Miles Davis, the trumpeter and composer whose haunting tone and ever-changing style made him an elusive touchstone of jazz for four decades, died yesterday at St. He was 65 years old. He died of pneumonia, respiratory failure and a stroke, his doctor, Jeff Harris, said in a statement released by the hospital. A spokeswoman for the hospital, Pat Kirk, said yesterday that Mr. Davis had been a patient there for several weeks. Davis's unmistakable, voicelike, nearly vibratoless tone -- at times distant and melancholy, at others assertive yet luminous -- has been imitated around the world.
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He is among the most influential and acclaimed figures in the history of jazz and 20th-century music. Davis adopted a variety of musical directions in a five-decade career that kept him at the forefront of many major stylistic developments in jazz. Born in Alton, Illinois , and raised in East St. Louis , Davis left to study at the Juilliard School in New York City , before dropping out and making his professional debut as a member of saxophonist Charlie Parker 's bebop quintet from to Shortly after, he recorded the Birth of the Cool sessions for Capitol Records , which were instrumental to the development of cool jazz. In the early s, Miles Davis recorded some of the earliest hard bop music while on Prestige Records but did so haphazardly due to a heroin addiction. After a widely acclaimed comeback performance at the Newport Jazz Festival in , he signed a long-term contract with Columbia Records and recorded the album 'Round About Midnight. During this period, he alternated between orchestral jazz collaborations with arranger Gil Evans , such as the Spanish-influenced Sketches of Spain , and band recordings, such as Milestones and Kind of Blue
Who Was Miles Davis?
We and our partners use cookies to personalize your experience, to show you ads based on your interests, and for measurement and analytics purposes. By using our website and our services, you agree to our use of cookies as described in our Cookie Policy. A monumental innovator, icon, and maverick, trumpeter Miles Davis helped define the course of jazz as well as popular culture in the 20th century, bridging the gap between bebop, modal music, funk, and fusion. Throughout most of his year career, Davis played the trumpet in a lyrical, introspective style, often employing a stemless Harmon mute to make his sound more personal and intimate. It was a style that, along with his brooding stage persona, earned him the nickname "Prince of Darkness. More than any other figure in jazz, Davis helped establish the direction of the genre with a steady stream of boundary-pushing recordings, among them 's chamber jazz album Birth of the Cool which collected recordings from , 's modal masterpiece Kind of Blue, 's orchestral album Sketches of Spain, and 's landmark fusion recording Bitches Brew. Davis' own playing was obviously at the forefront of those changes, but he also distinguished himself as a bandleader, regularly surrounding himself with sidemen and collaborators who likewise moved in new directions, including the luminaries John Coltrane , Herbie Hancock , Bill Evans , Wayne Shorter , Chick Corea , and many more. While he remains one of the most referenced figures in jazz, a major touchstone for generations of trumpeters including Wynton Marsalis , Chris Botti , and Nicholas Payton , his music reaches far beyond the jazz tradition, and can be heard in the genre-bending approach of performers across the musical spectrum, ranging from funk and pop to rock, electronica, hip-hop, and more. Born in , Davis was the son of dental surgeon, Dr.
Miles Davis. Published: 13 Aug Published: 28 Jul Bringing black composers into exam syllabuses. Published: 22 Jul Published: 9 Jul Keith Tippett obituary. Published: 17 Jun Listener's digest Miles Davis: where to start in his back catalogue. Published: 8 Jun
