Miles Davis was an iconic genius of jazz music. A trumpeter and composer, Davis’s contributions to the genre pushed jazz music into new territory. Born into a middle-class family and raised in East St. Louis, Miles inherited his musical talent from his mother. He became influenced by Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie and would eventually drop out of Juliard to play in a jazz quintet with “The Bird†(Parker) in 1946. Keeping up with Parker and his breakneck tempos and chord substitutions proved a humbling and invaluable experience for the young musician. He would go onto join other musicians who were playing a more relaxed, less volatile style of jazz. In the early 1950s, Miles’ contribution and standard of play would wane due to his heroin addiction, but in a few short years, he would clean-up his act and go onto form his first quintet (which included another jazz great, John Coltrane). This group would produce widely popular and great jazz music. In the 1960s, Miles moved onto another quintet that included, among others, Herbie Hancock. At this point in his career, Davis and his group improvised and experimented with new sounds – open forms of free jazz – which dazzled critics and avid jazz fans alike. The 1970s was a time when rock-and-roll was replacing jazz, and so Miles and his group experimented with fusion between the two genres and are considered pioneers of jazz-rock. Miles Davis is a giant among jazz musicians; his brilliance and contributions still influence music today.
