Main content

Adrian Utley of Portishead on Miles Davis

Adrian Utley of Portishead chooses jazz musician, bandleader and composer, Miles Davis. With Matthew Parris. From 2018.

Miles Davis - trumpeter, composer, bandleader - is championed by Adrian Utley of Portishead.

"He's always been really important in my life, right from early on when my dad used to play him. It was part of the atmosphere of our house."

From the early years with Charlie Parker via Kind of Blue to playing in front of 600,000 hippies on the Isle of Wight, Miles Davis was a musician who never stood still. "Always listen for what you can leave out," he used to say.

Portishead's seminal 1990s album Dummy seems to have taken advice from the man. As Adrian Utley explains to presenter Matthew Parris:

"The darkness and the sense of space is the thing that I have assimilated from Miles ... he's in my DNA."

With Richard Williams, author of The Blue Moment: Miles Davis's Kind of Blue and the Remaking of Modern Music.

Producer: Miles Warde

First broadcast on 成人快手 Radio 4 in April 2018.

Available now

30 minutes

Last on

Thu 1 Feb 2024 21:00

Credits

Role Contributor
Presenter Matthew Parris
Interviewed Guest Adrian Utley
Interviewed Guest Richard Williams
Producer Miles Warde

Broadcasts

  • Tue 17 Apr 2018 16:30
  • Fri 20 Apr 2018 23:00
  • Thu 17 Mar 2022 18:30
  • Fri 18 Mar 2022 00:30
  • Sat 19 Mar 2022 07:30
  • Sat 19 Mar 2022 17:30
  • Sun 20 Mar 2022 05:30
  • Thu 1 Feb 2024 21:00

Great Rock and Roll Lives

Great Rock and Roll Lives

Stories of inspiration from great musicians from Bowie to Billie Holliday

Download this programme

Subscribe to this programme or download individual episodes.

Podcast