The Birth of Jazz-Rock Fusion: Betty Mabry introduces Miles Davis to the Inner Circles of pop culture

In the Spring of 1968 Miles Davis met and began dating fashion model and aspiring R&B singer-songwriter Betty Mabry. They marry in September. (That's her on the cover of Miles' February 5, 1969 release, Filles de Kilamanjaro--which was recorded with his "Second Great Quintet" [the last album attributed to them] in two sessions in 1968: June 19-21 and September 24--when both "Mademoiselle Mabry" and "Frelon brun (Brown Hornet)" were recorded.)

     Betty was a very outgoing socialite, going to parties and clubs almost every night, initially hanging out at a multi-racial club in Greenwich Village (The Cellar--where she made contacts with key people in both the music industry and the fashion world). Though she was initially drawn to New York's folk music scene, she also found a love for the R&B explosion happening in pop music. music that she was quick to force upon her new partner--both in album and radio form but also in concert form. She had also become enough of a fixture in the pop scene that she had met and befriended some of the shakers and movers inthe music world--including Lou Courtney, former boyfriend Hugh Masakela, Sly Stone, Jimi Hendrix--both of whom Betty introduced to her new beau/husband (the event of which lit a fire of severe jealousy within Miles--a jealousy that eventually led to the demise of his relationship and the couple's divorce only a year after their wedding). 

     Despite Miles' extreme jealousy of these "stars"--the majority of whom 'just happened' to be men--Betty's introduction of Miles to Jimi Hendrix proved quite provocative to the trumpeter legend's valuation of rock and pop musicians and their musics. In fact, it was during this year with Betty that Miles began inviting electrified rock-oriented musicians to hang with him in stage or studio jam sessions, even sitting for long deep conversations on music and music theories and personal philosophies with many of them. The result of this "expanding of horizons" materialized in Miles' taking notice of newly-arrived "loud" guitarist John McLaughlin as well as the inclusive and somewhat ad hoc expanded lineups on both the In a Silent Way and Bitches Brew recording sessions (which were, respectively, February 18 and August 19-21 of 1969). It also led to the dissolution of Miles' "Second Great Quintet"--especially when Tony Williams decided he wanted to invest his energy into his own music instead of Miles'. (The music for Tony's first Lifetime album, Emergency! was recorded on May 26 & 28 of 1969.)

Betty went on to a very successful career as an R&B singer. Her very aggressive no-holds-barred singing style, lyrical content, and dynamic, even provocative stage act are all highly praised for the way in which the contested (one might say, broke) many of the boundaries and limits in etiquette and demeanor heretofore imposed upon female artists. Interestingly, a little display of what might be considered Betty's somewhat feral opportunism came in the form of the fact that she chose to use the Davis last name throughout her career--to her death in 2022--despite the fact that she had remained committed in a relationship with the more-famous bringer of that name for less than 18 months! Perhaps she didn't like her maiden name--or her parents or family.