BLACK HISTORY MONTH

MILES DAVIS Jazz great (1926-1991) The Prince of Darkness was born in Alton, Illinois May 25,1926. He grew up in East St. Louis and began playing the trumpet at the age of 13. Two years later he was already playing professionally. In September of 1944, Miles Davis moved to New York, supposedly to study at the Institute of Musical Art, but the real reason was to be near his idol, Charlie Parker. Between 1945-1948, he made live appearances with Parker, as well as played on recordings. At the same time, Davis played in other bands, including tours with Benny Carter and Billy Eckstine. In 1948, he began to lead his own bop groups and began his lengthy collaboration with arranger Gil Evans. Together they made a lot of recordings for Capitol Records which were later re-released as “Birth of the Cool.” Although he continued to record with famous bop musicians, including Parker, Art Blakey and Sonny Rollins, he didn’t work much in Clubs or with high profile accompanists until 1954. In 1955, Miles Davis had a jazz breakthrough. He performed informally at the Newport Jazz Festival and his sensational improvisations brought him widespread publicity for the first time. He also established a quintet (which lasted from 1955-57) made up of Red Garland, Paul Chambers, Philly Joe Jones and John Coltrane, who was replaced by Sonny Rollins in 1956. He was so in demand at this point that in 1957, Miles wrote and recorded music in Paris for Louis Malle’s film “Ascenseur pour l’echafaud.” For the next 5 years, Davis drew the rhythm sections of his various quintets and sextets from a small talent pool: pianists Red Garland, Bill Evans and Wynton Kelly; drummers Philly Joe Jones and Jimmy Cobb; and bassist Paul Chambers. In 1963, Miles Davis drew from a different talent pool for his new rhythm section, this time using Herbie Hancock, Ron Carter and Tony Williams. To replace Coltrane on the sax, Davis tried out Sonny Stitt, Jimmy Heath, Hank Mobley, George Coleman and Sam Rivers. He eventually settled on Wayne Shorter in 1964. Milesiones Davis, who had trained as a boxer , had always been physically very capable of playing his horn, but in the mid “70s serious ailments and the effects of an automobile accident forced him to retire. He suffered for 5 years from pneumonia and other nasty afflictions. The world did not have to live without this great musician To long, because he began making new recordings in 1980. In the summer of s1981, he toured all over the place with his new quintets and sextets. Although he suffered a stroke in February 1982, he was still able to resume an active career that same spring! New members of his groups at this time included Bill Evans, Branford Marsalis, Bob Berg, John Scoefield and synthesizer player Bobby Irving III. Miles Davis had been described as a “living legend” before his death on September 29, 1991, a title which he hated. It went against his continuing desire to be associated with new popular music and energetic, youthful activities, although he certainly must be termed a jazz legend.