Question: Watching films of Miles Davis performing in the 50's and 60's I noticed that whenever his solo was done he would take his index finger and press it beneath his right ear. Sometimes he would also shake his head as if it were painful to do so. I'm not sure if he did this later in his career or not. He acted very differently on stage in the 70's and later.

Is the pressure from blowing the horn forcing air into someplace it shouldn't? Why only his right ear? Is this common among trumpet players?

Here are a few stills of him doing this:

[![enter image description here](https://i.stack.imgur.com/VEcSMm.jpg)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/VEcSMm.jpg)

[![enter image description here](https://i.stack.imgur.com/syMChm.jpg)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/syMChm.jpg)

[![enter image description here](https://i.stack.imgur.com/POFuAm.jpg)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/POFuAm.jpg)

Answer: 
Watching the Tonight Show from 1964, it seems he was angry about some aspect of the sound balance. When he does it during the blues, he changes where he's playing on the mic, putting his bell way past it, so maybe he thought he was way too hot and not balanced with the rest of the band. During So What, when he does it, he completely walks away from the mic and plays without any amplification.
I've seen him do this countless times and I believe it's either some tick, OR it's something he consciously does on purpose simply to add to the mysteriousness that of which is... Miles Davis.