‘Miles Davis’ Returns to Airwaves Friday on KCRW

Miles Davis’ gruff, throaty voice was mimicked by jazz musicians almost as often as his music was copied. Virtually every player who ever had contact with the legendary trumpeter had a story to tell, usually climaxed with a sardonic line--probably punctuated with an obscenity--imitating the Davis growl.

On Friday, for eight continuous hours, radio listeners will have their own opportunity to experience Davis’ voice, and the attitude that goes with it, when the Peabody Award-winning documentary “The Miles Davis Radio Project” receives its first airing in more than four years on KCRW-FM (89.9) beginning at 9 a.m.

The program, produced in 1990 and narrated by Danny Glover, also includes interviews with a wide array of Davis friends, admirers and musical associates. Among them: Dizzy Gillespie, Wayne Shorter, Art Blakey, Joni Mitchell, Carlos Santana, Philip Glass and the Grateful Dead’s Phil Lesh.

But the program’s most fascinating moments are provided by Davis himself. When producer Steve Rowland discovered that author Quincy Troupe was conducting extensive interviews for what would eventually become the Davis biography titled “Miles,” he asked Troupe if the conversations could be recorded with professional equipment. Both Troupe and Davis agreed, and segments from the resulting tapings were extracted for use in the biographical portions of the “Radio Project.”

Davis’ comments--pithy, sometimes acerbic, often humorous--are woven throughout the first five hours of the “Project,” which are devoted to a historical overview of his life.

The documentary opens with “The Early Years: 1926-1946,” examining Davis’ youth in Kansas City in the period before his move to the East Coast. “New York to Paris and Back” includes John Coltrane’s first, tentative recording effort (on alto saxophone) and an interview with Charlie Parker.

“Midnight Idol” touches upon Davis’ drug and personal problems of the ‘50s and his musical collaboration with Gil Evans. “The ‘60s Are Electric” includes conversations with John Coltrane and Keith Jarrett and outtakes from “Sketches of Spain.”

“Retirement and Rebirth” surveys the phase when physical ailments forced Davis’ temporary retirement from playing, and his return to a rhythm and blues-oriented fusion jazz.

The program’s fifth hour, “Behind the Scenes With Miles Davis,” includes an unusual rehearsal segment in which Davis was fitted with a wireless microphone. “The amazing thing that immediately hit us when we did it,” Rowland says, “was the way in which Miles communicated his ideas to the players, and his absolute certainty about what it was that he wanted from them.”

The final two-hour section is dedicated to digital tapings of live performances by the Davis bands of 1988 and 1989, as well as excerpts from live appearances by earlier Davis units. Although Warner Bros. recently issued a set of live performances by Davis in the ‘80s and ‘90s, it’s intriguing to hear more of his live work from that period, which was often far more provocative than his studio outings.

Despite the “Project’s” undeniable appeal, with its rare interviews, its widely spread net of commentary and its enticing musical interludes, Davis still remains elusive. As Troupe’s biography, perhaps unintentionally, makes clear, the Davis persona was far too complex for easy analysis or comprehension--which, one suspects, is precisely the way Davis would have wanted it.

And he also would undoubtedly have been pleased that the ultimate impact of the “Radio Project” is to send one back to the music itself, which is where the only real understanding of Miles Davis can be found.