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GENRES
STYLES
ACTIVE
BORN
DIED
ALIASES
MEMBER OF
Jazz
Bop
Cool
Fusion
Hard Bop
Jazz-Funk
Jazz-Rock
Modal Music
Post-Bop
Jazz Instrument
Trumpet Jazz
1940s - 1990s
May 26, 1926 in Alton, IL
September 28, 1991 in Santa
Monica, CA
Miles Dewey Davis
Miles Davis Quintet
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Throughout a professional career lasting 50 years, Miles Davis
played the trumpet in a lyrical,introspective, and melodic style,
often employing a stemless Harmon mute to make his sound
morepersonal and intimate. But if his approach to his instrument
was constant, his approach to jazz wasdazzlingly protean. To
examine his career is to examine the history of jazz from the
mid-'40s to theearly '90s, since he was in the thick of almost
every important innovation and stylistic development inthe music
during that period, and he often led the way in those changes, both
with his ownperformances and recordings and by choosing sidemen and
collaborators who forged new directions. Itcan even be argued that
jazz stopped evolving when Davis wasn't there to push it
forward.
Davis was the son of a dental surgeon, Dr. Miles Dewey Davis,
Jr., and a music teacher, Cleota Mae(Henry) Davis, and thus grew up
in the black middle class of east St. Louis after the family
movedthere shortly after his birth. He became interested in music
during his childhood and by the age of 12began taking trumpet
lessons. While still in high school, he started to get jobs playing
in local bars andat 16 was playing gigs out of town on weekends. At
17, he joined Eddie Randle's Blue Devils, a territoryband based in
St. Louis. He enjoyed a personal apotheosis in 1944, just after
graduating from highschool, when he saw and was allowed to sit in
with Billy Eckstine's big band, who was playing in St.Louis. The
band featured trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie and saxophonist Charlie
Parker, the architects ofthe emerging bebop style of jazz, which
was characterized by fast, inventive soloing and dynamicrhythm
variations.
It is striking that Davis fell so completely under Gillespie and
Parker'sspell, since his own slower and less flashy style never
really comparedto theirs. But bebop was the new sound of the day,
and the youngtrumpeter was bound to follow it. He did so by leaving
the Midwest toattend the Institute of Musical Art in New York City
(renamedJuilliard) in September 1944. Shortly after his arrival in
Manhattan,he was playing in clubs with Parker, and by 1945 he had
abandonedhis academic studies for a full-time career as a jazz
musician, initiallyjoining Benny Carter's band and making his first
recordings as asideman. He played with Eckstine in 1946-1947 and
was a member ofParker's group in 1947-1948, making his recording
debut as a leader on a 1947 session that featuredParker, pianist
John Lewis, bassist Nelson Boyd, and drummer Max Roach. This was an
isolated date,however, and Davis spent most of his time playing and
recording behind Parker. But in the summer of1948, he organized a
nine-piece band with an unusual horn section. In addition to
himself, it featuredan alto saxophone, a baritone saxophone, a
trombone, a French horn, and a tuba. This nonet,employing
arrangements by Gil Evans and others, played for two weeks at the
Royal Roost in New Yorkin September. Earning a contract with
Capitol Records, the band went into the studio in January 1949for
the first of three sessions which produced 12 tracks that attracted
little attention at first. The band'srelaxed sound, however,
affected the musicians who played it, among them Kai Winding, Lee
Konitz,Gerry Mulligan, John Lewis, J.J. Johnson, and Kenny Clarke,
and it had a profound influence on thedevelopment of the cool jazz
style on the West Coast. (In February 1957, Capitol finally issued
thetracks together on an LP called Birth of the Cool.)
Davis, meanwhile, had moved on to co-leading a band with
pianistTadd Dameron in 1949, and the group took him out of the
country for
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Miles Davis - Music Biography, Credits and Discography :
AllMusic
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5:53:41 ]
artist moods
artist themes
Ambitious AtmosphericConfident ElaborateElegant IntimateLush
ManicMelancholy NocturnalReflective ReservedRestrained
SophisticatedBright CerebralComplex PoignantCathartic
DreamyFreewheeling MeanderingRebellious SparklingStylish
UncompromisingAggressive BroodingDetached FieryIntense
OminousProvocative RefinedSprawling
VisceralAmiable/Good-Natured
DruggyHypnotic
Romantic SoothingVolatile
Maverick Small GatheringSpring Day DrivingDinner Ambiance
DrinkingHanging Out HouseworkIn Love IntrospectionLong Walk Night
DrivingPicnic Rainy DayRelaxation Road TripRomantic Evening
SeductionSex Sunday AfternoonThe Creative Side
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an appearance at the Paris Jazz Festival in May. But the
trumpeter'sprogress was impeded by an addiction to heroin that
plagued him inthe early '50s. His performances and recordings
became morehaphazard, but in January 1951 he began a long series of
recordingsfor the Prestige label that became his main recording
outlet for thenext several years. He managed to kick his habit by
the middle of thedecade, and he made a strong impression playing
"'Round Midnight"at the Newport Jazz Festival in July 1955, a
performance that led the
major label Columbia Records to sign him. The prestigious
contract allowed him to put together apermanent band, and he
organized a quintet featuring saxophonist John Coltrane, pianist
Red Garland,bassist Paul Chambers, and drummer Philly Joe Jones who
began recording his Columbia debut,'Round About Midnight, in
October.
As it happened, however, he had a remaining five albums on
hisPrestige contract, and over the next year he was forced to
alternate hisColumbia sessions with sessions for Prestige to
fulfill this previouscommitment. The latter resulted in the
Prestige albums The NewMiles Davis Quintet, Cookin', Workin',
Relaxin', and Steamin',making Davis' first quintet one of his
better-documented outfits. InMay 1957, just three months after
Capitol released the Birth of theCool LP, Davis again teamed with
arranger Gil Evans for his secondColumbia LP, Miles Ahead. Playing
flgelhorn, Davis fronted a bigband on music that extended the Birth
of the Cool concept and evenhad classical overtones. Released in
1958, the album was later inducted into the Grammy Hall of
Fame,intended to honor recordings made before the Grammy Awards
were instituted in 1959.
In December 1957, Davis returned to Paris, where he improvised
thebackground music for the film L'Ascenseur pour l'Echafaud
(Escalatorto the Gallows). Jazz Track, an album containing this
music, earnedhim a 1960 Grammy nomination for Best Jazz
Performance, Solo, orSmall Group. He added saxophonist Cannonball
Adderley to hisgroup, creating the Miles Davis Sextet, who recorded
the albumMilestones in April 1958. Shortly after this recording,
Red Garlandwas replaced on piano by Bill Evans and Jimmy Cobb took
over forPhilly Joe Jones on drums. In July, Davis again
collaborated with GilEvans and an orchestra on an album of music
from Porgy and Bess.
Back in the sextet, Davis began to experiment with modal
playing, basing his improvisations on scalesrather than chord
changes.
This led to his next band recording, Kind of Blue, in March and
April1959, an album that became a landmark in modern jazz and the
mostpopular disc of Davis' career, eventually selling over two
millioncopies, a phenomenal success for a jazz record. In sessions
held inNovember 1959 and March 1960, Davis again followed his
pattern ofalternating band releases and collaborations with Gil
Evans, recordingSketches of Spain, containing traditional Spanish
music and originalcompositions in that style. The album earned
Davis and EvansGrammy nominations in 1960 for Best Jazz
Performance, LargeGroup, and Best Jazz Composition, More Than 5
minutes; they won inthe latter category.
By the time Davis returned to the studio to make his next band
albumin March 1961, Adderley had departed, Wynton Kelly had
replaced BillEvans at the piano, and John Coltrane had left to
begin his successfulsolo career, being replaced by saxophonist Hank
Mobley (followingthe brief tenure of Sonny Stitt). Nevertheless,
Coltrane guested on acouple of tracks of the album, called Someday
My Prince Will Come.The record made the pop charts in March 1962,
but it was precededinto the bestseller lists by the Davis quintet's
next recording, the two-
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Miles Davis - Music Biography, Credits and Discography :
AllMusic
http://www.allmusic.com/artist/miles-davis-mn0000423829[27/2/2013
5:53:41 ]
LP set Miles Davis in Person (Friday & Saturday Nights at
theBlackhawk, San Francisco), recorded in April. The following
month,
Davis recorded another live show, as he and his band were joined
by an orchestra led by Gil Evans atCarnegie Hall in May. The
resulting Miles Davis at Carnegie Hall was his third LP to reach
the popcharts, and it earned Davis and Evans a 1962 Grammy
nomination for Best Jazz Performance by aLarge Group, Instrumental.
Davis and Evans teamed up again in 1962 for what became their
finalcollaboration, Quiet Nights. The album was not issued until
1964, when it reached the charts andearned a Grammy nomination for
Best Instrumental Jazz Performance by a Large Group or Soloist
withLarge Group.
In 1996, Columbia Records released a six-CD box set, Miles Davis
&Gil Evans: The Complete Columbia Studio Recordings, that won
theGrammy for Best Historical Album. Quiet Nights was preceded
intothe marketplace by Davis' next band effort, Seven Steps to
Heaven,recorded in the spring of 1963 with an entirely new lineup
consistingof saxophonist George Coleman, pianist Victor Feldman,
bassist RonCarter, and drummer Frank Butler. During the sessions,
Feldman wasreplaced by Herbie Hancock and Butler by Tony Williams.
The albumfound Davis making a transition to his next great group,
of whichCarter, Hancock, and Williams would be members. It was
another popchart entry that earned 1963 Grammy nominations for both
Best Instrumental Jazz Performance by aSoloist or Small Group and
Best Instrumental Jazz Performance by a Large Group. The
quintetfollowed with two live albums, Miles Davis in Europe,
recorded in July 1963, which made the popcharts and earned a 1964
Grammy nomination for Best Instrumental Jazz Performance by a
SmallGroup or Soloist with Small Group, and My Funny Valentine,
recorded in February 1964 and releasedin 1965, when it reached the
pop charts.
By September 1964, the final member of the classic Miles
DavisQuintet of the 1960s was in place with the addition of
saxophonistWayne Shorter to the team of Davis, Carter, Hancock, and
Williams.While continuing to play standards in concert, this unit
embarked ona series of albums of original compositions contributed
by the bandmembers, starting in January 1965 with E.S.P., followed
by MilesSmiles (1967 Grammy nomination for Best Instrumental
JazzPerformance by a Small Group or Soloist with Small Group [7
orFewer]), Sorcerer, Nefertiti, Miles in the Sky (1968
Grammynomination for Best Instrumental Jazz Performance by a Small
Group
or Soloist with Small Group), and Filles de Kilimanjaro. By the
time of Miles in the Sky, the group hadbegun to turn to electric
instruments, presaging Davis' next stylistic turn. By the final
sessions for Fillesde Kilimanjaro in September 1968, Hancock had
been replaced by Chick Corea and Carter by DaveHolland. But
Hancock, along with pianist Joe Zawinul and guitarist John
McLaughlin, participated onDavis' next album, In a Silent Way
(1969), which returned the trumpeter to the pop charts for the
firsttime in four years and earned him another small-group jazz
performance Grammy nomination. Withhis next album, Bitches Brew,
Davis turned more overtly to a jazz-rock style. Though certainly
notconventional rock music, Davis' electrified sound attracted a
young, non-jazz audience while putting offtraditional jazz
fans.
Bitches Brew, released in March 1970, reached the pop Top 40
andbecame Davis' first album to be certified gold. It also earned
aGrammy nomination for Best Instrumental Arrangement and won
the
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Miles Davis - Music Biography, Credits and Discography :
AllMusic
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5:53:41 ]
discography MAIN ALBUMS COMPILATIONS SINGLES & EPS DVDS
& VIDEOS OTHERS
Year Title Label Editors' Rating Average User Rating
list condensed
Grammy for large-group jazz performance. He followed it with
suchsimilar efforts as Miles Davis at Fillmore East (1971
Grammynomination for Best Jazz Performance by a Group), A Tribute
to JackJohnson, Live-Evil, On the Corner, and In Concert, all of
whichreached the pop charts. Meanwhile, Davis' former sidemen
became hisdisciples in a series of fusion groups: Corea formed
Return to Forever,Shorter and Zawinul led Weather Report, and
McLaughlin and formerDavis drummer Billy Cobham organized the
Mahavishnu Orchestra. Starting in October 1972, when hebroke his
ankles in a car accident, Davis became less active in the early
'70s, and in 1975 he gave uprecording entirely due to illness,
undergoing surgery for hip replacement later in the year. Five
yearspassed before he returned to action by recording The Man With
the Horn in 1980 and going back totouring in 1981.
By now, he was an elder statesman of jazz, and his innovations
hadbeen incorporated into the music, at least by those who
supported hiseclectic approach. He was also a celebrity whose
appeal extended farbeyond the basic jazz audience. He performed on
the worldwide jazzfestival circuit and recorded a series of albums
that made the popcharts, including We Want Miles (1982 Grammy Award
for Best JazzInstrumental Performance by a Soloist), Star People,
Decoy, andYou're Under Arrest. In 1986, after 30 years with
Columbia, heswitched to Warner Bros. Records and released Tutu,
which won himhis fourth Grammy for Best Jazz Instrumental
Performance.
Aura, an album he had recorded in 1984, was released by Columbia
in1989 and brought him his fifth Grammy for Best Jazz
InstrumentalPerformance by a Soloist (on a Jazz Recording). Davis
surprised jazzfans when, on July 8, 1991, he joined an orchestra
led by Quincy Jonesat the Montreux Jazz Festival to perform some of
the arrangementswritten for him in the late '50s by Gil Evans; he
had never previouslylooked back at an aspect of his career. He died
of pneumonia,respiratory failure, and a stroke within months.
Doo-Bop, his laststudio album, appeared in 1992. It was a
collaboration with rapperEasy Mo Bee, and it won a Grammy for Best
Rhythm & BluesInstrumental Performance, with the track
"Fantasy" nominated for Best Jazz Instrumental Solo.Released in
1993, Miles & Quincy Live at Montreux won Davis his seventh
Grammy for Best Large JazzEnsemble Performance.
Miles Davis took an all-inclusive, constantly restless approach
to jazz that had begun to fall out of favorby the time of his
death, even as it earned him controversy during his lifetime. It
was hard to recognizethe bebop acolyte of Charlie Parker in the
flamboyantly dressed leader with the hair extensions whoseemed to
keep one foot on a wah-wah pedal and one hand on an electric
keyboard in his later years.But he did much to popularize jazz,
reversing the trend away from commercial appeal that bebopbegan.
And whatever the fripperies and explorations, he retained an
ability to play moving solos thatendeared him to audiences and
demonstrated his affinity with tradition. At a time when jazz
isinclining toward academia and repertory orchestras rather than
moving forward, he is a reminder ofthe music's essential quality of
boundless invention, using all available means.
COLLAPSE
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Miles Davis - Music Biography, Credits and Discography :
AllMusic
http://www.allmusic.com/artist/miles-davis-mn0000423829[27/2/2013
5:53:41 ]
1951 Conception Original Jazz Classics(3)
1951 Dig Polydor / Prestige Records(16)
1951 Blue Period Prestige Records(1)
1951The New Sounds ofMiles Davis Prestige Records No User
Ratings
1954 Walkin' OJC(25)
1954Miles Davis Quintet[Prestige 185] Allegiance Records No User
Ratings
1954Miles Davis Quintet[Prestige 187] Prestige Records No User
Ratings
1954Miles Davis and theModern Jazz Giants Original Jazz
Classics
(24)
1954 Blue Haze OJC(9)
1954 Miles Davis Quartet Prestige Records(3)
1955The Musings of Miles Concord / Original Jazz
Classics (18)
1955 Blue Moods Original Jazz Classics(9)
1955Miles Davis and MiltJackson Quintet/Sextet Original Jazz
Classics
(7)
1955The New Miles DavisQuintet
Original Jazz Classics /Fantasy (9)
1955 Miles and Horns OJC(41)
1956 Birth of the Cool Blue Note(177)
1957'Round About Midnight
Legacy / Columbia/Legacy(186)
1957 Bags' Groove Prestige Records / OriginalJazz Classics
(30)
1957Cookin' with the MilesDavis Quintet
Fantasy / Prestige Records(102)
1957 Miles Ahead Legacy / Sony MusicDistribution (64)
1957Relaxin' with the MilesDavis Quintet
OJC(72)
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Miles Davis - Music Biography, Credits and Discography :
AllMusic
http://www.allmusic.com/artist/miles-davis-mn0000423829[27/2/2013
5:53:41 ]
1958 At Newport 1958 Legacy / Sony MusicDistribution (12)
1958Ascenseur Pourl'chafaud
Verve(36)
1958 Milestones Legacy / Sony MusicDistribution (109)
1958 Porgy and Bess Sony Music Distribution(56)
1959 Kind of Blue Legacy / Columbia/Legacy(538)
1959Workin' with the MilesDavis Quintet
OJC(44)
1960Sketches of Spain
Sony Music Distribution(182)
1961In Person: Friday Nightat the Blackhawk
Legacy / Sony MusicDistribution (18)
1961In Person: SaturdayNight at the Blackhawk Legacy / Sony
Music
Distribution (13)
1961Miles Davis at CarnegieHall
Columbia/Legacy(10)
1961Someday My Prince WillCome
Columbia/Legacy(36)
1961Steamin' with the MilesDavis Quintet
Original Jazz Classics /Universal B.V. / UniversalBrasil
(37)
1963 Miles in St. Louis Vgm No User Ratings
1963 Quiet Nights Legacy / Columbia/Legacy(13)
1963Seven Steps to Heaven
Legacy / Columbia/Legacy(34)
1964 Four & More Legacy / Columbia(40)
1964 Miles in Berlin Columbia(40)
1964Miles Davis in Europe
Legacy / Columbia/Legacy(40)
1965My Funny Valentine Columbia / Sony Music
Distribution (16)
1965 E.S.P. Legacy / Columbia/Legacy(39)
1967 Miles Smiles Legacy / Columbia/Legacy(77)
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Miles Davis - Music Biography, Credits and Discography :
AllMusic
http://www.allmusic.com/artist/miles-davis-mn0000423829[27/2/2013
5:53:41 ]
1967 Sorcerer Legacy / Sony MusicDistribution (45)
1968Filles de Kilimanjaro
Columbia/Legacy(53)
1968 Miles in the Sky Legacy / Sony MusicDistribution (28)
1968 Nefertiti Legacy / Columbia/Legacy(75)
1969 In a Silent Way Legacy / Columbia(169)
1969 Miles in Tokyo Legacy / CBSSony/Columbia/Legacy (66)
1970 Bitches Brew Legacy / Sony MusicDistribution (368)
1970A Tribute to JackJohnson
Columbia(102)
1970Black Beauty: MilesDavis at Fillmore West
Columbia/Legacy
(19)
1970Miles Davis at Fillmore:Live at the Fillmore East
Columbia/Legacy
(14)
1971 Live-Evil Legacy / Columbia/Legacy(64)
1972In Concert: Live atPhilharmonic Hall
Columbia/Legacy(11)
1972Miles Davis at theLincoln Center No User Ratings
1972 On the Corner Sony Music Distribution(104)
1974 Dark Magus Legacy / Sony MusicDistribution (33)
1974 Big Fun Legacy / Columbia/Legacy(51)
1974 Get Up with It Legacy / Sony MusicDistribution (31)
1975 Agharta Columbia(43)
1975 Pangaea Columbia(37)
1976 Water Babies TriStar Music(15)
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Miles Davis - Music Biography, Credits and Discography :
AllMusic
http://www.allmusic.com/artist/miles-davis-mn0000423829[27/2/2013
5:53:41 ]
1981The Man with the Horn
Columbia(23)
1982 We Want Miles Columbia / Sony MusicDistribution (22)
1983 Decoy Columbia / Sony MusicDistribution (12)
1983 Star People Sony Music Distribution(14)
1985You're Under Arrest
Columbia(19)
1986 Tutu Warner Bros.(27)
1987 Music from Siesta Warner Bros.(5)
1989 Amandla Warner Bros.(13)
1989 Aura Sbme Special Mkts.(25)
1990 Dingo Warner Bros. / Warner Jazz(6)
1991Miles & Quincy: Live AtMontreux
Warner Bros.(8)
1992 Doo-Bop Warner Bros.(19)
1996Live Around the World
Warner Bros.(11)
2012Miles Ahead/MilesDavis/19 No User Ratings
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