Emma-Jean Thackray

Dear Miles,
I discovered you by accident. As a naive thirteen year old I came across a track by mistake, not knowing how that one moment changed the trajectory of my life.
I was learning a brass band solo piece, Concerto de Aranjuez, and found your version on an illegal download site. “Who is this Miles Davis guy?” I asked. No-one in my provincial orbit knew your name, so I assumed you were just some guy, and that I discovered you. After that I looked for you in CD shops, piecing together bits of pocket money to buy your work and playing it on the Discman on the long walk home because I could no longer afford the bus.
I learnt the melody and solo of Four on my trumpet by ear because it stood out to me, not knowing it was an important part of the great American songbook, and not knowing I was already immersing myself in jazz training. I was already starting to write my own music, my own words, but you blew everything wide open and showed me a whole world of music that I hadn’t known. You made me want to play jazz.
You pushed boundaries, didn’t let anyone tell you what to do, but followed your own ear. Some people dug it, some people took a minute, some people never caught up. The most important thing was your own artistic integrity because that was everything to you, and I took that to heart. What would you be doing today if you were still here? I truly have no idea, but I know you wouldn’t be standing still, you’d be doing something groundbreaking and mixing things that people had previously thought shouldn’t be mixed to make something new. Would there be dance music textures? Drum and Bass, Jungle, or Techno underpinning improvisation? Blending modern groove with jazz harmony? Drum machines together with live instruments? Would you revisit your classic tunes and make them anew with the ear of a beat maker? Would you make the electric period actually electronic?
I don’t know what you’d be doing, but it doesn’t matter because I’m going to do that for you…