No. 326, "Miles Smiles"

"Miles Smiles" by Tom Wills, March 2016

This is an interesting picture of Miles Davis for a couple of reasons.
* There is no horn.
* He's smiling.
* There is a musical score. For a soundtrack with an orchestra. Not exactly jazzy (in fact, it's an opera), though regarded as an historic jazz record.
* It's my third rendition of The Man With The Horn.

The pose dates from a 1958 recording session for "Porgy and Bess." It was taken by Don Hunstein, who was Columbia Records' main staff photographer for close to 30 years. For more about his work, http://www.donhunstein.com/artists.php?art=10

Of course Miles Davis, who improvised and kept most of his music in his head, could read music. He did a year and a half at Julliard School of Music in New York City, though reportedly spent most of his time hanging out at nightclubs, eventually meeting up with Charlie Parker.  That period -- and my second Miles drawing -- is captured here: http://tomwillsproductions.blogspot.com/2012/12/no-182-bird-miles-three-deuces-club-1947.html

No. 182, "Bird & Miles, Three Deuces Club 1947" by Tom Wills, December 2012

I have previously written at length about Miles Davis. You may choose to revisit highlights of his career and life here: http://tomwillsproductions.blogspot.com/2012/03/miles-davis.html

No. 49, "Miles Davis" September 2010 (gifted to Joe Gorman)

My first rendition of Miles (No. 49!) is from 2010 and hangs in the home of a jazz aficionado pal. It's from Miles' wild early 1970s period. It's an early drawing and my style has smoothed out considerably in the last six years.  But my missing this picture is what led me to the latest "Miles Smiles" work. My music room, which holds so much Miles Davis music, needed him here to be complete.

Now that it's done, it brings a smile to my face.

Getting that grin was the hardest part, because there are few photos of a smiling Miles. And his hair line was cut off of the original photo, so I had to look around for a similar hair style from the same time period. The other problem with the face is that Miles wasn't just black, he was freaking midnight. So shading the face was difficult.

Really this was done as two drawings: The face, hand (and smoke) and chest were done first, and then sprayed with a fixative to prevent smudges. The music score is a separate entity altogether, done at a different time and then joined by pencil shading and blending.

I weathered the music pages by dabbing a paper towel in pencil lead and then lightly rubbing to create waves and folds in the paper.
Distinct from the musical score is the George Gershwin "Porgy & Bess" playbill, which has a cartoonish quality.