Miles Davis was born on this date in 1926 in Alton, Illinois, but his family moved to East St. Louis, across the Mississippi River from St. Louis, before Miles’ was a year old. Miles got his first trumpet around the age of 9 or 10, took private lessons and played in the band during high school.  As a teen he met Clark Terry, Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie when they came to town on tour.  After high school Miles enrolled at Julliard but didn’t study there for long. Instead, his classroom became the jazz clubs clustered along New York’s 52nd Street.

Davis was playing trumpet in Parker’s quintet at the age of 19 and participated in the recording sessions that introduced much of the music world to the emerging be-bop style. He stayed with Parker’s band through 1948 and then began leading his own groups, including the nonet that would produce jazz music that provided a modern alternative to the frenetic be-bop tempos and “notey” improvisation so prevalent at the time. Along with composer Gil Evans and other young musicians like Gerry Mulligan and Lee Konitz, the nonet played in a more relaxed style and utilized a unique instrumentation including French horn and tuba. The resulting recordings ushered in the concept of “cool jazz.” His affiliation with Gil Evans produced several popular recordings during the 1950s and early 1960s, but one of Miles’ most important recordings was made without Evans: 1959’s “Kind of Blue,” which introduced a modal approach to jazz improvisation.

By the mid-1960s Miles Davis had formed a new group with Wayne Shorter, Herbie Hancock, Ron Carter and Tony Williams that experimented with the boundaries of time and harmony in jazz performance. By the latter years of the decade, though, Miles had moved on to a new area creating albums like “Bitches Brew” that featured electronic instruments and laid the groundwork for the jazz-rock and fusion trends of the 1970s. Miles announced his retirement in 1975 and did not play publicly again until 1980.

During the last decade of his life Miles Davis continued to test the boundaries of improvised music and embraced elements of hip-hop in his playing.  In the 1980s he toured extensively and played to large and enthusiastic audiences.  Miles passed away in September of 1991 leaving behind a legacy of innovation and mentorship that lives on and inspires musicians to this day.

While it is difficult to choose a single recording to illustrate Davis’ playing, here are links to recordings from three periods of his career: Boplicity from the “Birth of the Cool” sessions in 1949 and 1950, a television performance of So What from the “Kind of Blue” album, but with a somewhat larger ensemble than on the record, and a live performance of Tutu from 1986:

"BOPLICITY"

"SO WHAT"

"TUTU"