Marriage To Miles Davis
She met Miles Davis in 1967 and married him in September 1968. In just one year of marriage she influenced him greatly. The Miles Davis album Filles de Kilimanjaro includes a song named after her and her photo on the front cover. In his autobiography, Miles credited Betty with helping to plant the seeds of his future musical explorations by introducing the trumpeter to psychedelic rock guitarist Jimi Hendrix and funk innovator Sly Stone.
Miles believed that Hendrix and Betty had an affair which supposedly hastened the end of their marriage, but Betty denies this. Hendrix and Miles stayed close after the divorce, planning to record until Hendrix's death. The influence of Hendrix and especially Sly Stone on Miles Davis was obvious on the album Bitches Brew, which ushered in the era of jazz fusion. The origin of the album's title is unknown, but some believe Miles was subtly paying tribute to Betty and her girlfriends. In fact, it is said that he originally wanted to call the album Witches' Brew — it was Betty who convinced him to change it.
Read more about this topic: Betty Davis
Famous quotes containing the words miles davis, marriage, miles and/or davis:
“A legend is an old man with a cane known for what he used to do. I’m still doing it.”
—Miles Davis (1926–1991)
“But most thro’ midnight streets I hear
How the youthful Harlots curse
Blasts the new-born Infants tear
And blights with plagues the Marriage hearse”
—William Blake (1757–1827)
“But the flower leaned aside
And thought of naught to say,
And morning found the breeze
A hundred miles away.”
—Robert Frost (1874–1963)
“Night’s brittle song, silver-thin
Shatters into a billion fragments
Of quiet shadows
At the blaring jazz
Of a morning sun.”
—Frank Marshall Davis (b. 1905)