Miles Davis (jazz trumpeter, bandleader, songwriter)

~ Person

Also performs as: Cleo Henry

Wikipedia

Miles Dewey Davis III (May 26, 1926 – September 28, 1991) was an American jazz trumpeter, bandleader and composer. He is among the most influential and acclaimed figures in the history of jazz and 20th-century music. Davis adopted a variety of musical directions in a roughly five-decade career that kept him at the forefront of many major stylistic developments in jazz.

Born into an upper-middle-class family in Alton, Illinois, and raised in East St. Louis, Davis started on the trumpet in his early teens. He left to study at Juilliard in New York City, before dropping out and making his professional debut as a member of saxophonist Charlie Parker's bebop quintet from 1944 to 1948. Shortly after, he recorded the Birth of the Cool sessions for Capitol Records, which were instrumental to the development of cool jazz. In the early 1950s, while addicted to heroin, Davis recorded some of the earliest hard bop music under Prestige Records. After a widely acclaimed comeback performance at the Newport Jazz Festival, he signed a long-term contract with Columbia Records, and recorded the album 'Round About Midnight in 1955. It was his first work with saxophonist John Coltrane and bassist Paul Chambers, key members of the sextet he led into the early 1960s. During this period, he alternated between orchestral jazz collaborations with arranger Gil Evans, such as the Spanish music–influenced Sketches of Spain (1960), and band recordings, such as Milestones (1958) and Kind of Blue (1959). The latter recording remains one of the most popular jazz albums of all time, having sold over five million copies in the U.S.

Davis made several lineup changes while recording Someday My Prince Will Come (1961), his 1961 Blackhawk concerts, and Seven Steps to Heaven (1963), another commercial success that introduced bassist Ron Carter, pianist Herbie Hancock and drummer Tony Williams. After adding saxophonist Wayne Shorter to his new quintet in 1964, Davis led them on a series of more abstract recordings often composed by the band members, helping pioneer the post-bop genre with albums such as E.S.P. (1965) and Miles Smiles (1967), before transitioning into his electric period. During the 1970s, he experimented with rock, funk, African rhythms, emerging electronic music technology, and an ever-changing lineup of musicians, including keyboardist Joe Zawinul, drummer Al Foster, bassist Michael Henderson and guitarist John McLaughlin. This period, beginning with Davis's 1969 studio album In a Silent Way and concluding with the 1975 concert recording Agharta, was the most controversial in his career, alienating and challenging many in jazz. His million-selling 1970 record Bitches Brew helped spark a resurgence in the genre's commercial popularity with jazz fusion as the decade progressed.

After a five-year retirement due to poor health, Davis resumed his career in the 1980s, employing younger musicians and pop sounds on albums such as The Man with the Horn (1981), You're Under Arrest (1985) and Tutu (1986). Critics were often unreceptive but the decade garnered Davis his highest level of commercial recognition. He performed sold-out concerts worldwide, while branching out into visual arts, film and television work, before his death in 1991 from the combined effects of a stroke, pneumonia and respiratory failure. In 2006, Davis was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, which recognized him as "one of the key figures in the history of jazz". Rolling Stone described him as "the most revered jazz trumpeter of all time, not to mention one of the most important musicians of the 20th century," while Gerald Early called him inarguably one of the most influential and innovative musicians of that period.

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Discography

Unspecified type

YearTitleArtistRatingReleases
2003The Complete Jack Johnson SessionsMiles Davis1
2015Take Off: The Complete Blue Note AlbumsMiles Davis1

Album

YearTitleArtistRatingReleases
1951The New SoundsMiles Davis41
1951Modern Jazz TrumpetsFats Navarro, Dizzy Gillespie, Miles Davis, Kenny Dorham32
1951The New SoundsLee Konitz featuring Miles Davis41
1952Young Man With a HornMiles Davis4.54
1953Blue PeriodMiles Davis41
1953Miles Davis, Vol. 2 (BLP 5022)Miles Davis47
1953The Compositions of Al CohnMiles Davis4.51
1954Miles Davis With Sonny RollinsMiles Davis1
1954Vol. 3Miles Davis54
1955Blue MoodsMiles Davis410
1955Miles Davis and Milt Jackson Quintet/SextetMiles Davis3.510
1956Blue HazeMiles Davis3.7512
1956Collectors’ ItemsMiles Davis412
1956DigMiles Davis featuring Sonny Rollins3.3513
1957’Round About MidnightMiles Davis4.524
1957Bags’ GrooveMiles Davis4.616
1957Miles AheadMiles Davis4.222
1958Jazz TrackMiles Davis3.54
1958MilestonesMiles Davis4.623
1958Porgy and BessMiles Davis4.1521
1959Miles Davis and the Modern Jazz GiantsMiles Davis4.510
1959Kind of BlueMiles Davis4.45130
1960Sketches of SpainMiles Davis4.246
1963Quiet NightsMiles Davis3.514
1963Seven Steps to HeavenMiles Davis4.6512
1965E.S.P.Miles Davis4.417
1967SorcererMiles Davis4.218
1968Miles in the SkyMiles Davis4.215
1968NefertitiMiles Davis420
1969Filles de KilimanjaroMiles Davis413
1969In a Silent WayMiles Davis4.423
1970Bitches BrewMiles Davis4.542
1972On the CornerMiles Davis4.2513
1974Big FunMiles Davis3.6510
1974Get Up With ItMiles Davis3.7511
1976Water BabiesMiles Davis3.657
1981The Man With the HornMiles Davis3.511
1983Star PeopleMiles Davis3.57
1984DecoyMiles Davis3.27
1985You’re Under ArrestMiles Davis3.211
1986TutuMiles Davis3.416
1989AmandlaMiles Davis3.59
1989AuraMiles Davis3.655
1992Doo‐BopMiles Davis3.655
2016Everything’s BeautifulMiles Davis & Robert Glasper4
2019RubberbandMiles Davis33

Album + Compilation

YearTitleArtistRatingReleases
1952Dizzy Gillespie and Modern TrumpetsDizzy Gillespie And Modern Trumpets, Fats Navarro, Miles Davis, Howard McGhee1
1955Miles Davis, Volume 1Miles Davis4.57
1956Miles Davis, Volume 2 (BLP 1502)Miles Davis46
1956ConceptionMiles Davis, Stan Getz, Gerry Mulligan, Lee Konitz, Sonny Rollins & Zoot Sims54
1956Miles Davis and HornsMiles Davis310
1957Birth of the CoolMiles Davis4.4532
1963Play Richard RodgersMiles Davis & John Coltrane1
1965Plays for LoversMiles Davis43
1966Mode StudyMiles Davis1
1969Miles Davis’ Greatest HitsMiles Davis5
1972Tallest TreesMiles Davis1
1973Basic Miles: The Classic Performances of Miles DavisMiles Davis1
1973The Essential Miles DavisMiles Davis1
1974Miles Davis with John Coltrane (Someday My Prince Will Come + 'Round About Midnight)Miles Davis with John Coltrane1
1974Workin’ and Steamin’Miles Davis2
1975DigMiles Davis41
19773 Géants du JazzCharlie Parker - Miles Davis - Dizzy Gillespie1
1977Tune UpMiles Davis1
19791958 MilesMiles Davis4.511
1979Circle in the RoundMiles Davis43
1980Chronicle: The Complete Prestige Recordings (1951–1956)Miles Davis52
1980I Giganti Del Jazz Vol. 2Sarah Vaughan, Miles Davis, Charlie Mingus, Dizzy Gillespie1
1981Directions: Unreleased Recordings 1960–1970Miles Davis3.53
1983Greatest Jazz Recordings of All Time: Great Jazz InventorsDavis, Mingus & Monk1
19861 Hour With Miles DavisMiles Davis1
1986Miles Davis and the Jazz GiantsMiles Davis33
1988Bopping the BluesMiles Davis31
1988BalladsMiles Davis2
1988Evolution of a Genius: Miles Davis 1945 – 1954Miles Davis33
1988Green Haze (The Musing of Miles + 'Miles')Miles Davis1
1988Old Devil MoonMiles Davis1
1988The Collection: A RetrospectiveMiles Davis1
1988The Columbia Years 1955–1985Miles Davis32
1988The Legendary Masters: Unissued or Rare: 1948–60Miles Davis1
1989First MilesMiles Davis52
1989Compact Jazz: Miles DavisMiles Davis2
1989Evolution of a Genius: Miles Davis 1945 – 1958Miles Davis51
1989The Real Birth of the CoolMiles Davis31
1989The StoryMiles Davis1
1990Evolution of a Genius 1954-1956Miles Davis51
1990Evolution of a Genius: Miles Davis 1957 – 1958Miles Davis52
1990Jazz LineMiles Davis1
1990Miles Davis Plays Classic BalladsMiles Davis52
1990Nonet 1948 / Jam 1949Miles Davis1
1990PortraitMiles Davis2
1990The CollectionMiles Davis1
1991The Essence of Miles DavisMiles Davis1
1991All BluesMiles Davis1
1991Miles Davis & Freddie HubbardMiles Davis & Freddie Hubbard6
1991Miles Davis StoryMiles Davis2
1992The Best of Miles Davis: The Capitol/Blue Note YearsMiles Davis54
1992Mellow MilesMiles Davis1

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