# Germantown artist a former aide to jazz legend Miles Davis: Video, Photos

- Link: https://jazzblues.eu/2021/05/08/germantown-artist-a-former-aide-to-jazz-legend-miles-davis-video-photos/
- Published: 2021-05-08T21:26:24+01:00
- Author: https://JazzBlues.EU

**A Germantown resident for most of his life, Mikel Elam, who refers to his age 
as “timeless,” is a highly regarded artist whose work has been featured in international
publications and media. He earned a degree in studio arts painting from the University
of the Arts in center city in 1986 and also studied at the School of the Visual 
Arts in New York City.**

Elam’s work has been exhibited at Woodmere Art Museum, DaVinci Art Alliance, Old
City Jewish American Center, Moody Jones Gallery in Glenside, Cellini Art Gallery
in Ambler and Boston Street Gallery in South Philadelphia (upcoming), as well as
galleries in New York City and Los Angeles. “My work is about elevating spirit as
seen through the eyes of a person of African descent,” he explained.

But as interesting as Elam’s art is, equally interesting, if not more so, is the
fact that he was a personal assistant to trumpeter, bandleader, composer and jazz
legend Miles Davis from October, 1987, until Davis’ death from the combined effects
of a stroke, pneumonia and respiratory failure at age 65 in September of 1991.

(According to The Rolling Stone Encyclopedia of Rock & Roll, “Miles Davis played
a crucial and inevitably controversial role in every major development in jazz since
the mid-’40s … Miles Davis was the most widely recognized jazz musician of his era,
an outspoken social critic and an arbiter of style in attitude and fashion, as well
as music.” His “Kind of Blue” is still the best-selling jazz album of all time.)

Elam, a music lover who is not a musician himself, told us last week, “I got the
gig by way of a friend who met Miles Davis at a concert. He told her he was looking
for an assistant. We painted together often. We also showed our work together in
New York and Germany. The job ended when he passed away. I was there to experience
that moment.

“I traveled the world with him. It was very hectic, sometimes as much as 28 days
out of 30, all over the globe. Miles Davis was a visionary, creative genius. Emotionally,
he was very complicated. I was both an on-the-road personal assistant and a studio
assistant to his developing second career as an artist.

“He painted and made drawings every day while traveling the world making music. 
Both were equally important to him. I did not feel like a teacher with him. I made
suggestions about his work, and he would try them. He liked most of my ideas but
not all. He got me to focus on art as a necessary part of my existence.”

According to invaluable.com, “Davis created over 100 paintings and drawings and 
had stacks of filled sketchbooks representing years of work. A book of his art, ‘
_Miles Davis: The Collected Artwork_,’ was published in 2013. Miles Davis’ artwork
is prized by collectors worldwide.”)

Elam, who went to the Parkway Program and Dobbins High School before art school,
likes living in Germantown because of “its diversity intermixed with great parks
and trails. It sometimes feels like the suburbs and sometimes like the inner city
within just a short distance of each other.”

In addition to his job with Miles Davis, Elam has had a wide range of jobs including
health food stores, art departments of film sets, editorial illustrator, art galleries,
personal assistant to musicians, and “I’m sure I’ve forgotten many others.” He is
currently the store manager at Artist & Craftsman in Chestnut Hill.

How has the pandemic affected Elam’s life? “It has been the strangest occurrence
in my life. I never thought it would hit us so hard. When the the great lockdown
happened last March, time just slowed down. Once I figured out how to survive, I
went into my studio and started producing a new volume of work.”

Elam, a figurative mixed-media artist with abstract elements on wood and canvas,
wanted to take this opportunity to pay a tribute to his late mother. “She passed
away two years ago, and she had the greatest impact on my life. She was like Buddha,
totally selfless and giving. Full of love and great strength.”

⌊Elam is seen at an exhibit of his work at City Arts Salon in North Philadelphia
just before the pandemic began last March.⌉⌊Elam is seen at an exhibit of his work
at City Arts Salon in North Philadelphia just before the pandemic began last March.⌉⌊“
Middle Passage,” by Elam, is 48” high by 36” wide, mixed-media on canvas, consisting
of collage acrylic paint markers. “My work is about elevating spirit as seen through
the eyes of a person of African descent,” he explained.⌉⌊“Middle Passage,” by Elam,
is 48” high by 36” wide, mixed-media on canvas, consisting of collage acrylic paint
markers. “My work is about elevating spirit as seen through the eyes of a person
of African descent,” he explained.⌉

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