Smitty: (Laughs)
VW: I mean, anything he set his mind to do he could do, had the baddest cars, save your money, invest your money, practice, don’t be complacent. I mean, it just rubbed off on me and Erin, that’s his dad, so Erin’s got it all in his blood so, I mean, it was heavy, man, heavy, heavy. And I’m not just saying that because I’m related to him, but it couldn’t help but rub off. It rubbed off for Herbie and Marcus and Jack and all the cats who played with him.
Smitty: Absolutely. You mentioned clothes. When I watched that tape, I said “You know, every time I’ve seen him, he is clean to the letter.”
VW: It was no joke.
Smitty: And there’s no wrinkles.
VW: Oh yes.
ED: (Laughs)
Smitty: And the buttons are lined up.
VW: Yeah, that’s no joke. I mean, I’m not talking about stage clothes; I’m talking about just sitting with him during the day in the house. Well, the stage is a whole ‘nother, you know what I mean?
Smitty: Another level, huh?
VW: Right. I mean, I’m talking about just staying in the house with him during the day.
Smitty: Man, that’s amazing.
VW: Oh yeah, yeah, yeah.
Smitty: But what an example that was for you two. It was a consistent example, which I think now we’ve lost that.
VW: We need more of it, man.
Smitty: Exactly, because when you have a consistent example, that says this is real.
VW: Yeah, yeah.
Smitty: And this is about your life. This is not about putting on this show now and then later on you’re something totally different. This is who you are 24/7.
VW: That’s right, right.
Smitty: And we don’t have that sort of backbone in society today, as you mentioned, which I think is just—it’s sterling of him to lead by example the way he did because you cats know how to bring it, man.
VW: We’re just hanging on, bro. (Laughs)
Smitty: Yes indeed. But what a force that is for you, though. Because let’s face it, we live in a society today where there’s always gonna be ups and downs and bumps and bruises, but when you have the fortitude and the heritage to brace yourself for that and deal with it properly, you can’t put a price on that.
VW: Yeah, no, no, not at all.
Smitty: Absolutely.
VW: I mean, it was just something that when you’re with him and when we were with him, it was like, well, he’s supposed to change clothes six times a day, he’s supposed to tell us what to play, he’s supposed to have the baddest of whatever it was—you know what I mean? He could cook his butt off. That’s Miles, you know what I mean? But he was still Uncle Miles and if I could say it for Erin, his dad, you know what I mean? And so he made us step our lives up.
Smitty: Exactly. That’s totally inspirational.
VW: He was the role model to make us stronger. Erin’s got a daughter now and I was over at his house the other day and I see that, how proud he is of his daughter. I mean, it’s just a natural progression of life when you have somebody who has the standards and raises the bar that high. You want to excel to be the best. When I sit down at the drums, I wanna play like it’s my last time playing. Or have something to say, just don’t fluff, don’t fluff off.
Smitty: Yeah, exactly.
VW: When we wake up, man, that’s what we have to do, approach life that way and make it count.
Smitty: Can you imagine if every parent had that kind of heart and soul today.
VW: Man, please.
ED: (Laughs)
Smitty: We would have a different society, you know?
VW: Oh, definitely.
Smitty: So tell me something. At what point, or did you ever at any point, say to yourselves individually or collectively, “You know, he’s a legend”?
ED: Well, I think that was more evident—well, Vince and I both played in the band. Vince played for two or three years and I played for a year, and you realize that more when you’re working on music with him or you’re on stage with him and you see how the crowd reacts. Even though he was always accused of turning his back to the crowd.
ED: But we’ve seen him captivate a crowd and hold their attention.
VW: Yeah.
ED: And have them on the edge of their seats with their eyes glistening and that’s when you really start to realize, wow, this is like the master class here.
Smitty: (Laughs)
VW: Well, I’ll tell you something. Like in rehearsals, like when he used to say “Try this,” and the band members would look at each other but never to him and say “Does he really want us to do this?” But the night of the concert or the next day, man, it’s like he was clairvoyant, like he knew it was gonna happen, he knew what to tell us to play, and if we execute it, it’s like butter, you know?
Smitty: Oh yeah. (Laughs)
VW: He always knew where to take it when I didn’t know or when band members didn’t know, and that’s when I knew. I was like, oh, wait a minute, man, this is Amazing Kreskin.
ED: (Laughs)
Smitty: But isn’t it kinda cool, though, that when he had that kind of track of record that each time he asked you to play something and you see the result, at some point there’s no question anymore. It’s like, okay, Miles said…
VW: I never questioned it. It’s just that if he said it, it never failed, you know what I mean? I mean, it’s like how does he know?
Smitty: (Laughs)
VW: I mean, that’s who he is, you know what I mean? So he knew.
ED: Yeah.
VW: You know what I’m trying to say?
Smitty: Exactly, yeah.
VW: If a cat says “Okay, I want you to shoot this trumpet from 30 feet, but turn your wrist around just a little bit,” you know what I mean? You’re like “Man, what are you talking about?” Then the game started and you’d hit 50-60 points like Jordan, like MJ or something. It’s like okay, okay, I get it.
ED: (Laughs)
Smitty: Exactly.
VW: So night after night after night he would mesmerize these audiences all over the world, and that’s when I knew—I mean, that’s when I knew personally and I’m like, okay.
Smitty: It’s interesting you say that because not only was he performing here in the U.S. and sometimes we can sort of interpret or understand how a U.S. audience or an American audience might react.
VW: Mm-hmm.
Smitty: But when you’re in a totally different culture and he says “All right, Vince, I want you to do this and this and this,” and it turns out exactly or even beyond what you ever dreamed, that’s profound, man.
VW: That’s right.
ED: Yeah.
VW: Yeah, yeah.
ED: And I think he enjoyed playing in Europe and Japan almost more than playing in the U.S. because of the acceptance of the crowds to hear new things. They didn’t wanna hear “Kind of Blue” all the time; they wanted to hear whatever he was working on, anything. He would come out and play 12 new tracks that nobody heard of and they would’ve just sat there riveted.
Smitty: Wow. Well, I can understand how anyone would be riveted because, man, how do you top Miles on that horn?
VW: (Laughs)
