Music is used to convey emotions, tell stories, brag, lie, proclaim one’s love, express anger, and on and on. Lyrics express how a person is feeling at a specific time or what message they want the world to know. That message might be as simple as T-Pain letting you know that he wants to buy you a drink (oooweeee), or it could be as deep as our old friend Sam Cooke letting the world know that a change is coming.
The universality of music, and the emotions that can be conveyed through music, transcends languages and cultures. The hope and joy that is found in Louis Armstrong’s “What A Wonderful World” is identical to the version song by the big Hawaiian, Israel Kamakawiwo'ole, despite the very different histories and backgrounds of the two men. But sometimes words aren’t enough; sometimes the truest of feelings can only be rightly expressed with only instruments.
Miles Davis, one of the preeminent jazz musicians of all time, sings his soul in this jam and a half without saying a single world. Conveying power, confusion. strength, and passion, all at the same time, “It Never Entered My Mind” combines an easy piano backing up a powerful trumpet. The interplay is at the heart of what makes “It Never Entered My Mind” so amazing. The coolness of the piano melds perfectly with the strength of the trumpet, both making up for the weaknesses of the other, creating a jam and a half that is as close to perfect as any out there. Lacking words, but speaking a language that all of us can understand, this jam is a cover of an old show tune. You would never know. Miles and his quintet make this song their own, and give it something that can never be truly replicated again.
