Miles Davis: Birth of the Cool

Stanley Nelson’s documentary of Miles Davis is a disappointment. In the first half of the film, Nelson uses more still images than live performances. Based on the title, I thought the film would focus only on Birth of the Cool. Compressing Miles’s entire music career in just two hours only scratches the surface of Mile’s extensive catalogs. My criticism might be unfair because I have spent tremendous amount of time listening to Miles and read as many books about him as I could get my hands on. If you haven’t heard of Miles Davis and just wanted a quick overview, this might do it. To really appreciate Miles, you have to dig much deeper.