Miles Davis

Miles Davis was without question among the most influential musicians in all of jazz history. As both soloist and bandleader, he defined the vanguard of jazz throughout his career and set the standard for nearly every major new development in the music for over forty years. His trumpet, open or with a Harmon mute, is one of the most instantly recognizable jazz sounds; his eloquent, economical style was quite unlike any trumpeter before him.

Miles began his career playing in local bands in his teens. He moved to New York in 1944 to study at the Juilliard School, and soon became closely associated with all of the bebop elite, most notably Charlie Parker. He played on Parker's first recording as a leader in 1945; in turn, his own debut session two years later featured Parker.

In the late 1940s, Miles was part of a collective of musicians who would meet regularly in the apartment of composer/arranger Gil Evans. With members of this group, which included pianist/composer John Lewis and saxophonists Lee Konitz and Gerry Mulligan, Miles recorded several nonet sessions in 1949 and 1950 that eventually came to be called "Birth Of The Cool." These recordings helped to establish the smooth, subtle sound of "cool jazz" as a distinct style from bebop.

Through the early to mid-'50s, Miles recorded mostly for Prestige. His iconic albums on this label are some of the defining recordings of the hard bop style. They feature a who's who of legendary sidemen, leading up to the founding of his first great quintet with John Coltrane, Red Garland, Paul Chambers and Philly Joe Jones on the albums "Cookin'," "Relaxin'," "Workin'," and "Steamin'." These four and many of his other early Prestige sessions were recorded at Rudy Van Gelder's living room studio in Hackensack, New Jersey.

Later in the '50s, Miles brought this first quintet to the Columbia label, on which he would record for the rest of his life. The remainder of his career introduced modal jazz with "Kind Of Blue" in 1959 (the best-selling jazz album of all time), a freer form of post-bop with his second great quintet in the mid-'60s, and fusion in the '70s. A detailed timeline of his career can be found at milesdavis.com.