Miles Davis
Miles Davis is an icon, a true legend of music. He was a masterfultrumpet player who "explored the instrument's lower register and tended toplay slower, more lyrical lines, often melancholy, rather than the showersof high notes," such as that of Dizzy Gillespie and others (Miles pp).Davis, who released a multitude of recordings during his forty-five yearcareer, offering a bewildering array of different styles, was at the centerof almost every movement in modern jazz, from early be-bop, the cool sound,hard bop, orchestral experimentation, the "modal revolution," and fusion(Miles pp). Davis played with most of the key jazz artists from the post-war era, including Charlie Parker, Thelonious Monk, John Coltrane, HerbieHancock, Wayne Shorter, and Tony Williams (Miles pp). Davis has beencalled the Picasso of Jazz, for he reinvented himself and his soundendlessly in his musical quest (Cool pp). "He was an artist that defied(and despised) categorization, yet he was the forerunner and innovator ofmany distinct and important musical movements (Cool pp). Davis, anoriginal, lyrical soloist, and demanding group leader, was the mostconsistently innovative musician in jazz from the late 1940
Louis, took up the trumpetat the age of thirteen and two years later was playing professionally withlocal jazz bands around town (Dewey pp). This is ajazz album that has transcended the genre of jazz and has become one of ahandful of recordings whose very existence changes everything (Bowden pp). The album has sold million of copies around the world, making it the best-selling recording in Miles Davis's catalog and the best-selling classic jazz album ever. As with his previouscolleagues, the excellence of these sidemen bore eloquent witness to Davis'stature among jazz musicians (Dewey pp). "This music gave impetus tothe West Coast or cool jazz period, and in retrospect, it is apparent Milesbegan doing what he did best - creating a style and then abandoning it fornew horizons" (Smith pp). The fact that Davis achieved this more than once in his career is evidencethat he was a mystic and visionary (Bowden pp). This 1959 groundbreaking album by Davis is a benchmark of improvisation andmodal jazz and is listed by National Public Radio as one of the 100 mostimportant American musical works of the 20th century (Dewey pp). Miles Davis died on September 28, 1991. What drove Davis' Perhaps no one has explained it better that Davishimself. In my mind I have always believed and thought since then that my motion had to be forward, away from the heat of that flame" (Davis 11). Davis appearedinformally at the 1955 Newport Jazz Festival and his sensationalimprovisations there brought him widespread publicity and sufficientengagements to "establish a quintet (1955-1957) with Red Garland, PaulChambers, Philly Joe Jones, and John Coltrane, who in 1956 was joined andlater replaced by Rollins" (Dewey pp). He changed the personnel of hislive bands more frequently, with Chick Corea, Keith Jarrett, MichaelHenderson, Jack DeJohnette, Dave Holland, Steve Grossman, Gary Bartz, andothers moving into and out of the band at various times (Bowden pp). "Bitches Brew" was the only Davis album to break "Billboard's" Top 40chart, reaching the number 35 spot for four weeks in 1970 (Smith pp). Probably the one single artist that best represents theturbulent course jazz has taken through the years is Miles Davis (Milespp).
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Acceptance Essays
