Guitarist Mike Stern on Playing With Miles Davis

If Miles Davis plays in Paris is he Kilometer Davis?

Thank you! Much better than Y.M.

I love that song! Especially for special occasions.

They must have covered Miles in a silent way because I missed it.

Hell yeah! Stern rockin a Yamaha Pacifica. The entry-level versions are probably the most underrated guitars on the planet.

“Go slow before you go fast”. Period.

I find jamming with a rhythm guitar player less challenging than with a bass player. A rhythm guitar player knows how to mesh with whatever I’m doing, but bass players do their own thing, and so jamming with them is more challenging. Even more challenging is to jam with a drummer.

Didn't play a single note!

Great job ❤

What a groovy cat!

Too many first names - who is Mick? Who is Joe?

What a pro.
And looks like my aunt Harriet

The only time l saw Miles was at the Hollywood Bowl. '82? Mike was the guitar player. Mike was playing splendidly. Miles walked around the stage with his head down, trumpet facing the floor, and burped out a few notes every ten minutes. Miles is a musical hero to me. lt was not an inspiring concert. l didn't know if Miles was in pain or high or what. The first concert l ever attended was Dave Brubeck Quartet in my MA hometown. Wish l had seen Miles also in the early-mid 60's.

Love this conversation.

I was extremely fortunate to see Mike and Eric Johnson play a show together down in Austin Texas.

Right after high school around 1977, I was working at a Brigham's restaurant in Central Sq. Cambridge MA and saw that Mike was playing at the now defunct Nightstage club. After I left work ,I went the couple of blocks down to the club to check out things and Mike and his band were doing a soundcheck so I just walked right in. Amazingly, I hung around for a half hour or so with no one else there and listened until they finished. I ended up chatting with Mike for a bit and we walked back to the square as he was looking for a good piece of pizza and I was taking the T home. He was the nicest guy you'd ever want to meet.

Rick your story reminds me of the movie "Mr. Holland's Opus". All of your experience, teachings, interviews are just one great big musical composition. A masterpiece still being written to this day and into the future. Your audience appreciates and values what you have done.

I thought that was a woman from the thumbnail....weird.

Suzi quatro 😮

" The more you learn, the less you know". That's the LINE...

I also put Barry Galbraith as a bit of an unsung hero. Just saying.

It’s so great to hear Mike give praises to Mick. I too, studied with Mick, and he was so encouraging.

Why didn't I hear this video before I sold most my gear because I thought I had nothing to give musically. I was so down and all that gear custom made its irreplaceable. At least I got my hunger back for music.

Hey Rick ,in your early days in Chicago, did you ever run into a jazz guitarist and teacher Frank Dawson? I had the privilege of learning from him.

😸😸😸

I was there at Kix nightclub in Boston when Mike played some of his first gigs with Mr. Miles Davis who was coming out of retirement with these gigs. Miles parked this red Jaguar right in front of the front door of the club, giving just enough room for people to give in. Miles was in a lot of pain and traveled with a masseuse during those times. There was a friend of ours who had developed a trumpet microphone that Miles was trying out, so some of my friends were backstage with the master Maestro.

This was back in the day when Mr. Stern played with Tiger’s Baku in the local clubs, including Mike's, Pooh’s Pub, and other venues right around Berklee. We used to go to Mike's and watch Mr. Stern kick it hard! It was just amazing to see that kind of talent at a local venue. All this was back in the late 1970s and to rub shoulders with these great guys will never be forgetten. During breaks, and especially after the gig, Mike was open to answering our questions about what he was doing on the guitar. Then and today, Mike has the gracious attitude of a man who’s a survivor of all the vicissitudes of life in the music business. How wonderful it was and I want to publicly thank Mike Stern for being the wonderful cat he is. Thank you, Mike, we love you dude! So happy for his continued success and growth as an artist!

Such wisdom in these few minutes!

Rick please do a story or expose on the master Jazz teachers that many folks may not know of. Names to explore would be Charlie Banacos, Dennis Sandole, Ted Green, Barry Harris, I believe many of the folks you interviewed studied with common teachers, especially Banacos. And if have done this already and I missed it, my apologies and can I have the link? 😅

This is a beautiful distillation of the full interview. Mike is a magnificent artist and a true gentleman! He always give props to those who deserve it. I've met him a few times and he was always so polite. The greatest artist are ultimately always the loviest people. Continue! Do not give up! Fantastic!!!

I saw him in Brazil a long time ago. It was a great concert!

Uh did i miss the miles Davis part?

I'd suggest that when you're comfortable you're not trying and when feel like giving up then you're getting somewhere....

Amazing human. So happy that I got to hang with you for a few days.

It's a paradox but his humility shines.

'Don't give up, no matter what'. That's the 'I can't do it........yet' attitude.

One of the greatest attitudes in music. We need more people like this on the planet.

THX U2 ❤❤WOW sO inspiring XX!

did I miss the part about Miles?

I saw Stern with Blood Sweat and Tears in 1976...at The Westchester Premier Theatre. Return to Forever opened. I then wound up at Berklee two years later.

Great interview. Miles is never mentioned

I love Mike Stern. He's one solid dude...

Saw Mike with his huge pedalboard and Marshall half stack playing with Miles in the mid 80s 🤘😎💥

Had to go back and listen to the Tiger Okoshi recording - he was killin' with a really clean tone.
I just got the chance to hang out with him, Leni and Dennis in Kunming China a couple weeks ago and I was sort of their guitar tech for a show they did. He was just like this interview - so down to earth and humble, all of them were amazing to be around.

He sounds like if Don Coreleone was a hepcat beatnik. Cool as hell

True inspiration…one of the best and nicest cat of the planet🔥

Phew that's a strong message at the end.

Practice practice practice

Great Interview . Mike is the such a great guy. Monster player 🙏❤️🎸🎸

These musical savants can make what they consider a major mistake and the average listener like me not only won't catch it, we will think the whole song was the most amazing and perfect music we ever heard. I'm not sure I want to have an ear so good that I can't ignore the tiniest flaw in something.