are lots of schools adding teams and when one pops up, that’s 45 slots. Why not you?”

Myles Jones rumors, news and stories [Top 20+ latest articles]

90,000 Myles Jones – Russian

When using text, please include a link to this page.

Miles Jones (born March 15, 1993) is an American professional lacrosse player at the Redwoods Lacrosse Premier Lacrosse League and the New York National Lacrosse Riptide. He attended Walt Whitman High School at Huntington Station in New York, completed his graduate studies at Salisbury School in Salisbury, Connecticut, and played collegiate lacrosse at Duke University.

career MLL

Jones Selected First Overall in Major League Lacrosse Draft After just two games with Atlanta, he was traded to the Chesapeake Bayhawks along with a 2017 second-round college pick for Atlanta midfielder Matt Macrides and Chesapeake in the first round of the college draft. in 2017. Chesapeake Bayhawks
Jones was selected for the 2017 Major League Lacrosse All-Star Game.

Career PLL

In October 2018, it was announced that Jones is one of over 140 signers to play in the newly formed Lacrosse Premier League.Jones was selected to compete for the 2019 PLL All-Star Team Baptiste.
On February 29, 2020, Jones was traded from Chaos to Redwood in exchange for Sergio Salsido and a second round pick in the 2020 PLL College Draft.

NLL career

Jones was in the fourth round with the New England Black Wolves in the 2016 NLL Draft, but he never played for the team, citing unfamiliarity with indoor play. On September 13, 2019, his rights were traded for the New York Riptide expansion, along with Ryan Fournier and the 2019 NLL’s 24th overall pick, in exchange for Jordan Dunston.On January 20, 2020, Jones signed with Riptid of the National Lacrosse League for a defending trainee player, and made his NLL debut five days later. New York Riptid New York Riptid

Awards and Achievements

College

Winner 2013 NCAA Division I Men’s Lacrosse Championship (Duke)
2014 NCAA Division I Men’s Lacrosse Championship, Winner (Duke)
2014 USILA Second Team All-American
2015 USILA First Team All American
2015 Lieutenant Donald McLaughlin Award Junior
2016 First USILA Team All-American
2016 Lieutenant.Donald McLaughlin Jr. Prize

Professional

2019 PLL All Stars

Statistics

PLL

MLL

NLL

NCAA

Confirmations

On August 10, 2016, it was announced that Jones had signed a multi-year contract with Adidas.

Text on this page is based on translation of the Wikipedia page Myles Jones

Material used under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License

90,000 100th Anniversary of Dave Brubeck: How an intellectual jazzman formed and how he made his way to Russia

• Alexander Kahn
• Cultural Observer

December 6, 2020

Photo by Andrew Lepley / Getty Images

Photo caption,

Dave Brubeck, 90, attends the Reading, Pennsylvania Jazz Festival. March 1, 2011

December 6 marks the 100th anniversary of the birth of Dave Brubeck, an American pianist and composer, one of the most popular, famous, widely loved and, without exaggeration, the great jazz musicians.

In the brightest galaxy of truly great figures in the history of American jazz (Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Charlie Parker, Ella Fitzgerald, Miles Davis, John Coltrane – the list goes on) Dave Brubeck is aptly described by the expression “white crow” …He is one of the few (along with Benny Goodman and Glenn Miller) white jazzmen universally and undeniably ranked among the greats.

Moreover, although Brubeck was certainly brought up on African American music, which entered his flesh and blood and became the foundation of his own musical creativity, he equally absorbed the influences of the European classical tradition – Igor Stravinsky, Arnold Schoenberg, Darius Millau – and became thus a unique, at least for its time, example of the synthesis and fusion of two great musical traditions.Brubeck’s legacy, along with the masterpieces of jazz composition (Time Out, Blue Rondo a la Turk), includes orchestral pieces, cantatas, oratorios and concerts, placing him among the significant composers of the twentieth century.

Almost random musician

It is striking that for a long time in his childhood and youth he did not even think about the fate of a musician. Yes, his mother studied music, for some time dreamed of becoming a concert pianist and, having already started a family and children, worked part-time, giving private piano lessons.Little by little she taught Dave to play, not bothering him especially with musical notation.

Brubeck himself, however, unlike his two older brothers who chose the musical path from childhood, played at dance evenings a couple of times, firmly followed the path of his father, a farmer who raised cattle on a family farm in California. In 1938, on the eve of his 18th birthday, he entered the Pacific College (now the University) in Stockton, California to study veterinarian. So, in all likelihood, he would have followed the path of a cowboy-cattle breeder, if not for an accidental coincidence – the veterinary department was right next to the music department, Dave began to visit it more and more often, and the maternal genes gradually began to defeat the paternal ones – so much so that it became obvious to those around him.”Dave, your thoughts are not here, – he recalls the words of the teacher of zoology, – go to the next building next year”.

At first, the music was easy for him: he mastered the brass and reed wind instruments, from the fly, by ear catching the pieces learned in the classroom. However, he put off piano lessons in every possible way, realizing that they would reveal his terrible secret – he almost did not know the notes. “In my senior year, when it was impossible to postpone it any longer, the piano teacher split me in five minutes and, of course, immediately, indignant, reported this to the dean,” says Brubeck.“We cannot give you a diploma,” the dean said to Brubek, who was summoned to his carpet. “Well, okay,” he replied nonchalantly. “Don’t you care?” – “No, anyway I want to play only jazz, and I don’t need your notes for that.”

However, Brubeck’s talent in counterpoint, harmony and especially improvisation was so obvious that when the other teachers heard that they were going to expel him, they defended him. “The teacher of solfeggio,” Brubeck recalls, “went to the dean and said:“ You are making a mistake, Brubeck is one of my best students.In addition, to some extent he owns the notes. “The dean again calls me to him:” You know, they still speak well of you. If you are ready to promise me that you will never teach and thus disgrace our faculty, I am ready to let you graduate. “-” I promise, I will never teach, “Brubeck answered readily.

In 1942, having received an ill-fated diploma, Brubeck enlisted in the army, where he immediately got into a military band.In 1944, however, he was already an ordinary shooter landed with the Allied troops in Normandy, where music literally saved his life.His part was to be sent to the front line to participate in heavy battles in the Ardennes with the advancing Germans, when pianists were suddenly required for a Red Cross concert. Brubeck volunteered and made such a vivid impression that he was immediately recalled from the unit and instructed to form a new orchestra. In his first band, called the Wolfpack (Wolf Pack), he, despite the racial segregation that reigned in the American army at that time, included both white and black musicians.He even refused the officer’s rank, as it meant parting with his musicians. One of these musicians was the saxophonist Paul Desmond – later, for many years, Brubeck’s closest partner and ally.

To splash out the war

Photo author, Mondadori Portfolio / Getty Image’s

Photo caption,

Brubeck in the 1950s

In 1946, after demobilization, he entered graduate school at Mills College in California, where he was his teacher became French Jewish composer Darius Millau, who fled the Nazis to America in 1940.Compensating for his inadequate classical school, Brubeck passionately strove to master harmony and counterpoint to perfection and become a real academic composer. However, Millau, who in the 1920s became acquainted with jazz and fell in love with improvisational music, convinced Brubeck that the only original form of American music was jazz and that his talented student should move in this direction.

Without stopping his classics, Brubeck founded his first jazz line-up.His music was highly unorthodox, combining avant-garde academic influences with the frustrations of a soldier who had survived the war. “I played like crazy, in two keys at the same time, the music sounded pretty wild. Through the piano, I tried to throw out, throw the war out of myself. My furious playing was a reaction to what I went through, to what the world went through.” At the same time, under the influence of his studies with the German composer Arnold Schoenberg, who also emigrated to the United States, he wrote his first classical work – the oratorio “Light in the Dark”, which traces the serial composition technique developed by Schoenberg.

It is not surprising that in the first post-war years, when jazz was still far from both the “third movement” that appeared a decade later – the fusion of jazz and the classics, and the avant-garde that emerged at the turn of the 1950s-1960s, such an approach could not lead Brubeck to success … Sporadic performances in jazz clubs in California brought pennies, and in order to support the family that had already appeared by that time, they had to take on any musical and even non-musical work, up to delivering dinners to offices, work.

Nevertheless, in the late 1940s he managed to release three LPs of his ensemble for the small independent label Fantasy. However, they did not have much success.

Intellectual jazzman

In 1951 Brubeck renewed contact with his old army comrade Paul Desmond. Airy, slightly phlegmatic, but at the same time exquisite and soulful Desmond’s alto saxophone, on the one hand, contrasted, on the other, it perfectly complemented Brubeck’s structured, rationally arranged improvisations.

Photo author, Bettmann / Getty Images

Photo caption,

Paul Desmond and Dave Brubeck. Late 1940s

In the absence of a professional manager at first, Brubek’s wife Aiola played this role. She sent letters to hundreds of universities offering performances by the quartet to student associations.

Photo author, Santi Visalli

Photo caption,

With his wife Aiola. 1974

It was these university performances that led to the growing popularity of the Brubeck-Desmond quartet among the students, and the successful selling records of these concerts “Jazz at Oberlin” and “Jazz at the College of the Pacific”, regularly published by Fantasy Records, eventually led to the fact that in 1954 Brubeck was paid attention to and offered him a contract by Columbia – the largest and most reputable record company in the United States.But the first Columbia release of “Jazz Goes to College” was also a recording of university concerts.

Brubeck’s music perfectly corresponded to the spirit of the 1950s. On the one hand, it had the musical sophistication and explosive energy of b-bop, which had already received recognition after the decline of the purely dance swing prevailing in the 30-40s, on the other hand, it was distinguished by the academic sophistication and refinement perceived by Brubeck from his conservative teachers.

Unlike his fellow jazzmen of the mid-1950s – Charlie Parker, Miles Davis, Thelonious Monk – Brubeck not only did not suffer from alcohol and drug addiction, but also avoided the typical jazz spree.Coupled with the “professorial” appearance of an intellectual wearing glasses invariably dressed in a strict suit, all this made him the idol of American intellectuals.

Already in 1954 Brubeck – only the second jazz musician after Louis Armstrong – was honored to appear with his portrait on the cover of Time magazine. Brubeck himself was clearly embarrassed by this honor, he considered it excessive, or at least premature. He was convinced that he was given preference only because he is white, and in fact, Duke Ellington deserved such recognition.Certainly, there was some truth in this, still quite racist America. Brubeck recalls that he and Duke were on the same tour then, Ellington knocked on the door of his hotel room and handed him a magazine. Brubeck could only say, “It should have been you.”

Photo by Bill Wagg / Getty Images

Photo caption,

Brubeck’s Classical Quartet. From left to right: drummer Joe Morello, saxophonist Paul Desmond, Dave Brubeck, double bass player Eugene Wright. 1960

A passionate fighter against racial segregation, Brubeck was from the army times and categorically refused to play in places where his black double bass player Eugene Wright did not want to enter a restaurant or hotel.

Jazz diplomacy and new rhythms

It was America’s negative reputation as a country of racial segregation that forced the American authorities to launch in 1956 the so-called Jazz Ambassadors – “Ambassadors of Jazz” program.

The idea of ​​a completely propaganda program was that the country’s leading jazz musicians: Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Dizzy Gillespie, Benny Golson – went on a tour of America as “ambassadors” to various countries of the world and refuted the the criticism of racial inequality and racial problems in the United States, which tarnished America’s image in the Third World.

Among the “ambassadors of jazz” – the only mostly white cast, in which there was only one African American, double bass player Eugene Wright – was the Brubeck quartet. The musicians have visited the GDR, Poland, Turkey, Afghanistan, India, Sri Lanka, Iran and Iraq.

For Brubeck himself, this tour became the source of a truly revolutionary musical discovery that changed not only the musician’s fate, but the entire evolution of jazz music. Here is how in his book “1959: The Year That Changed Everything” what happened to Brubeck on this tour is described by the American critic and cultural scientist Fred Kaplan:

“One morning, walking around Istanbul, Brubeck heard a group of street musicians playing very quickly with an exotic rhythm and syncopation.The rhythm was nine-eighths – an extremely unusual time signature for Western music. That same evening, Brubeck went to the local radio station, where he was to give an interview and play with her orchestra. Brubeck came just at the moment when the musicians had a break from rehearsals. He told them about the unusual rhythms he heard on the street and asked if they knew what it was. He sang a melody, some musicians immediately picked it up, painted with counterpoints and improvisation. It turned out that this is a Turkish folk melody, widely known in Turkey. “

Upon their return home, Brubeck’s quartet with saxophonist Paul Desmond, double bass player Eugene Wright and drummer Joe Morello recorded in 1959 a magnificent album Time Out based on the new rhythm. At the same time, in 1959, two compositions from this album: Desmond’s Take Five as side A and Blue Rondo a la Turk, inspired by Brubeck’s Turkish experience, as side B were released as a single. Both were written in an extremely unusual and unusual rhythm for jazz: Take Five as 5/4 (hence the name), and Blue Rondo a la Turk in an exotic 9/8.All other compositions of the album were written in the same non-standard rhythmic structures.

Unusual in the album was the design, made in the style of the then fashionable abstract expressionism by the Japanese-born artist-designer Neil Fujita.

In May 1961, the single was reissued for radio transmission and for play on the incredibly popular jukebox jukeboxes at the time. And then, unexpectedly, an incredible success awaited him. An instrumental jazz composition with an unusual rhythm reached the 21st place in the pop charts (!) Of Billboard magazine, and in the Easy Listening category it even reached the 5th place.Jazz pieces have not had such commercial success since the worldwide popularity of swing and large orchestras in the 1930s and 1940s, when jazz played the role of the world’s main popular music. Moreover, Take Five has since remained the most commercially successful single in jazz history, with hundreds of cover versions, it has been featured in many movies, and in 1996 the play was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.

Photo by Mike Ehrmann / Getty Images

Photo caption,

Many generations of jazz musicians consider Dave Brubeck to be their teacher.Pictured here with the famous trumpeter and composer Winton Marsalis at the Kennedy Center in Washington. January 19, 2009

The album Time Out led to not only all-American, but truly worldwide popularity of Brubeck. And both pieces from the single entered the golden fund of jazz standards and still remain the hallmark of the musician and composer duo of Dave Brubeck and Paul Desmond.

Photo author, MANDEL NGAN / AFP

Photo caption,

President Barack Obama welcomes the Kennedy Center Prize laureates to the White House.From left to right: actor, director and producer Mel Brooks, Dave Brubeck, opera singer Grace Bumbri. December 6, 2009

Russian communications

Once in the orbit of the “Ambassadors of Jazz” program, Brubeck dreamed of visiting the Soviet Union as well. Intriguing rumors reached him that Take Five was very popular behind the Iron Curtain. Jazz lovers record it from the Voice of America broadcasts and distribute it across the country using some mysterious X-ray – “music on bones.”

But politics stubbornly hindered Brubeck’s meeting with his Soviet admirers. The first round, slated for 1980, was thwarted by the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, the boycott of the Moscow Olympics, and a sharp deterioration in Soviet-American relations.

The deterioration lasted for years, all official contacts, including cultural ones, were curtailed, but the State Department nevertheless sent jazzmen to the USSR – Benny Golson, Chick Corea, Gary Burton – who performed in front of a select small group of musicians and jazz lovers in residences the American ambassador in Moscow and the consul general in Leningrad.Among these already unofficial “ambassadors of jazz” Brubeck should have been. He and the musicians were already ready to board a plane in Paris, but the embassy informed him that all Soviet people who dared to come to his concerts would be rewritten and taken to the attention of the KGB. This was a common practice, but the embassy was obliged to warn Brubeck about this. Not wanting to put his fans in jeopardy, he refused the trip.

The first visit took place in the 1987 perestroika year, when cultural exchange between the USSR and the USA was resumed.The interest in touring was such that Brubeck’s chamber quartet (already, alas, without Paul Desmond who died in 1977) was offered, as he told Vladimir Pozner in an interview with Vladimir Pozner, 10 concerts at the stadium in Moscow. “But I don’t like to play in stadiums, I don’t like huge crowds of people. And as a compromise, we agreed that we would play five concerts in the Rossiya hall,” he recalled. In Leningrad, however, the State Concert managed to persuade Brubek after one concert in the three thousandth “Oktyabrsky”, the next three were held in the six thousandth indoor stadium “Yubileiny”.All with a full house. And after the concert, American and Soviet jazzmen played music together at a friendly jam session.

Photo author, Mary Ann Allin

Photo caption,

Jam session in a jazz club in the Leningrad House of Culture Moryakov. Dave Brubeck is at the piano, to his left is the drummer of his quartet Randy Jones, saxophonist Mikhail Kostyushkin and trumpeter David Goloshchekin. Right: double bass player Alexander Masharsky. 1987

And a year later Brubeck accompanied Ronald Reagan on his trip to the USSR and again performed in Moscow.

Another decade – in 1997 – another triumphant return. Not only with a jazz program, but also with the symphonic mass “Towards Hope!”, Which the Brubeck quartet performed with the Russian National Orchestra and the Yurlov Choir Capella.

Brubeck died on December 5, 2012, on the eve of his 92nd birth.

His 100th anniversary is widely celebrated in Russia as well. Three films translated into Russian have been prepared for the anniversary (the producers provide access to them through the cloud storage): watch “Brubeck in Leningrad.1987 “, a two-hour film about 1997 concerts” Brubeck Returns to Russia “and a half-hour interview that Vladimir Pozner took from Brubek in 1997. On October 7, 2020, an anniversary concert of the Russian National Orchestra was held at the Zaryadye Concert Hall in Moscow. Igor Butman’s quintet.

Butman and Brubeck were well acquainted – ever since the first tour of the American musician in Leningrad in 1987. And when Butman went to study in the United States, the recommendation of the great Brubeck helped him get a scholarship at the famous Berklee College of Music in Boston.

90,000 African American Music Month. Miles Davis

By the end of the 20th century, the musical world had already decided who should be considered icons of jazz music. Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Ella Fitzgerald, Thelonious Monk – these names no longer raised doubts about the importance of these persons in the formation of jazz. These musicians, along with Charlie Parker, Billie Holiday and John Coltrane, can be found in almost every ranking of the “best” and “most virtuoso” jazzmen.

From left to right – Thelonious Monk, Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington and Ella Fitzgerald

However, the honor of leading these lists and carrying the status of the most influential jazz musician is very often given to another jazzman.It is his album, Kind of Blue, that is ahead of other jazz compilations in the ranking of the best Rolling Stone albums; his composition So What is considered one of the most recognizable in jazz; and it was he, Miles Davis, who was voted the greatest jazzman of all time in a 2015 poll.

Miles Davis

Miles Davis, born in 1926 in Illinois, unlike many jazzmen of his era, grew up in a fairly well-to-do family. At the age of nine, Davis received his first trumpet as a gift – an instrument that determined the future career of the future jazz legend.In high school, he became part of the school orchestra and took part in music competitions, where, he said, he often faced prejudice because of his skin color.

The turning point was 1944. Billy Eckstine’s jazz band arrived in Illinois, featuring renowned virtuoso Dizzy Gillespie and future jazz icon Charlie Parker. Davis could not miss such an event: hoping to get to the rehearsal, he arrived with a trumpet at the Riviera club, where he was informed that the group’s trumpet player was ill and urgently needed a replacement.

Charlie Parker (left) and Dizzy Gillespie

After playing with Eckstein’s band for two weeks, Davis realized that the small town in Illinois and the local jazz bands were too small for him. Despite the desire of the mother, who dreamed of her son studying violin at Fisk University in Nashville, Davis decided to move to one of the jazz capitals of America.

“The birth of cool jazz”

Davis entered the New York Institute of Musical Arts (today it is known as the prestigious Juilliard School of Music).Although during this period the musician studied the classics of the 20th century with interest, jazz remained his main passion. In the early post-war years, Davis became “his” among the New York jazzmen. In order to devote all his free time to jam sessions in jazz clubs in Harlem, he dropped out of college and went on stage with Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie, who were already familiar to him.

Both of these musicians were at the forefront of the bebop genre, a style of jazz characterized by improvisation and an accelerated tempo.Demanding a much more virtuoso performance from musicians, bebop quickly turned into a kind of elite genre. The so-called “boppers”, with their virtuoso playing, tried to leave out non-professionals and white jazzmen, who had adopted the style of performance from African-American musicians. Although Davis was inferior in quality to the same Gillespie, he managed to write his name in the history of the formation of bebop. True, he did not stay in this genre for a long time.

Charlie Parker (left) and Miles Davis (right) at Three Deuces Bar in New York, 1947

It was from this moment that Davis’s musical “wandering” between jazz styles began, which continued until his death in 1991.Giving up on bebop, Davis put together a nonet (a nine-piece band) to work on a new sound. Commitment to his own musical vision was key for the musician: in 1948, in order to work in his jazz band, he turned down an offer to join the orchestra of the legendary Duke Ellington.

Together with arranger Gil Evans Davis managed to rework jazz music, giving it a softer and less harsh (compared to bebop) sound. By the end of the 1940s, cool jazz was born, which in the 1950s became one of the key jazz trends.Belatedly, in 1957, the album Birth of the Cool was released, which became, for many, the bible of cool jazz.

Boplicity from the album Birth of the Cool

The end of the 1940s in Davis’s biography turned out to be eventful and upheaval. In mid-1949 he returned from his first overseas trip to France. Paris made an indelible impression on the jazzman, changing, as Davis himself said, his view of the world forever. There he also met the singer and actress Juliette Greco, an affair with whom did not contribute to strengthening the already shaky marriage with his wife Irene Coughton.In the early 1950s, Davis left the family, leaving his wife with three children.

Juliette Greco

Depression, lack of work, addiction to alcohol and drugs did not contribute to the development of his career. While touring with Billie Holiday, he was arrested in Los Angeles on heroin possession charges.

Until 1954, Davis tried to fight heroin addiction with varying success: he went to his father in Illinois, and later moved to Detroit, away from New York, on the streets of which it was much easier to get drugs.

By the mid-1950s, Davis was able to return to work with even more enthusiasm than before. He put together his first “great quintet”, with which he reworked the sound of bebop into a style called “modal jazz”. In 1959, the album Kind of Blue was born – one of the most significant records in the history of the genre. Created, according to Davis, under the influence of the music of Maurice Ravel and Sergei Rachmaninoff, the album made a small revolution, having a significant impact on the repertoire of American jazz bars.

Miles Davis’s biggest hit – So What (Kind of Blue album)

Not everyone found it easy to play on the same stage with Davis. The musician was known for his sullenness and heavy temper. However, in the musical environment, he is widely recognized for his professionalism, innovative spirit and commitment to his view of music.

“When Miles Davis entered the hall, he turned his back on the audience, which was perceived as disrespectful,” recalled musician Bobby McFerrin.- But he did not pursue the goal of entertaining the public. He just wanted to play music. ”

Creating Genres

Davis did not stop at modal and cool jazz. Continuing his collaboration with Gil Evans, in the early 1960s he recorded the albums Miles Ahead and Sketches of Spain, which included a brass band. By the way, it was necessary to study at the Juilliard School – the albums recorded during this period demonstrated that jazz and classical music can harmoniously coexist.

In these albums, Davis flirted not only with classical music, but also with folk motives. Thus, the composition Alborada de Vigo is inspired by the melodies of the peoples of South America.

By the mid-1960s, Davis had already changed jazz enough, but the musician was now unstoppable. He was looking for new ways of sounding: Davis formed the second “great quintet” (whose work was perceived by many jazzmen as the standard of music) and even insisted on the “electrification” of his jazz bands, persuading musician Ron Carter to replace the double bass with a bass guitar.

The mid-1960s saw the rise in popularity of electronic instruments. So, in 1965, Bob Dylan shocked the American audience by appearing on stage with an electric guitar

The “electrification” of jazz coincided with a period in American music when jazz was gradually giving way to younger genres. Once again immersed in depression and again addicted to drugs (heroin was replaced by cocaine) Davis was still able to save his career from completion and, no less important, adapt his music to new realities.The jazzman burst onto the American scene with the albums In A Silent Way and Bitches Brew, which not only laid the foundation for the direction of fusion, but also instantly became its classics.

Moreover, some people call In A Silent Way a distant harbinger of the ambient genre, and the album Bitches Brew, i.e. The “bitch brew,” so delicately brewed by Davis at the intersection of genres, is often referred to as psychedelic music. This bold decision allowed the musician to enter jazz into the completely atypical era of hippies, the Vietnam War and the sound of the Woodstock Festival.

It was already difficult to recognize the musician himself as that jazzman from the Harlem bars of the 1940s; now, in all his style, Davis was more like Jimmy Hendrix (with whom he was also well acquainted and even planned a joint project until Hendrix’s death in 1970).

Miles Davis performing Bitches Brew in concert in Copenhagen, 1969

After prolonged depression and drug problems, Davis returned to the scene, bringing ideas for new genres.Album Tutu informed the music world about a new, completely eclectic style, which can be called funk rock jazz. Rock was replaced by the lightness of the 1980s, adding funk, pop and R&B elements to jazz.

Shortly before his death in 1991, Davis seemed determined to get back to basics. Davis took the stage with musician Quincy Jones to play his old hits, arranged by Gil Evans for the first time in thirty years. The return to the roots shocked the American public, accustomed to radical changes in the musician’s work.

Miles Davis and Quincy Jones concert, 1991

However, even such a triumphant finale could not question the musician’s innovative spirit. Even after his death, his music continued to respond to new trends. In 1992, Doo-Bop came out, the result of Davis’s collaboration with hip-hop musician Easy Mo B, who finished the unfinished tracks of the jazzman.

The synthesis of jazz and hip-hop proved to be another proof of Miles Davis’ ability to carry jazz through half a century, while carefully introducing elements of different eras into it.Creating new genres, Davis did not just keep up with the times – he was often one step ahead.

Essay Jazz Club

Price: 150,00 rub.

Anatoly Gerasimov – saxophonist, flutist, composer. One of the first Russian emigrants to succeed in the United States. A versatile musician, equally capable of performing both traditional styles of jazz (bebop, modal jazz) and the latest (jazz-rock, ethnic music, free jazz).

He graduated from a music school in the clarinet class, mastered the saxophone on his own, in the 60s he played in many Moscow bands, as well as in the big bands of Anatoly Kroll, Yuri Saulsky, Eddie Rosner, Boris Rychkov.Became famous after performing at the Moscow festival “Jazz-68”.

During his stay in Moscow with the orchestras of Duke Ellington and Ted Jones-Mel Lewis, he met American musicians who helped him find work after his arrival in the United States (1973). In 1974 he played in the Mercer Ellington Orchestra (the best solos on the All Too Soon disc), in 1975 – in the Ted Jones-Mel Lewis Orchestra, worked with Chet Baker, Jaco Pastorius, John Scofield, Alvin Jones, wrote music for film and television.In 1983 he moved to Paris, where he began collaborating with musicians of free jazz and ethno-jazz.

In 1995 he returned to Moscow and created a quartet (Yuri Pogiba – keyboards, Anton Revnyuk – bass guitar, Dmitry Sevastyanov – drums), performed at the festivals “Jazz Province-98” and “In Memory of Sergei Kuryokhin” (New York, 1998) …

In 1973 Gerasimov emigrated to the United States through Italy, where he played with the pianist Roman Mussolini (the son of the notorious Duce) and the outstanding clarinetist T.Scott. Once in New York, he quickly integrated into musical circles and was accepted into the Duke Ellington Orchestra, toured extensively in America and abroad. Collaborated with musicians of ensembles of Mercer Ellington, Ted Jones, Mel Lewis, Miles Davis, George Benson and others.

By the early 1980s, Gerasimov had achieved what no other Russian musician had ever achieved – he became a star of the New York jazz scene and was included in the famous encyclopedia Jazz Legends.

Recorded from a live concert at the Olimpiada 80 ‘”April 3, 2009.

Ingredient:

Anatoly Gerasimov – saxophone, flute, vocals
Anton Revnyuk – bass
Nikolay Sarabianov – guitar
Alexei Kravtsov Vlad Percussion – Percussion percussion

Miles Davis |

Like Leon Bloy, he could say, “I write love letters with a dead granite cube suspended from my little finger and seventy-seven gunners balancing on the tip of my nose …”There was, of course, nothing hopeless in the fate of Miles Devi Davis III. And it cannot be said that he was intimately familiar with severe poverty. Nevertheless, he was good at “measuring” his feelings and “measured out” each of his notes to the public with the avarice more characteristic of the ancient pamphleteer. Miles was the only jazz musician who could, in a furious impulse, begin to speak one of the most difficult languages, and then suddenly disappear into desperate silence. This quality, undoubtedly, became the pedestal of his legend.His fate was a brilliant trajectory of the “star” with an unparalleled sequence of all the stages necessary for the appearance of the legend. But maybe the only and last goal of the musician was the ability to hear his music only in his own head? And weren’t instruments, scores and sound at these moments superfluous for those who felt music in its purest form? Miles Davis is one of the most interesting musicians, with whom history has dealt rather harshly. Known to the general public due to not the strongest side of his multifaceted talent – the famous sound (it may have been nothing more than a skillful imitation of a horn or muff), thanks to the face of an angel that perfectly meets the aesthetic canons of “whites”, its own invasions in the field of rock and variety show, his clothes of a luxurious pimp – Miles, nevertheless, was able to succeed.But the secret of his appearance on the stage has always remained absolute. And he could leave this success when he wanted, for the sake of rapid walks among the most unbridled phantasms. Perhaps, in this furious laconicism of the indomitable pulsation of death, he saw the “targets” of the first notes of his works … Perhaps all his life he could not bear the fact that he was “black”, or, even worse, “black” and rich. And finally, a guess that is doomed forever to be just a guess: Miles knew he wasn’t the best.

In the field of trumpet playing (and Miles has always been more of a performer than a composer) in that era he was no worse or better than his competitors. Clark Terry, Dizzy Gillespie, Fate Navarro, Kenny Dorham, Clifford Brown, Freddie Hubbard, Lee Morgan, Little Booker and even poor Chet Baker all played as well as Davis, and sometimes better. As composers and sound “pioneers” Charlie Parker, Dizzy, Bud Powell, Mingus, Coltrane, George Russell and especially Monk were people “in their place”, while this “man-with-the-pipe” talent in areas that can rightfully be called “easy” and “invisible”.But Miles was a medium, a “catalyst”, an instinctive analyst of the extremes of good taste, a super-esthete. For him, music was not only a matter of taste. In jazz, Miles Davis was the last stylist. That is why everything that passed through him also in turn became one and only. “When someone plays with me, then later he becomes a leader. I say this not for a catchphrase, but because it is so, ”he wrote in his biography. Indeed, Miles Davis really “revealed” John Coltrane, Bill Evans, Philly Joe Jones, Paul Chambers, Wayne Shorter, Cannonbell Adderly, Tony Williams, Ron Carter, Chick Corea, John McLaughlin, Daht Jarrett, Dzheatt Harbey , Gil Evans and so on.It cannot be said that he “discovered” these musicians in its purest form, but he helped them become what we know them to be. Having a reputation (simplified and disseminated by the media) as a musician, “dragging death on the backs”, Miles, with the sound of his instrument, gave a certain sharpness to the playing of the group or ensemble. In his discography, you will not find solo works, duets and trios like Rollins or Monk. Miles loved to have a clan around him, a tribe. And if today some of his discs seem so restrained, it is only because at one time he knew how to select groups that excelled in his skill as a trumpeter in its purest form.In the entire history of post-Ellington jazz, there have been only two or three (maximum four or five) outstanding lineups. The first included Red Garland, Paul Chambers, Coltrane and Philly Joe Jones, with their variations of Bill Evans and Cannonbell Adderly (“Kind Of Blue”). Wayne Shorter-Herbie Hancock-Ron Carter-Tony Williams was another group of musicians who made a significant impact on jazz. In that era, they could only be overshadowed by the classical quartet, by the way, including Coltrane – Alvin Jones, Jimmy Garrison and McCoy Turner.But if this group was brilliant, first of all, in that it superbly “set off” the art of its leader (“Using sticks, I could make John fly, I helped him to keep his balance and gently lower himself,” said Alvin Jones), then Miles succeeded by collecting under one “roof” of the most diverse leaders, to make them equal. Everyone had a place and an opportunity to express themselves. Even the incomparable Coltrane could calmly give out his “bubbling” notes of improvisation for twenty-five to thirty minutes.After these passages, Miles asked, “Why have you been playing for so long?” And an embarrassed Coltrane replied, “I don’t know, I can’t stop.” Miles: “And why can’t you get that damn thing out of your lips?” This attitude allowed to maintain an atmosphere of competition all the time, similar only to that of Ellington in the era of Strayhorn. The apparent decline of Miles’ career occurred in the early seventies, when cooperation with groups of musicians lost all importance for him and sometimes he could not even remember the names of those with whom he had once played.Like a tightrope walker conducting a dialogue with death, he communicated with emptiness, closing more and more in hermeticism, the key to which only he owned. It was a difficult time for his audience, with the expectation of looking at their favorite artist, an artist just trying to survive … At times it seemed that he was striving to reach the moment when he could no longer remain young. Miles tried at all costs to preserve his individuality, his intransigence, slight madness and destructiveness. In the world of rock, whose short history was well known to him and clearly could not be compared with the history of the golden age of jazz, there were already many such characters – Kate Richard, Lou Reed, Vina Taylor, Nico … And yet, in comparison with jazz giants, they were all, sorry, Boy Scouts.Drugs in dozens of packages, lethal insanity (Monk, Powell), avalanche alcoholism, fears constantly flickering in the brain, degradation – for these people, all this has long become a daily banality, a familiar routine, however, always shrouded in the same famous furious sense of humor. Bud Powell, a pianist with a reputation for being a “giant,” once went on tour with a rookie bassist who was the epitome of the sugary fashion of the era. During all the performances, Bud smiled like a complete fool … The bassist, finally unable to bear it, politely and kindly asked: “Tell me Bud, what makes you smile like that all the time?” Bud Powell: “You.. ”

Everyone knows that the life of a jazzman is difficult, short and full of various pitfalls. Miles, however, managed to hold out more than many others, and the bitter question of duration was ridiculous to him. As funny as his favorite expression of those times, which he gave to both his friends and enemies – “mama’s ass.” Today, when so much water has flowed under the bridge since the days of our sincere youth, it is not difficult to understand the fierce callousness of this stone heart. Miles Davis was born in 1926 to a St. Louis super-bourgeois family.His dad, a dentist, had hair, which (along with his face) was inherited by his wealthy son. Some evil tongues argued that at the very beginning of their careers, it was this circumstance that had the most effect on women who came to see a charming musician playing his songs. However, in 1944, this by no means an outstanding trumpet player with a serious musical education arrives in New York to meet two of his idols – the body and head of a b-bop, a “revolution in action” – Parker and Gillespie.Bop is a very simple principle, very difficult to apply. It takes Tin Peng Ellie’s standard, a classic like “Cheerokee” or “Moonlight In Vermont,” and its chords are “enriched.” Then each of the soloists should improvise on these chords, on each of them, instead of repeating the theme, as was done before. The drummer sets the rhythm by extracting the “bomb” beats from his drums, while the large barrel is used only in the most extreme cases, while the cymbals play the exact role of a metronome.Add to this a bassist who plays one note less from time to time, but still retains the melody from the played sound “piece”. The result is a hallucinogenic tempo, systematically doubling, notes that sound “spacious” in the fullest sense of the word, constant modulation on complex chords (which Coltrane will ideally embody in his “Giant Steps”). The heroes who impeccably mastered this technique and “weighed down” with the revolutionary accompaniment of percussion, of course, were Parker, Gillespie and Powell, Kenya Clark.Monk was a composer, a theorist. Obviously, little Miles quickly adopted the musical (and not only) habits of his idols. But the level of his playing technique categorically did not allow him to shine in this style, especially at the moment when he replaced the epileptic gymnast Dizzy in the “Birds” group. It was at this moment that the first hints of his own theory were born in his seething brain. He, a man capable of getting out of any situation, having seen the gloomy Parker, immersed in drugs and alcohol, found his “emergency exit”.So Miles began to feed his weaknesses. Enrich yourself with your own inability. Either way, the ultra-sharp lightning-fast bebop notes never belonged to him, Miles was neither a braggart nor a perfect storyteller. B-bop is more than wonderful, but it’s just a way to rant … Besides, as in the days of philosophers who wrote works addressed to other philosophers, the complexity and richness of b-bop were incomprehensible to those who, by the nature of their professional activities, were not a musician.

It’s time to return to the melody, to the feeling, while remaining dry and precise, to completely abandon sentimentalism. Birth Of The Cool (1949), which was the beginning of a long collaboration with the genius arranger Gil Evans, also became a “modernized” tribute to Duke Ellington, who broke with bop aesthetics. Trumpet, horn, their luxurious and “cold” sound opened the disc, offering a new direction of movement for all those who considered bop overly elitist. Hearing this music, the jazzmen of the “West Coast” curled their lips and did not understand the meaning of what was proposed.The success he had found was tremendous, but Miles was no longer interested in it. He wanted to return to “heavier”, “blacker” musical ideas. This is how the famous quintet was born with Red Garland on the piano, Paul Chambers on bass, Philly Joe Jones on drums and lyric John Coltrane on a saxophone (at times he had to let go of the instrument to solve his many drug and alcohol problems). Miles admired Coltrane, but of course wanted him to be more disciplined.And yet this classic line-up – the true embodiment of sixties jazz – has become the group that has produced the most inimitable masterpieces (“Workin”, “Steamin”, “Relaxin”, “Cookin ‘With The Miles Davis Quintet”, “Round About Midnight”) and created a refined and elegant post-bop, unusually modern and unusually light … To counterbalance Coltrane’s free lyricism, “head psychologist” Miles “calls under his banner” the hard blues tenor CanNonbell Edderly.

90,000 Daryl Duke’s “Silent Partner” – Archive

Christmas Eve Miles Cullen (Elliott Gould),
issuing and accepting money in a small branch of a large Canadian bank,
accidentally finds out that someone is going to rob them.And what’s more, he guesses
who is a man working nearby as Santa Claus (Christopher Plummer). Miles like
would allow the robbery to take place, but the criminal takes the change, and he himself
becomes a hero and secret owner of 50 thousand dollars.

“The Silent Partner”
Partner “, 1978)
only talks about the bank and is ironically named a financial term, but also
owes its appearance to the magical world of finance. In the second half of the 1970s
the Canadian government, seeking to develop a frail national cinema,
introduced a scheme according to which investors, including foreign ones, could automatically return
all money invested in canadian cinema due to tax write-offs outside
depending on the fate of the painting.When, after a few years, they came to their senses, it was
a great many strange films (especially horror films) have already been released, among which, however, there are also pearls like “Partner”. Enterprising
the producers in this case were called Mario Cassar and Andrew Vine, and this is how
the epic story of their company Carolco Pictures, which released hits like the second Terminator, Rambo and
“Basic Instinct”, and then beautifully splurged on “Showgirls” and “The Island
thugs. “

• Photo: Carolco Pictures

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• Photo: Carolco Pictures

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• Photo: Carolco Pictures

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• Photo: Carolco Pictures

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They unearthed a novel by Danish writer Anders
Bodelsen, according to which a little-known film with Bibi was already shot in the late 60s
Andersson, and Curtis Hanson, future author of Los Angeles Secrets, adapted
its under the Canadian realities.Star Gould was discharged from Hollywood, from Canada
took the honored Plummer. According to the rules, the film crew was obligatory
the quota for Canadian citizens, so the director was also local – Daryl Duke,
who has worked on television almost all his life (which is sad – among the few
his films not only “Partner”, but also an excellent road movie “Day
Payback “with Rip Thorne). Young John starred in a small but colorful role
Candy. Another Canadian legend, Oscar Peterson, wrote the only one in his
life soundtrack for a feature film.

Gould, in his usual manner, is strange
teenage plastic surgery, resentfully pursed lips, laughing eyes under active
eyebrows – at first he plays a character in the spirit of Jack Lemmon. Miles – lonely
a clerk who breeds fish, solves chess puzzles and looks at
the same restless colleague (Englishwoman Suzanne York), with whom the married boss
not only is asleep, but also asks Miles to help them hide. Intrigue in
the fact that he does not want to be Jack Lemmon (who, however, also does not want to be
himself), and the robbery gives him that chance.It’s not just about money – everything
others begin to look at him with different eyes.

• Photo: Carolco Pictures

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• Photo: Carolco Pictures

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• Photo: Carolco Pictures

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• Photo: Carolco Pictures

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Contrasted with Gould’s restraint
Christopher Plummer, the unflappable sadist – a role written with a clear overlap,
but the result is almost convincing.Plummer seems to dye his eyelashes, rapes
girls, effectively changing clothes (not only in Santa Claus) and what not
does – this movie has the wildest scene in history featuring
aquarium.

This is primarily a thriller written and
filmed with devilish efficiency: in the way the gears turn harmoniously
plot, revealing all the new twists and turns and ironic rhymes, there is even something
slightly cold, foppishly professional. But the film saves from mechanicalness
the fact that there are absolutely all heroes in it, including not even the second, but tertiary ones,
made alive – everyone was not too lazy to come up with a couple of characteristic replicas or
just grimaces a little harder than it was possible.According to ideology, yes and
content “Partner” is close to noir – despite the deceptive lightness, cynicism
there is no less than in some “Double Insurance”. And at the same time in this
the film, with all its tax deductions, has a sincere love of cinema, and
sincere belief in people – that on occasion they are capable of anything.

90,000 Famous jazz musician Anatoly Gerasimov died

On the night of today, Anatoly Gerasimov, saxophonist, flutist and composer, one of the most famous Russian jazz musicians in the world, died in hospital at the age of 68, said art director of the Alexei Kozlov Jazz Club Araik Hakobyan.

The musician was born in Moscow in 1945. Following the clarinet studied by Anatoly Gerasimov at the music school, he independently mastered the saxophone and in the 1960s became a prominent figure on the Moscow jazz scene, playing in the big bands of Anatoly Kroll, Yuri Saulsky, Eddie Rosner and Boris Rychkov. Fame came to him after performing at the Jazz-68 festival.

In 1973, Anatoly Gerasimov emigrated to the United States, where he began playing with Roman Mussolini, Tony Scott, and soon in the Duke Ellington Orchestra, whose members he met during their Moscow tour.In the 1970s, Anatoly Gerasimov collaborated with musicians from the ensembles of Mercer Ellington, Ted Jones, Mel Lewis, Miles Davis, George Benson; played with Chet Baker, Jaco Pastorius, John Scofield, Alvin Jones and other outstanding jazzmen, toured a lot, wrote music for film and television.

By the beginning of the 1980s, Anatoly Gerasimov became almost the first Russian jazz musician to gain recognition abroad.