Miles Davis
Jazz great Miles Davis, throughout his 50 year career consistently made classic album after classic album while still pushing jazz music forward. Miles' approach to the trumpet was melodic and lyrical, and his choice of musicians spawned or enhanced the careers of many jazz greats.

Born May 26th 1926 in Illinois and raised in St Louis, Davis was given his first trumpet at the age of 9 by a friend of his fathers but did not start learning seriously until his father gave him a new trumpet and arranged lessons for him. By the age of 16 Davis was working as a professional musician when not in school. In 1944, the Billy Eckstine band visited St Louis and Davis was taken on for a couple of weeks as third trumpet player alongside Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker.

In 1944 Davis moved to New York City to take up a scholarship at the Julliard School of Music. Rather than concentrating on his studies he spent his time tracking down Charlie Parker and soon became a part of Parker's quintet.

By 1948 Miles had served his apprenticeship as a sideman, both on stage and on record, and a recording career of his own was beginning to blossom. Davis formed a nonet with Gerry Mulligan and Lee Konitz. Davis signed to Capitol Records and released several singles in 1949 and 1950, featuring arrangements by Gil Evans, with whom he would collaborate with on many classic compositions over the years.

Between 1950 and 1955, Davis mainly recorded as a leader for Prestige and Blue Note records in a variety of small group settings. Sidemen included jazz legends Art Blakey, Thelonious Monk and Charles Mingus to name a few.

In 1955 the first incarnation of the renowned Miles Davis Quintet was born, with John Coltrane, Paul Chambers, Red Garland and Philly Joe Jones. Their first album, Round About Midnight was released on Columbia Records. Followed in 1956 by Relaxin' with the Miles Davis Quintet, Steamin' with the Miles Davis Quintet, Workin' with the Miles Davis Quintet and Cookin' with the Miles Davis Quintet for Prestige Records.

After various problems the quintet disbanded in 1957, and reformed in 1958 as a sextet, with the addition of Julian "Cannonball" Adderley and recorded Milestones. After Milestones the sextet went through some line-up changes, with Garland and Jones being replaced by Bill Evans and Jimmy Cobb.

In the late '50s Miles recorded a series of albums with Gil Evans, 1957's Miles Ahead, 1958's arrangement of George Gershwin's Porgy and Bess and 1959's classic Sketches Of Spain.

In 1959, Miles Davis entered the studio to record the most celebrated album of his career, Kind Of Blue. Considered one of the greatest jazz albums of all time, Kind Of Blue is a blend of Davis' early jazz routes and a preview of the improvisation of his later albums.

By 1965 Davis had formed a new quintet, with members including Herbie Hancock and Wayne Shorter. The subsequent albums paved the way for the next era of Miles Davis' career and the next era of jazz. 1969s In A Silent Way is an inspirational jazz fusion album, and all the musicians on the album went on to be big players in the jazz fusion scene, the majority of them forming the seminal band Weather Report.

The follow up, Bitches Brew is another classic fusion album, slightly heavier than its predecessor, and pieced together in post production from hours of improvised jams, Bitches Brew is considered the ultimate jazz rock album.

Always moving forward, Miles moved into jazz funk in the '70s and 1972's On The Corner takes elements of all the great funk music of the time and as with all of Miles Davis' music, his unmistakable playing style shined through.

The '80s saw Davis embrace the classic sound of that decade with the help of bass player Marcus Miller, one of the resulting albums, Tutu won a Grammy award in 1987.

Miles Davis's career reads like a history of jazz, due in part to his innovation and his hunger for constantly moving his music forward, and also due to his use of nearly all the classic jazz musicians of the 20th century. Miles Davis is a jazz legend and absolute icon.