Miles Davis By: Jane R., Amillio T., Maria S.
Miles Davis -Miles Davis is a world renowned Jazz trumpet player and composer, who is considered an influential musician within the genre of Jazz in the 20th century. -Miles is African American. -His new sound and innovation made advancements and brought new ideas into the world of Jazz music, which helped him stand apart from others, as well as succeed in his field.
Life and Family -Miles Davis was born on May 26, 1926 in East St.Louis Illinois and lived with his father Miles, mother Cleota Mae, older sister Dorothy Mae, and younger brother Vernon. -His father was a dentist and his mother a music teacher and violinist. His father introduced him to a trumpet when he was 13 years old and despite his mother s disapproval, continued to play, and grew into a world renowned musician on this instrument. -Davis lived to 65 years of age, and passed away on September 28th, 1991, in Santa Monica, California.
Where He Has Lived: - Miles was born and grew up in Alton, Illinois. - At the age of 13, in 1939, his family moved to East St. Louis, Illinois where he lived out the rest of his childhood. - Davis was accepted into Juilliard for college and moved to New York City to attend school. He loved the Jazz scene in New York and lived most of his life here. (25 years) - He also traveled to Paris for a small amount of time, and loved the people and open mindedness of the city.
Education - Miles Davis was first taught by a man named Elwood Buchanan as a teenager. - Then when he was 18, he left for a very highly held and renowned music school, Juilliard, in Manhattan. - However, a year later he left school to pursue being a full time jazz performer.
His Music Career -Miles Davis became famous as a Jazz trumpet player when he was young, and left Juilliard to play in Charlie Parker s quintet for about 4 years. -When he was still young, he signed with Columbia Records which helped boost his rise to fame. -He went on to release around 51 studio albums throughout his career, and used new sounds within his music that challenged traditional Jazz standards. This is especially shown in his gold record, Bitches Brew which featured a new type of sound using electric guitar and pianos.
Later Career - Around the time of the mid 70 s, Miles took a personal break from his booming music career due to many things including health complications, addiction to drugs and alcohol. - This hiatus led to a few complications in his personal life, his work association with Columbia among other things. - After 5 years of hiding, and 3 of not playing, it took him a little while to regain his skills and embouchure. He finally reemerged in May 1980, but was hospitalized the next day. - After another month of illness, he came out with a new album called The Man With the Horn. This was the start of the final stretch of his career.
Collaborations -Throughout his lengthy career, Miles Davis collaborated and worked with many musicians and bands. Some include, -The Charlie Parker Quintet, led by Charlie Parker, who was also his roomate. -Dizzy Gillespie, Max Roach and Tommy Potter -Howard Mcghee and Brick Fleagle -Many others!!! - Davis was also a part of many small, yet influential jazz groups including his own nonet, which helped to develop the Cool Jazz movement. -This group helped put new ideas out into the world about Cool Jazz and most of it s music went into this direction.
Why is he famous? - Miles Davis is overall famous because of his great talent in writing and performing jazz. - He helped pioneer new sounds within Jazz music to influence later generations. - More specifically, his career was boosted from early on because of his early start playing with other great jazz musicians such as Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker - Whether they were well known or not, people he chose to play with were always very talented as well, that went well with his sound, and those people often went on to be quite famous as well
Accomplishments - Some of his most famous works are: the collection Birth of the Cool in 56, the Kind of Blue album in 59, and 1970 s Bitches Brew. - Throughout his career, Miles Davis was awarded 8 Grammys, and nominated for 32 in total. - On March 13 2006, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. - He was signed as a young adult with the large record company, Columbia Records.
Super Duper Fun Facts!!: - Miles was addicted to Heroin for about 5 years due to depression, and according to him he was able to just quit because he was sick of it. - The record Kind of Blues has been sold more Miles Children, Gregory, times than another Jazz album ever! Cheryl, Erin and Miles IV - Miles Davis had 4 children - He recorded and played jazz trumpet music for around 40 years!
Legacy -Mile s influence and his own twists on traditional Jazz music helped shape the sound of modern Jazz music which you hear today! - His style included playing without vibrato, which he learned from his lessons as a teen, and using a harmon mute. - Although Miles recognized his talent and contribution to the Jazz world, he once said, I know what i ve done for music, but don t call me a legend. * *oops, we will stop here.
A Couple of His Most Famous Recordings His album Kind of Blue featuring songs So What, Freddie Freeloader, Blue in Green, All Blues, and Flamenco Sketches. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qil0jdqjlca His album Birth of the Cool featuring songs Move, Jeru, Moon Dreams, Venus de Milo, Budo, Deception, Godchild, Boplicity, Rocker, Israel, and Rouge. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v8kjopfmbbm
Bibliography http://www.milesdavis.com https://www.biography.com http://www.jazzhouse.org