Miles Davis
With a career spanning several decades, and an influence spanning several continents, Miles Davis has arguably had a bigger influence on jazz music than any other musician. In the 1991 obituary in The New York Times, Miles Davis was described as an "an elusive touchstone of jazz," and someone who "defined cool," (Pareles). Davis' album The Birth of the Cool makes his name not just symbolically associated with the quality of coolness, but actually a synonym of the birth of cool jazz -- a specific genre of jazz that originally and bravely broke from established big band and be-bop traditions to enter the realm of the avant-garde via improvisation and experimentation. Jazz was forever transformed via Miles Davis' contributions and his musical legacy as composer and trumpet master.
Davis was born in Alton, Illinois on May 26, 1926. His upbringing was "middle class," and he was exposed to music early in his life at the urging of both his parents (Kirker). Davis' early music experiences and trumpet lessons had a large impact on him, as one of his teachers "advised Miles to develop a straight, vibratoless tone, unlike popular trumpeters of the period like Louis Armstrong and Roy Eldridge," (Kirker). Miles' early tutelage in trumpet was then enhanced with a formal education at the Juilliard School, where he was accepted in 1944.
However, Miles would drop out of Juillard after he met Charlie Parker. The meeting between Davis and Parker was as cataclysmic for the world of music as a meteor hitting the planet. Even after Parker and Davis parted ways, the impact the former had on the latter and the confidence this alliance gave Davis ensured that Miles Davis would revolutionize American music.
Davis was "the personification of restless spirit, always pushing himself and his music into uncharted territory," ("Miles Davis: Miles' Styles."). He branded cool jazz, without completely discarding the musical phrasing, instrumentation, and style of be-bop. Davis later fused funk, rock, and jazz into something quintessentially Miles Davis. His experimentation and composition transcended his trumpet mastery.
Impact on Modern Jazz
Davis was responsible for developing new genres of jazz, making him one of the most important contributors to music in general. He worked not just as an instrumentalist and composer but also as "visionary and organizer," (Kirker). Although Davis pushed many different types of musical boundaries, it was particularly with cool jazz and jazz fusion that Davis left his most significant and popular legacies.
Davis did more than give birth to new types of jazz music as a composer; as a trumpet player Davis also rebranded the instrument. The trumpet as a lead instrument was forever changed after Miles Davis, who baffled critics with his "glaring defects" such as missed and cracked notes that somehow seemed irrelevant (Walser 343). In spite of technical "mistakes," Miles Davis' trumpet solos "have been models for generations of jazz musicians," (Pareles). This is largely because Davis defined his musical career by stepping beyond rigid boundaries -- boundaries that he understood but deliberately stretched. As Davis himself put it, "in order for me to play a note it has to sound good to me…music is about style," (70). Davis impacted modern jazz by permitting greater freedom of expression, allowing for and encouraging improvisation and breaking the rules of traditional musical structure, sound, and composition.
Davis' on-stage persona and performances also proved mystifying from a critical standpoint, as he redefined the relationship between jazz musician and audience. Miles "spoke little onstage, never announced his musicians or the names of the times that were played, and often played with his back to the audience and then left the stage while others were soloing," ("Miles Davis and John Coltraine"). Davis therefore had an impact on the whole character of modern jazz -- which is beyond musical phrasing and compositional styles.
Davis was no stranger to controversy and revolution. In his autobiography,...
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