Don Cheadle’s “Miles Ahead” depicts a time in Miles Davis’ life, in the mid- to late ’70s, when he was addicted to cocaine, suffered from severe hip pain and stepped away from the music industry, choosing instead to go into seclusion in his Upper West Side apartment.
Considering he reinvented jazz several times over with “Birth of the Cool” (1957), “Kind of Blue” (1959) and “Bitches Brew” (1970), to name just a few, it’s hardly surprising he felt spent. “During the late 1970s, he felt like he didn’t have anything to say,” Erin Davis (Miles’ youngest child and the movie’s co-producer) tells The Post. As a boy, Erin grew up with his mother, Marguerite (Davis’ ex-girlfriend), in Morningside Heights, but would frequently visit his dad. “When I was on set in Cincinnati, I was instantly reminded of Miles’ place. They did a great job.”
The troubled jazz legend was jailed in 1978, after Marguerite sued him for neglecting to support their son. It was an experience that prompted Davis to improve his relationship with Erin (now in his mid-40s). 
“Once he gave me a Fonzie doll from ‘Happy Days,’ ” Erin laughs. “You’d pull the lever on the back, and Fonzie would give you the thumbs-up. I loved it!” Sartorial lessons were also passed on. “Miles always said you could learn a lot about a man from the shoes he’s wearing. I still start my outfit with the shoes.”
During those same dark days, Davis (who died in 1991 of a combination of a stroke, pneumonia and respiratory failure) also made time for his drummer nephew Vince Wilburn Jr., who also co-produced “Miles Ahead” and oversees Davis’ estate. “I was studying in Chicago, and I had a band called Time, Space and Distance,” Wilburn says with a laugh. “Uncle Miles would listen to us play over the phone and critique us. He was brutally honest, but it was to make you a better musician. We hung on to his every word.”