Miles Davis is one of the greatest musicians to have ever lived. Through his music and performances, Davis cemented himself as one of the most important artists in jazz history; he displayed an extraordinary talent as a trumpeter, pianist, composer, and bandleader. And apparently, he was quite the fan of Slayer (well, at least Dave Lombardo‘s drumming).
Via a recent fan Q&A hosted by Metal Hammer that Lombardo took part in, one fan reached out and asked the Slayer drummer if he knew that Miles Davis was a fan of his work. Funny enough, we did not know this ourselves! But thankfully, Dave did know about this and shared how he had learned about Davis’ fandom. Per Dave Lombardo:
“Yes, apparently his son was watching MTV in the early 90s. I guess it was around the time we released War Ensemble or Seasons In The Abyss. [Miles] came into the room and his son, Erin, thought Miles was going to get mad: ‘What the hell are you listening to, man?’ But he said, ‘Wow! That drummer is laying it down!’ Pretty proud moment. For Miles Davis to hear your drumming and say that… that’s awesome right there.”
That is extremely awesome to learn! As we mentioned earlier, we did not know that Davis was a fan of Lombardo’s drumming. How amazing must it feel to be recognized by such a legend?
Davis passed away on September 28th, 1991. He was truly one of the most remarkable artists to have ever lived. Thank you for all your incredible music Miles <3
In other Slayer related news, during that same Q&A, Dave was asked if he would be open to reuniting with Slayer on stage. What do you think he said? He also talked about whether he would be open to joining Kerry King’s new band. We also shared a new AI generated music video that involves Slayer’s “South of Heaven.”