Miles Davis

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Miles Davis

Real Name:
Miles Dewey Davis III
Profile:
Trumpeter, bandleader, composer, and one of the most important figures in jazz music history, and music history in general.

Born: 26 May 1926 in Alton, Illinois, USA.
Died: 28 September 1991 in Santa Monica, California, USA (aged 65).

Best known for his seminal modern jazz album "Kind Of Blue" (1959), the highest selling jazz album of all time with six million copies sold.

Miles went to NYC to study at the academic school for musicians, where he met Charlie Parker. They started playing together from 1945. In 1948 Miles Davis started to make his own ensembles, at that time he met Gil Evans, The Miles Davis Nonet was born. From the few recordings they made in 1949 to 1950 came the album "Birth Of The Cool" (1956), with Davis and Evans going on to work more together in the future.

Miles Davis was one of the musicians who introduced the 'Hard Bop' in the mid 1950s. In the late 1960s he started to experiment with electronic instruments and rock and funk rhythms. In the mid 1970s he stopped playing because of health problems, though in 1980 he made an 'electronical' comeback.

Inducted into Rock And Roll Hall of Fame in 2006 (Performer).
Sites:
milesdavis.com, Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, miles-beyond.com, plosin.com, Wikipedia, imdb.com, whosampled.com, YouTube, dailymotion.com
Aliases:
Cleo Henry, W. Process
In Groups:
Artists United Against Apartheid, Billy Eckstine And His Orchestra, Charlie Parker And His Orchestra, Charlie Parker's Re-Boppers, Coleman Hawkins All Star Band, Lee Konitz Sextet, Metronome All Stars, Miles And Coltrane Quintet, Miles Davis & His Tuba Band, Miles Davis + 19, Miles Davis All Stars, Miles Davis And His Band, Miles Davis And His Orchestra, Miles Davis Group, Miles Davis Octet, Miles Davis Septet, Miles Davis-Tadd Dameron Quintet, Tadd Dameron And His Orchestra, The Charlie Parker All-Stars, The Charlie Parker Quintet, The Charlie Parker Septet, The Charlie Parker Sextet, The Miles Davis Ensemble, The Miles Davis Nonet, The Miles Davis Quartet, The Miles Davis Quintet, The Miles Davis Sextet
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Miles Davis Discography

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Albums
Fats Navarro / Dizzy Gillespie / Miles Davis / Kenny Dorham Fats Navarro / Dizzy Gillespie / Miles Davis / Kenny Dorham - Modern Jazz Trumpets (Album) Prestige US 1951 Sell This Version
Miles Davis The New Sounds Prestige Record Co. US 1951 Sell This Version
PRLP 116 Lee Konitz Featuring Miles Davis Lee Konitz Featuring Miles Davis - The New Sounds ‎(10") Prestige PRLP 116 US 1951 Sell This Version
Miles Davis Young Man With A Horn (Album) Blue Note US 1952 Sell This Version
Miles Davis Vol. 2 (Album) Blue Note France 1953 Sell This Version
PRLP 140 Miles Davis Blue Period ‎(10", Album) Prestige PRLP 140 US 1953 Sell This Version
PRLP 154 Miles Davis Miles Davis Plays The Compositions Of Al Cohn ‎(10") Prestige PRLP 154 US 1953 Sell This Version
Miles Davis Vol. 3 (Album) Blue Note US 1954 Sell This Version
Miles Davis With Sonny Rollins Miles Davis With Sonny Rollins - Miles Davis With Sonny Rollins (Album) Prestige US 1954 Sell This Version
Miles Davis Blue Moods (Album) Debut Records US 1955 Sell This Version
Miles Davis Volume 1 (Comp) Blue Note US 1955 Sell This Version
Miles Davis Collectors' Items (Album, Comp) Prestige US 1956 Sell This Version
Miles Davis Featuring Sonny Rollins Miles Davis Featuring Sonny Rollins - Dig (Comp, Album) Prestige, Prestige US 1956 Sell This Version
Miles Davis Birth Of The Cool (Album, Comp) Capitol Records Argentina 1956 Sell This Version
Miles Davis And Milt Jackson Miles Davis And Milt Jackson - Quintet / Sextet (Album) Prestige, Prestige Italy 1956 Sell This Version
Miles Davis Blue Haze (Comp, Album) Prestige, Prestige US 1956 Sell This Version
Miles Davis, Gil Evans Miles Davis, Gil Evans - Miles Ahead (Album, Comp) Columbia Japan 1957 Sell This Version
Miles Davis 'Round About Midnight (Album) Columbia Australia 1957 Sell This Version
Miles Davis Bags Groove (Comp, Album) Prestige US 1957 Sell This Version
Miles Davis Milestones (Album) Columbia US 1958 Sell This Version
Miles Davis Ascenseur Pour L'Échafaud (Album) Fontana Netherlands 1958 Sell This Version
Miles Davis Jazz Track (Album, Comp) Columbia US 1958 Sell This Version
Michel Legrand Featuring Miles Davis Michel Legrand Featuring Miles Davis - Legrand Jazz (Album) Columbia US 1958 Sell This Version
Miles Davis Porgy And Bess (Album) Columbia US 1958 Sell This Version
Miles Davis Miles Davis And The Modern Jazz Giants (Comp, Album) Prestige US 1959 Sell This Version

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GOODGROOVECIRCLE

GOODGROOVECIRCLE

August 22, 2014
The electric period was certainly not Jazz, but it was amazing music. I have been listening to Miles for a long time now and his electric stuff is the most fascinating and captivating music I have ever heard. I cannot get enough of it, from the late 60s to the final concerts in Japan in 1975 this is a superb period that a lot of people simply didn't understand. There is nothing to understand, only to listen to, in awe of a musical genius that got the most out of his stellar musicians.
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dreamwolf

dreamwolf

June 4, 2014
People keep calling his music jazz, he didn't call his music jazz.
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the_electrician

the_electrician

November 18, 2004
edited over 11 years ago
Miles Davis was the musical experience that truly opened my ears to the world of the jazz horn. Prior to this I had had a puculiar bias against brass, finding it abrasive and a little "unmusical" but since I started listening to the albums of Miles Davis (not to mention his incredible string of genius sidemen), I love more and more the warm, human sound of brass instruments and the craft which goes into the shaping of every individual note played. I've even surprised myself with a preference of Trumpet over Saxophone, which used to be the only brass instrument I could stand to listen to.
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suenomartino

suenomartino

October 10, 2004
edited over 3 years ago
Miles has to be considered as one of the most forward-thinking and cutting-edge musicians of the 20th century. Purists may label Coltrane (post-Miles' band) as the true innovator, but it was Miles who revolutionized jazz in the 1940's with 'Birth of the Cool' and proceeded to set trends in popular music for the next 40-odd years. The band he recorded with throughout the 60's (Ron Carter on bass, Tony Williams drums, Wayne Shorter on sax, Herbie Hancock on keys) has to be one of the tightest units ever to play together. Studio albums like 'Miles in the Sky', 'In a Silent Way' and 'Water Babies' are incredible.. but the live albums from his band during this era are really where it's at.
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dexterfeng

dexterfeng

January 19, 2004
So he couldn't blow like Diz, or some of the other cats that were around when he first came up. Other players could wipe him off the stage with their lyricism and the amount of notes the could cram into their playing. Miles knew about placement and space with his notes. He might have only played one note for someone else's seven or eight notes. Whereas other "hot" players would have to be muzzled to shut their horns up, Miles seemed to be a much more economical and therefore potent player. & if you ain't got much to say, why fill the space with a bunch of notes that don't mean anything? Make em count! He did.
Miles also was far ahead of any of his contemporaries. Always it seemed willing to take unprecedented risks with his directions in music.
A true chameleon.
Good luck being a completionist! It's a worthy effort. Each period provides nearly an arms length of releases to sift through and contemplate. Save for his last period where the releases really do drop in quality and sheer volume and it seems Miles just showed up to play what they told him to.
If you think you got him figured out and you won't. Take some time out of the decade and sound you like and pick up something else he released.
personal faves THUS FAR; Sketches of Spain, In a Silent Way, Dark Magus, and Get Up With It (He Loved Him Madly; his tribute to Duke).
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Walli

Walli

November 18, 2002
Miles Davis was the "Picasso of Jazz," reinventing himself and his sound endlessly in his musical quest. He was an artist that defied (and despised) categorization, yet he was the forerunner and innovator of many distinct and important musical movements.
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March 19, 2002
cited by many as the most important influence on music
two albums well worth getting are bitches brew (bit manic and hard to listen to) and in a silent way (well chilled out and funky) both of these albums have been ripped off wholesale by loads of artists theyre both sample goldmines..
herbie hancock played on bitches... also
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