Miles Davis

Miles Davis III was born on May 25, 1926 in Alton, Illinois. He came from a wealthy and well educated family. His father, a dentist was a proud man who believed strongly in the rights of African Americans.

Miles, his brother and sister attended an all

African American school where they had very

good teachers, but the poor conditions of the building left Miles with bitter memories. He

also experienced other racial incidents both in

and out of school, including being called

racial names.

Miles was interested in

sports, but was too skinny

to be a star. When he

was given an old trumpet

by a friend of his father’s,

he started to take music

lessons. By the time he

was twelve, music was

his only interest.

Mr. and Mrs. Davis

wanted Miles to study

classical music as they

disapproved of the

popular music of he

day. He secretly

listened to the jazz

music however, of

Louis Armstrong, Duke

Ellington and others.

After high school in 1944,

Davis left for New York to

study at Juilliard, one of

the nation’s most

outstanding schools of

music. He studied

classical music and

composing during the day

and traveled from club to

club listening to jazz

during the night. He

especially liked the music

of Charlie Parker.

Miles dropped out of Juilliard and formed his own band. They were

one of the first groups of record “cool jazz”. Unlike bebop, cool was a softer, more structured type of

jazz. It used some of the techniques and

instruments of classical music. Their recording “The Birth of Cool” has become a classic and was the beginning of a

new kind of jazz.

In 1949 Miles played

at the Paris Jazz

Festival and became

well known in

Europe.

Unfortunately, he

become addicted to

heroin and his

career suffered.

In a desperate move

to kick his heroin

habit, Miles locked

himself in a small

house on his father’s

farm. For seven or

eight days, he

suffered the pains of

withdrawal, but he

broke his habit and

began to put his life

together again.

During the later half of

the 1950’s, Davis

organized a new band

and recorded Kind of

Blue, which is

considered by many

to be the most

influential recording in

jazz history.

The 1960s was the decade of rock music, and Davis became concerned that young African Americans would lose touch with jazz. He considered jazz a part of the culture of African Americans, so he began experimenting by blending the two. It worked, and fusion, another form of jazz was created.

Davis was known and admired all over the world. Other musicians copied his style, mannerisms and dress. He performed and recorded until the end of his life in 1991 when he died from complications of respiratory failure and the results of a hard lifestyle including drugs. He was 65 years old.