[Jazz & Song] Davis, Miles. (1926–1991) [with Quincy Troupe]. MILES. The Autobiography. SIGNED PRESENTATION COPY TO HIS LAST DRUMMER. New York: Simon & Schuster. 1989. First Edition. Rare signed presentation copy of the autobiography of the American jazz musician, trumpeter, bandleader, and composer, widely considered one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century. Inscribed on the front free endpage and dated 2.2 - 89, "Yo! Cuz [slang term for friend], Thanks for all the help & support through the years. You've always been there for me! I hope this book will help you through the perils of being a star - cos you're gonna make it one day. / On the one, Miles." 431 pp. Hardcover. In an elegant full "Miles" blue leather binding with gold titling and stamped trumpet design on the front board. Fine.


An extraordinary presentation copy to Miles Davis' last drummer, Ricky ‘Sugarfoot’ Wellman (1956 - 2013), the funk drummer who helped innovate the rhythms of go-go music with Chuck Brown and the Soul Searchers and who later toured with Miles and performed on his 1989 album, “Amandla,” as well as on Davis’s posthumously released concert album, “Live Around the World” (1996). Ricky joined Miles' band in May 1987 at the age of 32 and stayed with him, right up until Miles' final gig on 25 August 1991. As Wellman related in various interviews, during the early years of their touring together, Miles was frequently a very difficult companion and perhaps the"help & support" of the inscription refers to this. The inscription is dated shortly after the completion of their recording together of the Amandla album in January of 1989, which was released later that year. The salutation "On the One" refers to the musical cue/command, changing the percussion emphasis/accent from the one-TWO-three-FOUR backbeat of traditional soul music to the ONE-two-three-four downbeat.


"Miles was a taciturn subject, sometimes resisting questions, drifting far from the subject, or suddenly dropping names, many of them only partly remembered. 'Miles started enthusiastically'...'but he lost interest in it.' Mike Elam said that when Miles read the galley proofs of the book, he seemed amazed at some of the things that were in there. He made a game of saying the hadn't read it, or did I say that? What page is it on? But Troupe caught his voice, his phrasing, and the rhythm of his speech and produced a very readable book. And when Miles turned his critical ear on his own music or described the jazz life, he was both evocative and revealing. The book also gave readers a tantalizing glimpse of him through the anxieties and desires that slipped past his guard. The Autobiography sold well and won an American Book Award...Though he was not especially helpful in promoting the book, he was proud of it." (John Szwed: "So What: The Life of Miles Davis," p. 395)