Beato recounts bassist Ron Carter's description of recording with Miles Davis's 1960s quintet: no rehearsals, no listening back, sometimes not even knowing a session was being recorded. ✦ AI generated
Rick Beato · Lex Fridman · 2026-03-01 · original ↗
starts at this moment · 40:52
“Can you speak to that? Just the, the creating in the music, the feeling like you're on the edge. Like, you're challenging the possibilities of what can happen, and, and it all can go to shit, and because of that, it feels alive.”
We'd just show up at the studio, and he'd have the charts, put them on the stand and we would, we'd just roll... We never knew that we were recording. So Miles was always about, you know, don't think about it, just play. Thought is the enemy of flow, as Vinnie Colaiuta told me.
verbatim transcript · starts at 40:52
40:52music. Like, can you speak to that? Just the, the creating in the music, the feeling like you're on the edge. Like, you're challenging the possibilities of what can happen, and, and it all can go to shit, and because of that, it feels alive. - Well, when I interviewed Ron Carter that played in, in Miles's '60s quintet, I asked Ron, 'cause Ron did records, he played bass on 2,200
41:21recording, famous records. And I said, "Did you guys ever rehearse with Miles?" "No, never." I said, "So, you, what, what would you do?" He goes, "We'd just show up at the studio, and he'd have the charts, put them on the stand and we would," "we'd just roll." And I said, "Would you listen to it after?" "No." And I said, "Well, what about your, what about the, the live records that you
41:45did at, when you'd record at clubs and things like that?" He goes, "We never knew that we were recording." He goes, "Maybe I'd see a, a microphone, a different kind of microphone in my bass amp." He goes, "Then months later, a record would come out and I'd see it, and I was on it, and I would take it down to the union and say, 'I played on this record,' so you get paid for it." But he said, "We didn't even know
42:05we were recording." So Miles was always about, you know, don't think about it, just play. - That's crazy. That was on purpose. That was done on purpose. Not to, not to do the rehearsals. Not, none, none of that. - Yeah, he wanted people to just feel it, play it. Thought is the enemy of flow, as Vinnie Colaiuta told me. - Thought is the enemy of flow. How do you make sense that Flea,
42:34the bassist for the Red Hot Chili Peppers, is influenced by bebop jazz? - So his stepfather was a jazz bass player. And his... When his parents got divorced, his... He was born in Australia, and then they moved to New York. Then his parents got divorced, and his mom married his stepfather, who was a jazz musician. And they then used to have jam sessions at their place, and Flea