Give An Inch and They'll Take Miles...

Miles Davis, artwork by Michael Symonds

Miles Davis was best known as a jazz musician, composer, and bandleader. According to William Ruhlman's article on Allmusic.com, Throughout Miles Davis' professional career, that lasted was at least 50 years, Davis played the trumpet in a lyrical, introspective, and melodic style, often employing a stemless Harmon mute to make his sound more personal and intimate. But if his approach to his instrument was constant, his approach to jazz was dazzlingly protean. To examine his career is to examine the history of jazz from the mid-'40s to the early '90s, since he was in the thick of almost every important innovation and stylistic development in the music during that period, and he often led the way in those changes, both with his own performances and recordings and by choosing sidemen and collaborators who forged new directions. It can even be argued that jazz stopped evolving when Davis wasn't there to push it forward. According to Notablebiographies.com, Davis's stint from 1947 to 1948 in a quintet (group of five musicians) led by bebop genius Charlie Parker brought him early fame. A fine bebop trumpeter, Davis soon felt a need to rid his music of bebop's style and to restore jazz's more melodic elements. The result was the influential recording Birth of the Cool (1949), which gave "birth" to the so-called "cool," or West Coast, jazz school. This recording established Davis' musical identity, separate from Parker and the other beboppers. 

According to Milesdavis.com, for nearly six decades, Miles Davis has embodied all that is cool – in his music (and most especially jazz), in his art, fashion, romance, and in his international, if not intergalactic, presence that looms strong as ever today.  2006 – The year in which Davis was inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame on March 13th – is a land­mark year, commemorating the 80th anniversary of his birth on May 26, 1926, and the 15th anniversary of his death on September 28, 1991.  In between those two markers is more than a half-century of brilliance – often exasperating, brutally honest with himself and to others, uncompromising in a way that transcended mere intuition. According to Ruhlmann, Davis album, Bitches Brew, Davis turned more overtly to a jazz-rock style. Though certainly not conventional rock music, Davis' electrified sound attracted a young, non-jazz audience while putting off traditional jazz fans. Bitches Brew, released in March 1970, reached the pop Top 40 and became Davis' first album to be certified gold. It also earned a Grammy nomination for Best Instrumental Arrangement and won the Grammy for large-group jazz performance. Davis has made a power impression on me as a listener and as an industry professional. His music makes me eager to be a original and to take my creativity to the next level.

References:


Rulhmann, William. "Miles Davis." AllMusic. Web. 27 Feb. 2012. <http://www.allmusic.com/artist/miles-davis-p6377/biography>.

"Miles Davis." Web. 27 Feb. 2012. <http://www.milesdavis.com/us/biography>.

"World Biography." Miles Davis Biography. Web. 27 Feb. 2012. <http://www.notablebiographies.com/Co-Da/Davis-Miles.html>.