Reading Comprehension

PT104 · S2 · P1 · Q6 Miles Davis

A free, expert breakdown of this official LSAT Reading Comprehension question.

Save & drill this skill — build targeted practice sets from questions like this one
Video walkthroughs — watch every question solved step by step
81 official LSATs — as questions, timed sections & full-length tests

Start practicing free

The career of trumpeter Miles Davis was one of the most astonishingly productive that jazz music has ever seen.

Topic

Miles Davis's career

Frameworks

Theme / Example, Highlight Something Noteworthy

Main Point

Davis's career was incredibly productive and under-appreciated, both due in part to how many stylistic evolutions Davis went through over the years.

P1 - Thesis

We might have alternatively thought of this passage with a "Theme / Example" framework, since this first paragraph really lays out the overarching theme that the rest of the paragraphs unpack: a lot of zigzags.

P2 - First Stylistic Zigzag

Davis starts as bebop but then develops "cool jazz" (slower tempos and less soloing).

P3 - Second Stylistic Zigzag

Davis breaks free from chord patterns and seeks a more open, unified sound like that of orchestral pieces. Soloists have less constraints.

P4 - Third Stylistic Zigzag

Davis starts taking on more conventions of rock music -- electrified instruments and a cut-and-paste recording process that's a violation of the norms of jazz. He takes some heat from the critics.

P5 - Author's Causal Explanation

Here the author tries to explain why Davis was frequently maligned by contemporary critics and thus has not received his proper due as the genius he was -- critics are afraid when artists broaden possibilities or defy genre categorization (as apparently they rely on those things to do their jobs).

Which one of the following, if true, would most undermine the author's explanation for the way Miles Davis is regarded by jazz critics?

Many jazz musicians who specialize
No Impact
Since one of the expectations of the jazz genre is to improvise, it makes sense that critics would admire a jazz musician who improvises. According to the author's explanation, the critics like it when people stay within their lane and perform accordingly.
6% picked this
Correct
Many jazz musicians whose careers
Why this is right
This badly undermines the author's explanation. She thought that critics were negative about Davis because he kept shifting genres, thereby defying their ability to pigeon-hole him. This answer, though, is saying that critics had no issue with other artists who kept shifting genres throughout their career. We could call this a Cause Without Effect weakener, because the same supposed cause is present (radical changes in style) but the supposed effect is absent (the critics aren't being negative).
Skill tested: Weaken · how this choice captures the passage's function is the move to repeat next time.
83% picked this
Several jazz musicians who perform
Weak Impact
Jazz purists were upset when Davis started using electronic instruments, so this answer seems to go against that somewhat. But the author's main idea is that critics were upset with Davis because he kept changing (kept reaching for something new that was his own). and so they couldn't figure out what category to put him in. This answer is saying that critics were cool with these several jazz musicians who performed exclusively on electronic instruments. The critics were mad that Davis went electric because they had just gotten use to him being "cool, acoustic". Davis refused to dwell in whatever niche he had previously carved out. If he had exclusively stuck with one style, whatever it was, critics would have been fine with him (the author thinks).
3% picked this
The jazz innovators who are
Strengthens, if anything
The author thinks that Davis's long career is what made him a target of critics (by having a long career that gave him time to switch genres multiple times). So it's compatible that innovators with brief careers, who wouldn't have enough time to do several very different things, would be cherished by critics.
3% picked this
Jazz critics are known to
No Impact
This answer would only weaken if the author had been thinking that critics disliked Davis because they thought he lacked technical virtuosity. This answer would then be saying, "Critics cared more about musicality than technical virtuosity." But the author was never saying that critics didn't like Davis because he lacked technical virtuosity.
5% picked this

Continue the review in LSAT Lab

Save this question, watch the video walkthrough, and drill similar questions in your LSAT Lab account.

Save and practice this skill

LSAT Lab

Turn this review into a targeted study plan.

Save this question, drill more like it, watch the video walkthrough, and track your progress in your LSAT Lab account.

Start practicing free