Miles Davis

Jazz1926–1991United States 1980s 2020s 1990s 1970s 2010s 1940s 1950s 2000s 1960s

About Miles Davis

Miles Dewey Davis III (May 26, 1926 – September 28, 1991) was an American trumpeter, bandleader and composer. He is among the most influential and acclaimed figures in the history of jazz and 20th-century music. In a career spanning nearly five decades, Davis was at the forefront of several major stylistic developments in jazz, including—but not limited to—bebop, cool jazz, hard bop, third stream, modal jazz, avant-garde jazz, and jazz fusion. Davis's legacy extends beyond jazz into the realms of rock, funk, classical, and hip-hop. 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 afterwards, 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...