Miles Davis

Miles Dewey Davis III (May 26, 1926 – September 28, 1991) was an American trumpeter, composer, bandleader, and painter. Over nearly fifty years, he shaped jazz more than almost anyone, driving movements like bebop, cool jazz, hard bop, third stream, modal jazz, avant-garde jazz, and jazz fusion. His influence also reached rock, funk, classical, and hip-hop. Davis grew up in a well-off family in Alton, Illinois, and later East St. Louis. He started playing trumpet in his early teens. After moving to New York to study at Juilliard, he dropped out and joined Charlie Parker’s bebop quintet from 1944 to 1948. Soon after, his *Birth of the Cool* sessions for Capitol Records helped define cool jazz. In the early 1950s, he recorded some of the first hard bop music for Prestige Records. A celebrated comeback at the Newport Jazz Festival led to a long contract with Columbia Records, where he made *‘Round About Midnight* in 1955—his first album with saxophonist John Coltrane and bassist Paul Chambers. Through the early 1960s, he moved between orchestral projects with arranger Gil Evans, like the Spanish-influenced *Sketches of Spain* (1960), and band recordings such as *Milestones* (1958) and *Kind of Blue* (1959). That last album remains one of jazz’s biggest sellers, with over five million copies in the U.S. and 6.4 million worldwide. Davis changed his lineup while recording *Someday My Prince Will Come* (1961), his 1961 Blackhawk concerts, and *Seven Steps to Heaven* (1963), which introduced bassist Ron Carter, pianist Herbie Hancock, and drummer Tony Williams. After adding saxophonist Wayne Shorter in 1964, the quintet made more abstract, band-composed albums like *E.S.P.* (1965) and *Miles Smiles* (1967), helping pioneer post-bop. Then came his electric period. In the 1970s, he mixed rock, funk, African rhythms, and new electronic gear with a rotating cast of musicians, including keyboardist Joe Zawinul, drummer Al Foster, bassist Michael Henderson, and guitarist John McLaughlin. Starting with *In a Silent Way* (1969) and ending with *Agharta* (1975), this phase was his most divisive, challenging many jazz listeners. His million-selling *Bitches Brew* (1970) helped revive jazz fusion’s commercial popularity. After a five-year break due to health problems, Davis returned in the 1980s, working with younger musicians and pop sounds on albums like *The Man with the Horn* (1981), *You’re Under Arrest* (1985), and *Tutu* (1986). Critics often disliked them, but the decade brought his highest commercial recognition. He played sold-out shows worldwide and also worked in visual arts, film, and television. He died in 1991 at age 65 from a stroke, pneumonia, and respiratory failure. In 2006, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, which called him “one of the key figures in the history of jazz.” *Rolling Stone* named him “the most revered jazz trumpeter of all time,” and writer Gerald Early described him as one of the most influential and innovative musicians of the 20th century. **Early life**

Davis was born on May 26, 1926, in Alton, Illinois, to a well-off African-American family. He had an older sister, Dorothy Mae (1925–1996), and a younger brother, Vernon (1929–1999). His mother, Cleota Mae Henry, was a music teacher and violinist from Arkansas; his father, Miles Dewey Davis Jr., also from Arkansas, was a dentist. They owned a large estate near Pine Bluff, Arkansas, with a profitable pig farm, where Davis and his siblings fished, hunted, and rode horses. His grandparents also owned a farm there where he spent many summers. In 1927, the family moved to East St. Louis, Illinois, living above a dental office in a mostly white neighborhood. The Great Depression made his father increasingly distant, often working six days a week. From 1932 to 1934, Davis attended John Robinson Elementary School, an all-black school, then Crispus Attucks, where he did well in math, music, and sports. He had earlier gone to Catholic school. As a child, he loved blues, big bands, and gospel. In 1935, a friend of his father gave Davis his first trumpet. He took weekly lessons from Elwood Buchanan, a teacher and musician, whom he called “the biggest influence on my life.” His mother wanted him to play violin instead. Buchanan stressed playing without vibrato and using a clear, mid-range tone. Davis recalled that whenever he used heavy vibrato, Buchanan slapped his knuckles. Later, Davis said: “I prefer a round sound with no attitude in it, like a round voice with not too much tremolo and not too much bass. Just right in the middle.