José James on Discovering Miles Davis, Jazz

American jazz and hip-hop vocalist José James during a ‘Meet the Musician’ event at the Apple Store, Kurfürstendamm:

I couldn’t believe one artist had made 50 albums. I pull one out and I look at the back and it has four tracks on it and each track is 18-minutes long. I’m thinking, “I can’t listen to this. I want value.” I was looking for the one with twelve tracks on it.

So incredibly peculiar how we subscribe value. I too ran into the same quandary when experiencing Miles Davis for the first time. Then I thought back to listening to ”The Decline” on repeat. And ”2113” after that. And ”Goodbye Sky Harbor” after that. And ”Cicatriz E.S.P.” after that. And ”Drop” after that. And ”Chimera Obscurant” after that. And ”Dauðalagið” after that.

Cumulative time does not equate to value. I’ll be damned if I couldn’t listen to ”So What” on loop for the rest of my life.