Miles Davis

I really have nothing at all interesting to say, so read about someone more interesting. Here's a report I did on Miles Davis in high school. Read about this badass genius.

"Miles Davis was born on May 25, 1926, in Alton, Illinois. At age 13, Davis began taking trumpet lessons. At age 16, he began playing professionally outside of school. By the time he was 18, David began playing in Eddie Randal’s “Blue Devils”. It was this year that David began temporarily playing third trumpet in the Billy Eckstine band, along with Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker. That fall, Miles enrolled in Columbia’s Julliard School of Music, before dropping out to pursue a career as a full-time jazz musician soon after. It was from there Davis became an influential jazz musician, and stood at the forefront of numerous progressions in jazz music.

For the next few years, Davis played in many bebop combos. The most notable example is Charlie Parker’s Quintet. In 1948, however, he started organizing musicians to create a new style of jazz. In 1950, Miles released Birth of the Cool, the first cool jazz album ever recorded. The music on Birth of the Cool was more mellow and laid-back than other jazz music at the time. Four years later, Miles released Walkin’, which became the first hard bop album. Hard bop, while similar to cool jazz, had a more grooving beat to it.

In 1955, Miles Davis formed the Miles Davis Quintet, which included John Coltrane, among others. After recording five albums and eventually forming into a sextet, Davis began recording albums with Gil Evans, including Porgy and Bess, which included pieces taken from George Gershwin’s opera, and Sketches of Spain, which featured Davis playing Spanish Flamenco music backed by an orchestra. The final album recorded with Gil Evans, Quiet Nights, was a collection of bossa nova (a style of Brazilian music) tunes. Around this time, the Miles Davis Quintet recorded Milestones, the first modal jazz experiment by Davis.

On August 17, 1959, Miles Davis took his modal jazz to a new level. He released his most critically acclaimed and arguably most influential album, Kind of Blue. Aside from two songs, “So What” and “All Blues”, none of the songs on the album were practiced by the sextet. Davis and new sextet member Bill Evans wrote a basic framework for the other three compositions, which the rest of the group saw for the first time during the day of the recording. According to the RIAA, Kind of Blue is the best-selling jazz record of all time, going quadruple platinum and selling over 4 million copies.

In 1968, Davis and his lineup recorded Miles in the Sky and Filles de Kilimanjaro, which introduced the electric bass, electric piano, and guitar. This, along with influences by Sly and the Family Stone, James Brown, and Jimi Hendrix, lead to Davis producing two albums 1976, including In A Silent Way. These two albums, which were some of the first albums to fuse rock and jazz, contributed to what is today known as jazz-rock fusion. Shortly after, David met Karlheinz Stockhausen, and was influenced to do what was referred to by his fans as “space music.”

Starting with his jazz-rock fusion albums, Davis began requesting to open for bands such as the Grateful Dead and Santana. He began experimenting with a more funk-oriented sound, including adding wah-wah effects to his horn. Davis began trying to appeal to the younger African-American audience with his 1972 album On the Corner, which blended funk elements with his traditional jazz. The album drew heavy criticism, which Davis attributed to the music being incapable of being categorized. For the next few years, Miles recorded a series of live albums and jam sessions.

By 1975, Miles was facing a multitude of health issues. These included osteoporosis and depression. Additionally, Davis had developed a dependency on alcohol and drugs, including cocaine. His performances were criticized during this time as well. All of these factors, and a loss for enthusiasm in music, led to Davis taking a six year hiatus from music.

In 1983, Davis returned to recording, with his album Decoy, which blended soul and electronica music. Davis’s next album, You’re Under Arrest, included interpretations of current pop songs, such as Cyndi Lauper’s “Time After Time.” In 1989, he collaborated to record the album Aura, and orchestral tribute to his music. On September 28, 1991, Miles Davis died of a stroke, pneumonia, and respiratory failure.

At the time of his death, Miles Davis had received 6 Grammys (including a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award), and had been knighted into the Legion of Honor, as well as created or inspired countless styles of music. Since his death, Davis has received 2 posthumous Grammys, a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and St. Louis Walk of Fame, induction to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and an induction Hollywood’s Rockwalk, as well as being certified Quadruple Platinum for Kind of Blue. "

Miles Davis - Will o' The Wisp