All About Miles Davis

Miles Davis was a jazz trumpeter and composer. He was born on May 25, 1926 in Alton, Illionios. He was first heard playing songs with Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker (bebop). And later went solo. After Miles toured Paris, he came back on drugs and pimped. He went to his fathers house and locked himself in his room for a week without water or food to get him straight. Miles' first major album was called "Birth of the Cool" which was recorded in two years (1949 - 1950). In this album, he shows the style of jazz in which he would later switch to. It was called cool jazz. It was more relaxing than bebop, which was usually very fast and had a lot of notes. Later, in 1954, he released another album, this time back on bebop. It featured a personal with familiar faces in bebop at the time, such as JJ Johnson, Percy Heath, Lucky Thompson, and Kenny Clarke. Two other artists were featured on the album, Horace Silver on piano, and David Schildkraut on alto saxophone. The album was called "Walkin'".

In about 1956, Miles started his first and most popular quintet. It featured John Coltrane on tenor saxophone, Red Garland on piano, Paul Chambers on bass, and Philly Joe Jones on drums. The quintet released many albums, but four of them were the albums that made them famous. "Cookin'", "Relaxin'", "Workin'", and "Steamin'" were later called "The Original Miles Davis Quintet Series". In some of these albums, Miles plays songs that he composed himself and bebop artists composed. He also plays songs from movies, and just famous songs at the time. But compared to the other albums of '56, these albums weren't famous at all. In '56, these albums were competing with Thelonious Monk's "Brilliant Corners", Sonny Rollins' "Saxophone Colossus" and Max Roach's "Plus Four". So he released an album that would keep him famous for a while, called "Round About Midnight". The main song on the record, "Round Midnight", was Thelonious Monk's most famous piece of work. And this time, Miles played in his typical "cool" mood. But 1956 wasn't the only year of the '50s where the three stars of jazz were Miles, Thelonious, and Sonny. There were other releases by the three in the '50s. Thelonious' "Misterioso" was a hit, and Sonny Rollins' "Freedom Suite" sold many copies. Miles had a hit himself, called "Miles Ahead". But in 1959, the most important year in jazz history, Miles released the supreme album. It was in cool jazz form as well. It was called "Kind of Blue". It featured John Coltrane and Cannonball Adderley as saxophone players, and the rhythm section was played by Bill Evans, Wynton Kelly, Paul Chambers, and Jimmy Cobb. "Kind of Blue" later sold the most copies in jazz history. Miles was without a question Columbia's most essential artist and recorded about 75 albums with them.

Throughout the '60s, Miles was still making very famous cool jazz and hard bop records and formed a new quintet with Wayne Shorter, Tony Williams, Ron Carter, and Herbie Hancock. But in 1969, he released his most popular fusion album, "In a Silent Way". It was only two songs. And after that release, Miles was actually considered rock. He played both acoustic and electric trumpet. He made other fusion albums, such as "Bitches Brew", "Live at Filmore", and "Miles and Quincy Live at the Montreux".

Miles was a major influence to both rock and rap. But on September 28, 1991 in Santa Monica, California, Miles died. Although he no longer lives, people still listen to him. Miles is now called one of the greatest and most influential jazz artists of all time.