Cryptic ALS signed twice, “miles!,” one page, 6 x 8.75, no date. Letter written to Prince by Miles Davis, in part: “Happy Birth Day. Sorry I missed the concert. Kiss! 1. Business! 2. When do we record? 3. Your shoes or xxxxx. 4. Call me.” Davis adds a series of sketches in his recognizable style at the top of the page, and signs both in the upper left corner and at the conclusion. In very good condition, with intersecting folds and scattered creasing. From the collection of costume designer Helen Hiatt. Davis’s sketches are especially interesting, as they seem to be related to his music. The leftmost drawing looks like a treble clef and stave, while the sketch in the upper right appears to be a self-portrait—it is a figure facing left and holding a trumpet, with the abstract instrument reduced to its circular bell and three valves. Prince and Davis had much in common—both musical geniuses with enigmatic personas, obsessed with the perfection of their craft. Prince admired Davis as one of his musical heroes, and after Davis’s reemergence on the scene in the early ’80s he looked to Prince as the future of popular music. In his autobiography published in 1990, Davis—typically a harsh critic—offered tremendous praise for Prince, writing, ‘He can be the new Duke Ellington of our time if he just keeps at it.’ They collaborated during the late 1980s and early 1990s, and were in the process of working together when Davis passed in 1991. A truly remarkable piece connecting two of the most innovative artists in music history. Accompanied by a letter of provenance from Helen Hiatt. Pre-certified REAL.
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