The jazz genius, who died in 1991, could be notoriously hard on his fans – Davis would play entire concerts with his back to the audience – and downright brutal with the press.

The jazz genius, who died in 1991, could be notoriously hard on his fans – Davis would play entire concerts with his back to the audience – and downright brutal with the press.

“The first time I went to shoot him, they warned me that he could be difficult,” said Barboza. “He had had another photographer wait downstairs in his house for three hours. But when I went, he opened the door and he was so nice.”

“Miles could be very trying if he did not know you,” said Troupe, who had some contentious attempted interviews with Davis before they bonded during a 1985 interview Troupe conducted with him for a two-part Spin magazine article.

But if he liked you, the jazz great would cook for you. Davis, who lived on W. 78th St., made meals for Troupe and Barboza during their first meetings.

“That first day, I was supposed to spend an hour with him, and ended up spending 12,” said Troupe, who would go on to write the 1989 American Book Award-winning “Miles: The Autobiography.” “He cooked for me. I gave him a ride to his girlfriend’s house downtown.”

Barboza, a professional photographer whose work is in the Museum of Modern Art and the National Portrait Gallery, shot several Davis album covers. He said Davis and his personal hairdresser, James Finney, cooked “some amazing fish soup that they were working on all day. He treated me really wonderfully.”

Writer and photographer will recount those stories and more starting at 7 p.m. Wednesday night in a salon appearance titled: “A Listening Party: Anthony Barboza & Quincy Troupe, Celebrating Miles Davis on His Birthday, Sharing Stories About a Legend.”

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