Miles davis biography pdf

Davis, Miles African Americans Miles Davis Jazz musician and artist A jazz trumpeter, composer, bandleader, and painter, Davis played a vital role in the history of modern jazz. During a career that spanned more than fifty years, Davis developed an original, lyrical soloing style and emerged as a pioneering leader of several jazz idioms, including cool jazz, hard bop, modal jazz, jazz-rock, and jazz-funk fusion. Born: May 26, 1926; Alton, Illinois Died: September 28, 1991; Santa Monica, California Also known as: Miles Dewey Davis III Areas of achievement: Art and photography; Music: bandleading; Music: composition; Music: funk; Music: jazz Early Life Miles Dewey Davis III was born in Alton, Illinois, to an affluent, middle-class African American family. Davis’s father was a dental surgeon who moved his family to an all-white neighborhood in East St. Louis within a year of his son’s birth. Although Davis’s mother, Cleota Henry Davis, wanted him to learn how to play the violin or piano, his father gave him a trumpet on his thirteenth birthday. He began taking lessons with Elwood Buchanan, who encouraged Davis not to play his trumpet with vibrato. Davis also began to spend time with the trumpeter Clark Terry, who became one of his early mentors. Within two years, he was performing professionally with Eddie Randall’s Blue Devils. In 1944, the Billy Eckstine band came to St. Louis to perform at the Club Riviera for two weeks. One of Eckstine’s trumpeters was sick, and Davis had the opportunity to substitute for him. The band included bebop innovators Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie, who both left a profound impression on the young musician. In September, 1944, Davis moved to New York to attend the Juilliard School of Music with the additional motive of spending time with Parker. He spent a year at Juilliard and soon joined Parker in live appearances and recording sessions. In 1948, Davis began his influential collaboration with the Canadian arranger Gil Evans. Their associations with Gerry Mulligan and John Lewis resulted in a series of nonet recordings for Capitol Records that became known as Birth of the Cool (1957). In 1949, Davis traveled to Paris with Tadd Dameron; when he returned, he became addicted to heroin for four years. In 1953, Davis returned to his father’s home in East St. Louis and quit heroin cold turkey. By the beginning of 1954, he was free of his addiction and focused on reigniting his career. Life’s Work In 1955, Davis appeared at the Newport Jazz Festival, where his remarkable soloing—particularly his improvisations on “’Round Midnight”—brought him widespread notoriety. The publicity allowed him to obtain sufficient engagements to establish the first of his great quintets, which featured bassist Paul Chambers, pianist Red Garland, drummer Philly Joe Jones, and saxophonist John Coltrane, who was eventually replaced by Sonny Rollins in 1956. He also met producer George Avakian, who persuaded him to sign a contract with Columbia Records. To rapidly fulfill his unfinished obligations to his previous label, Prestige, Davis assembled a quintet for several historically significant recordings that would Miles Davis. (Archive Photos/Getty Images) 461 Davis, Miles African Americans mark album Milestones for Columbia. Davis’s composition “Milestones” broke from the tradition of solo improvisation that relies The term “cool jazz” applies to the modern jazz idiom from the late on frequently changing chord progressions. 1940’s that derives largely from bebop. Unlike its parent style, it is Instead, it allowed for a modal approach to characterized by the use of smooth timbres, soft dynamics, the avoidance of vibrato, and restrained emotional content. In 1949 and 1950, melodic improvisation in which the solotrumpeter Miles Davis and arranger Gil Evans collaborated to create a ist uses one mode or scale as inspiration for set of recordings that would become exceedingly influential in the solo development. The popularity of the new spread of this new style. The nine-piece band originally comprised modal style increased with the release of Davis, trombonist Mike Zwerin, tuba player Bill Barber, French horn Kind of Blue in 1959. Kind of Blue is one of player Junior Collins, baritone saxophonist Gerry Mulligan, alto saxothe best selling and most influential recordphonist Lee Konitz, pianist John Lewis, bassist Al McKibbon, and ings in jazz history and featured Adderley, drummer Max Roach. The group had several brief engagements that Coltrane, pianist Bill Evans, bassist Paul were not financially successful. Chambers, and drummer Jimmy Cobb. PiaIn 1949, Davis was under contract with Capitol Records to record nist Wynton Kelly also appears on “Freddie several singles. To fulfill his obligation, he revived the ensemble to reFreeloader.” Many of the compositions were cord for three additional sessions. Although the instrumental lineup remained unchanged, Davis, Barber, Mulligan, and Konitz were the modal, including the popular “So What.” only musicians who performed in all of the sessions. The tracks were After the release of this album, many jazz originally released as singles until eight of them were compiled in musicians began to use its song formats in1953 as a part of Capitol’s Classics in Jazz series. In 1957, a twelvestead of popular or bebop song forms. inch LP titled Birth of the Cool was released. Although some of From 1959 to 1963, Davis used a rhythm the musicians, including Konitz, did not like the connotations of the section that consisted of Chambers, Kelly, term “cool,” the style profoundly influenced many musicians, parand Cobb. Their work is featured on the alticularly in California. The musical movement became known as bums Someday My Prince Will Come, Miles “West Coast jazz,” and Davis’s sound and musical concept influenced Davis at Carnegie Hall, Saturday Night at the many of its leaders, including Chet Baker, Shorty Rogers, and Paul Blackhawk, and Friday Night at the BlackDesmond. hawk. Their relaxed, even swinging sound distinguished them from other groups of the time, and many modern musicians identified be released in 1956 as Steamin’, Cookin’, Workin’, and the rhythm section as one of the most sought-after in Relaxin’. The albums include popular bebop songs, jazz jazz. In 1963, Davis hired a new rhythm section that standards, and pre-bop era songs. Each record was well stayed together until 1968. The section included pianist received by musicians and fans. In 1957, the original Herbie Hancock, bassist Ron Carter, and drummer Tony quintet was dismantled by Davis as a result of personal Williams. In 1964 tenor saxophonist Wayne Shorter issues among some of the band members. joined Davis and became the quintet’s primary comIn 1957, Davis revived his association with arranger poser. This ensemble is often considered to be Davis’s Evans and recorded a series of albums. This time they as“second great quintet,” and it was one of the most signifisembled new works with Davis as the primary soloist, cant and progressive ensembles in jazz during the 1960’s. backed by a large band. Miles Ahead, recorded in 1957, Important recordings produced by this group include showcases Davis on flugelhorn, an uncommon instruMiles Smiles, E.S.P., Nefertiti, and The Sorcerer. ment in jazz at the time. Although Shorty Rogers and In albums Miles in the Sky and Filles de Kilimanjaro Clark Terry had played flugelhorn before 1957, Davis’s (1968), Davis began to seriously incorporate rock influrecordings provoked a new popularity for the instruences. He also began to experiment with open-ended ment. In 1958, Davis recorded selections from George compositions based on rock-oriented grooves, short meGershwin’s opera Porgy and Bess. Sketches of Spain was lodic fragments, and driving bass patterns. In 1969, Darecorded in November, 1959, and March, 1960, and feavis recorded Bitches Brew, which became a best-selling tures songs by contemporary Spanish composer Joaquin album and a pioneering jazz-rock fusion recording. Rodrigo, Manuel de Falla, and Evans. Many of the musicians who performed on this album In 1958, Davis turned his quintet into a sextet by would go on to lead the major pioneering jazz-rock fuadding Cannonball Adderley and recorded the landsion groups, including Weather Report, Tony Williams Miles Davis and Cool Jazz 462 African Americans Lifetime, Mahavishnu Orchestra, and Return to Forever. In the 1970’s, Davis turned from rock toward funk. Bassist Michael Henderson was a mainstay of these groups. In the 1980’s, Davis’s music became more influenced by popular music and commercial calculations. You’re Under Arrest (1985), Tutu (1986), and Music from Siesta (1988) were all recorded through layered overdubbing, similar to pop albums of the time. Toward the end of his life Davis appeared in two films: Scrooged (1988) with Bill Murray and Dingo (1991). Davis died on September 28, 1991, of a stroke and respiratory failure in Santa Monica, California. He was buried at Woodlawn Cemetery in the Bronx, with one of his trumpets. Significance Because of his musical innovations, profound influence, sustained leadership, and creativity from the 1940’s to the early 1990’s, Miles Davis occupies a position in jazz analogous to that of Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, and Charlie Parker. He played a crucial role in every major development in jazz during his lifetime and became a major cultural icon, outspoken social critic, and painter. In 2009, the United States House of Representatives passed a resolution honoring Davis’s landmark album Kind of Blue as a national treasure. —N. Michael Goecke Further Reading Alkyer, Frank, Ed Enright, and Jason Koransky, eds. The Miles Davis Reader. New York: Hal Leonard, 2007. Collection of interviews, reviews, and articles from DownBeat magazine on the music, life, and personality of Miles Davis. Carner, Gary, ed. The Miles Davis Companion. New York: Schirmer Books, 1996. Examines the life and career of Davis through biographical essays, inter- Davis, Miles views, liner notes, and original reviews of his music. Carr, Ian. Miles Davis: The Definitive Biography. New York: Thunder’s Mouth Press, 2007. Comprehensive biography of the life and music of Davis. Includes an extensive list of bibliographical references and extensive discography. Davis, Miles, and Quincy Troupe. Miles: The Autobiography. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1989. In this controversial autobiography, Davis worked with the poet and journalist Troupe to create a no-holds-barred account of his life. Davis speaks very frankly and openly about his music, drug addiction, relationships with women, the racism that he encountered in the music business and America, and his associations with other jazz legends. Kirchner, Bill, ed. A Miles Davis Reader. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1997. This book contains a collection of important and useful essays on Miles Davis. It offers perspectives on his life, personality, changing musical styles, the varied reactions to his music, and some of the controversies that surround him. Tirro, Frank. The Birth of the Cool of Miles Davis and His Associates. Edited by Michael Budds. CMS Sourcebooks in American Music 5. Hillsdale, N.Y.: Pendragon, 2009. Provides musical analysis of several works associated with Birth of the Cool. Yudkin, Jeremy. Miles Davis, Miles Smiles, and the Invention of Post Bop. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2008. The author fuses biographical narratives of Davis with thoughtful analysis of transcribed musical examples to provide a penetrating look at the complexities of his music. See also: Cannonball Adderley; John Coltrane; Billy Eckstine; Dizzy Gillespie; Herbie Hancock; Charlie Parker; Sonny Rollins; Wayne Shorter. 463