Foley (born Joseph Lee McCreary, Jr. 6 November 1962) is an American

bassist A bassist (also known as a bass player or bass guitarist) is a musician who plays a bass instrument such as a double bass (upright bass, contrabass, wood bass), bass guitar (electric bass, acoustic bass), keyboard bass (synth bass) or a low br ...

drummer A drummer is a percussionist who creates music using drums. Most contemporary western music ensemble, bands that play Rock music, rock, Pop music, pop, jazz, or Contemporary R&B, R&B music include a drummer for purposes including timekeepi ...

and

singer Singing is the art of creating music with the voice. It is the oldest form of musical expression, and the human voice can be considered the first musical instrument. The definition of singing varies across sources. Some sources define singi ...

who is best known as the "lead bassist" with

Miles Davis Miles Dewey Davis III (May 26, 1926September 28, 1991) was an American jazz trumpeter, bandleader, and composer. He is among the most influential and acclaimed figures in the history of jazz and 20th century music, 20th-century music. Davis ado ...

from 1987 until 1991.

Music career

Foley was born in

Columbus, Ohio Columbus (, ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities in Ohio, most populous city of the U.S. state of Ohio. With a 2020 United States census, 2020 census population of 905,748, it is the List of United States ...

. Growing up he listened to

Sly and the Family Stone Sly and the Family Stone was an American band formed in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1966 and active until 1983. Their work, which blended elements of funk, soul music, soul, psychedelic rock, gospel music, gospel, and R&B, becam ...

, and after his mother bought him a bass (at age 12) he started playing with local bands. In 1987, he had a phone conversation with

Marcus Miller William Henry Marcus Miller Jr. (born June 14, 1959) is an American musician, songwriter, and record producer. He has worked with trumpeter Miles Davis, pianist Herbie Hancock, singer Luther Vandross, and saxophonists Wayne Shorter and David Sa ...

, then Miles Davis's bass player, and afterward sent him a tape of his music. Weeks later he got a call from Davis, who'd heard the tape and asked Foley to send him a copy: Miles Davis was looking for a guitarist, but at that time Foley had been working on getting his bass to sound like a guitar. By May 1987 Foley was touring with Davis, and played with him until the fall of 1991. According to author George Cole, Davis gave Foley advice late in Foley's tenure with his band that changed the bassist's musical approach: In 1993 he played a lead bass solo on

Mint Condition Mint Condition is an American R&B band from St. Paul, Minnesota. The band is focused on diverse genres such as jazz, hip hop, funk and dance. Mint Condition has also been nominated for one Grammy and three Soul Train Awards. The group is cr ...

's R&B Top 40 hit "So Fine" and the interlude track "Gumbo" from their album ''

From the Mint Factory ''From the Mint Factory'' is the second studio album by American R&B band Mint Condition (band), Mint Condition. The album was released on October 5, 1993, on Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis' record label Perspective Records. The album peaked and charte ...

''. In 1993, during his time at

Motown Motown is an American record label owned by the Universal Music Group. Founded by Berry Gordy, Berry Gordy Jr. as Tamla Records on January 12, 1959, it was incorporated as Motown Record Corporation on April 14, 1960. Its name, a portmanteau ...

, Foley released ''7 Years Ago...Directions in Smart-Alec Music''. The album included "If It's Positive". The

Cité de la Musique The Cité de la Musique (, "City of Music"), also known as Philharmonie 2, is a group of institutions dedicated to music and situated in the Parc de la Villette, 19th arrondissement of Paris, France. It was designed with the nearby Conservatoi ...

showed a Miles Davis exhibition from October 16, 2009, to January 17, 2010, that included Foley's "lead bass".

Technique

Foley tuned his bass nearly an octave higher than a standard bass guitar using piccolo bass strings and processed it through various effects, allowing him to sound like a lead guitarist.Cole, George
"Miles's Musician Profiles: Foley,"
''The Last Miles'', 2005. Last accessed March 6, 2006.

Discography

As leader

*''7 Years Ago ... Directions In Smart-Alec Music'' ( MoJazz, 1993) *''Smart Alec Music?'' (SmartAlecRECORDS 1997) *''Life without Dat Vol.1'' (SmartAlecRECORDS, 2001) *''IN My Life'' (SmartAlecRECORDS, 2002) *''Tryin Mai Nerves'' (Single) (SmartAlecRECORDS, 2004) *''The Lost Sessions: LA'' (SmartAlecRECORDS, 2017)

As sideman

With George Clinton * '' Hey, Man, Smell My Finger'' (

Paisley Park Paisley Park is a 65,000 square foot estate in Chanhassen, Minnesota, United States, once owned by American musician Prince. It was opened to the public as a museum in October 2016. History Construction of the $10 million complex began in Jan ...

, 1993) – rec. 1992-93 * ''

George Clinton and His Gangsters of Love ''George Clinton and His Gangsters of Love'' is a cover album by funk music pioneer George Clinton. The album includes guest appearances from the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Sly Stone, El DeBarge, System of a Down bassist Shavo Odadjian, Carlos San ...

'' ( Shanachie, 2008) With

* '' Amandla'' (

Warner Bros. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (WBEI), commonly known as Warner Bros. (WB), is an American filmed entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California and the main namesake subsidiary of Warner Bro ...

, 1989) – rec. 1988-89 * '' Miles In Paris'' (

, 1990) * ''

Dingo The dingo (either included in the species ''Canis familiaris'', or considered one of the following independent taxa: ''Canis familiaris dingo'', ''Canis dingo'', or ''Canis lupus dingo'') is an ancient (basal (phylogenetics), basal) lineage ...

'' (

, 1991) – rec. 1990 * ''Black Devil'' (Beech Marten, 1992) * ''Live - From His Last Concert in Avignon'' ( LaserLight Digital, 1992) * ''Miles in Montreux'' ( Jazz Door, 1993) * '' Live Around the World'' (

, 1996) – rec. 1988-91 * ''Miles And His Group'' ( Toshiba EMI, 1997) * ''At La Villette'' (

JVC JVC (short for Japan Victor Company) is a Japanese brand owned by JVCKenwood. Founded in 1927 as the Victor Talking Machine Company of Japan and later as , the company was best known for introducing Japan's first televisions and for developin ...

, 2001) * '' Live In Munich'' (Pioneer, 2002) * ''

The Complete Miles Davis At Montreux ''The Complete Miles Davis at Montreux'' is a box set of twenty discs compiling the eleven sets Miles Davis performed at his nine appearances at the Montreux Jazz Festival between 1973 and 1991 released in 2002. Track listing References Ex ...

'' (

Warner Music Warner Music Group Corp., commonly abbreviated as WMG, is an American multinational entertainment and record label conglomerate headquartered in New York City. It is one of the " big three" recording companies and the third-largest in the gl ...

, 2002) * ''Munich Concert'' ( Deluxe, 2005) * ''Time After Time. Live At The Philharmonic Concert Hall'' (Standing Oh!vation, 2005) VD-Video* ''The Very Best Of Miles Davis'' (

Rhino Records A rhinoceros ( ; ; ; : rhinoceros or rhinoceroses), commonly abbreviated to rhino, is a member of any of the five extant taxon, extant species (or numerous extinct species) of odd-toed ungulates (perissodactyls) in the family (biology), famil ...

, 2007) * '' That's What Happened Live in Germany'' (Eagle Vision, 2009) – rec. 1987 * '' Miles! The Definitive Miles Davis At Montreux DVD Collection'' (Eagle Vision, 2011) * ''1986-1991 The Warner Years'' (

Warner Music France Warner Music Group (WMG) owns, has a joint share, or is associated with the record labels listed here. Flagship labels *Atlantic Records *Elektra Records *Parlophone Records *Warner Records Atlantic Music Group * 1st & 15th Entertainment * A ...

, 2011) * '' Merci Miles! Live at Vienne'' (

, 2021) – rec. 1991 With

Paolo Rustichelli Paolo Rustichelli is an Italian-American pianist, composer, and producer, and the son of Academy Award, Oscar nominee Carlo Rustichelli. His music is eclectic but generally belongs in the genres smooth jazz, jazz rock, and progressive rock. Care ...

* ''Capri'' ( Verve, 1991) * ''Mystic Jazz'' (

Polydor Polydor Limited, also known as Polydor Records, is a British record label that operates as part of Universal Music Group. It has a close relationship with Universal's Interscope Geffen A&M Records label, which distributes Polydor's releases in ...

, 1992) With Keith Staten * ''Take Me Now'' (Self-Released, 1984) * ''Don't Tell Me That'' (Self-Released, 1985) * ''Break Your Body'' (Self-Released, 1985) With

Lenny White Leonard White III (born December 19, 1949) is an American jazz fusion drummer who was a member of the band Return to Forever led by Chick Corea in the 1970s. White has been called "one of the founding fathers of jazz fusion". White has won thre ...

* ''Renderors Of Spirit'' (Hip Bop, 1996) * ''Edge'' (Hip Bop, 1998) * ''Lenny White Live'' (BFM Jazz, 2013) – live rec. 1997 With others *

Arrested Development ''Arrested Development'' is an American satire, satirical television sitcom created by Mitchell Hurwitz. It follows the Bluths, a formerly wealthy, dysfunctional family and is presented in a Serial (radio and television), serialized format, inco ...

, '' Zingalamaduni'' (

Chrysalis A pupa (; : pupae) is the life stage of some insects undergoing transformation between immature and mature stages. Insects that go through a pupal stage are holometabolous: they go through four distinct stages in their life cycle, the stages the ...

, 1994) * Paul Brown's Science Gravy Orchestra, ''Science Gravy Classics'' (Self-Released, 2001) * Dean Francis, ''Black As All That'' (Soulciety, 1998) *

Kenny Garrett Kenny Garrett (born October 9, 1960) is an American post-bop jazz musician and composer who gained recognition in his youth as a member of the Duke Ellington Orchestra and for his time with Miles Davis's band. Garrett's primary instruments are ...

, ''Prisoner of Love'' (

Atlantic The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, with an area of about . It covers approximately 17% of Earth's surface and about 24% of its water surface area. During the Age of Discovery, it was known for se ...

, 1989) * Happy Chichester, ''Lovers Come Back'' (PopFly, 2007) *

Talib Kweli Talib Kweli Greene (; born October 3, 1975) is an American rapper. He first earned recognition through his collaboration with fellow Brooklyn rapper Mos Def (now known as Yasiin Bey) in 1997, when they formed the group Black Star. Kweli's music ...

, ''

Quality Quality may refer to: Concepts *Quality (business), the ''non-inferiority'' or ''superiority'' of something *Quality (philosophy), an attribute or a property *Quality (physics), in response theory *Energy quality, used in various science discipli ...

'' (

Rawkus Rawkus Records (or Rawkus Entertainment) is an American hip hop record label, owned by James Murdoch, known for starting the careers of many rappers. Rawkus started in 1995 with releases in hip-hop, drum and bass and fun-dustrial (Dystopia One) ...

, 2002) *

, ''

'' ( Perspective, 1993) *

Parliament-Funkadelic Parliament-Funkadelic (abbreviated as P-Funk) is an American musical collective, music collective of rotating musicians headed by George Clinton (funk musician), George Clinton, primarily consisting of the funk bands Parliament (band), Parliame ...

, ''Chocolate City: London , P-Funk Live At Metropolis'' (Metropolis Recordings, 2015) *

Mavis Staples Mavis Staples (born July 10, 1939) is an American rhythm and blues and gospel music, gospel singer and civil rights activism, activist. She rose to fame as a member of her family's band The Staple Singers, of which she is the last surviving memb ...

, '' Have A Little Faith'' (

Alligator An alligator, or colloquially gator, is a large reptile in the genus ''Alligator'' of the Family (biology), family Alligatoridae in the Order (biology), order Crocodilia. The two Extant taxon, extant species are the American alligator (''A. mis ...

, 2004) * Bobby Sparks II, ''Schizophrenia: The Yang Project'' (Leopard, 2019) *

Speech Speech is the use of the human voice as a medium for language. Spoken language combines vowel and consonant sounds to form units of meaning like words, which belong to a language's lexicon. There are many different intentional speech acts, suc ...

, ''

'' (

, 1995) * Tree Thirteen, ''Rough Grooves Surface'' (Out The Box, 2004)

As an engineer

With

Vanessa Williams Vanessa Lynn Williams (born March 18, 1963) is an American singer, actress, model, producer and dancer. She gained recognition as the first Black woman to win the Miss America title when she was crowned Miss America 1984. She would later Vanes ...

* '' The Comfort Zone'' (

Wing A wing is a type of fin that produces both Lift (force), lift and drag while moving through air. Wings are defined by two shape characteristics, an airfoil section and a planform (aeronautics), planform. Wing efficiency is expressed as lift-to-d ...

, 1991) The Comfort Zone (album)

References

External links

Official website

Discogs entry no.1

Discogs entry no.2
*

Allmusic entry AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the data ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Foley Miles Davis American jazz bass guitarists American male bass guitarists Living people Musicians from Columbus, Ohio Guitarists from Ohio American male guitarists American male jazz musicians African-American guitarists 1962 births