For more than forty years Miles Davis has been in the front rank of American music. Universally acclaimed as a musical genius, Miles is one of the most important and influential musicians in the world. The subject of several biographies, now Miles speaks out himself about his extraordinary life.Miles: The Autobiography,like Miles himself, holds nothing back. For the first time Miles talks about his five-year silence. He speaks frankly and openly about his drug problem and how he overcame it. He condemns the racism he has encountered in the music business and in American society generally. And he discusses the women in his life. But above all, Miles talks about music and musicians, including the legends he has played with over the years: Bird, Dizzy, Monk, Trane, Mingus, and many others.The man who has given us some of the most exciting music of the past few decades has now given us a compelling and fascinating autobiography, featuring a concise discography and thirty-two pages of photographs. Distributed by Syndetic Solutions, Inc.

The brilliant bad man of jazz trumpetry unburdens himself of his hate and anger as well as of his good feelings about life, friendship, sex, drugs, women and cars. ``On almost any score this is a remarkable book,'' observed PW. Photos. (Sept.) From: Reed Elsevier Inc. Copyright Reed Business Information

Miles Davis is unquestionably one of the most important jazz artists in the second half of this music's first century. Although as an instrumentalist he is not in the top rank of jazz trumpeters, Davis's contributions as an innovator and creator plus his catalytic impact on other musicians virtually put him beyond category as a jazz artist. Davis, the man, is equally difficult to categorize. He is known as an arrogant, temperamental, violent, womanizing, bitter, unpredictable, drug-addicted, very demanding, foul-mouthed, sensitive, fashion-setting, irreverent, mysterious, and, above all, fascinating personality. This autobiography, destined to be debated for many years, is laced with major and minor omissions and errors and is written in a repetitious drum-beat of foul and salacious language that is pure Miles Davis. He tells a lot more than he reveals, especially about his music. This contentious autobiography is an indispensable companion to Jack Chambers's erudite two-volume Milestones (CH, Apr'84, Feb'86), which masterfully examines, explores, and evaluates the music without the heat and emotion Davis provides. Serious readers must compare and analyze these differing approaches to come close to resolving the conundrum that is Davis. Reading Davis alone will be misleading: his real significance must still be sought in the music itself. More and better photographs here than in the Chambers volumes, which have more complete discographical information although it is difficult to get at. The Chambers bibliographies are good, however. Both works will be needed by most libraries. C. M. Weisenberg University of California, Los Angeles From: Syndetics Solutions, Inc. Distributed by Syndetic Solutions, Inc.