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: 
I believe it was to complaint to the band of some other aspect of the performance(intonation,rhythm, etc) he did not like. I do not have any specific source to back this at the moment, though I know that he was extremely sensitive of musicians playing slightly out of tune.
I always interpreted it as he was asking the band to "listen" - pay close attention to what is happening.