26

May 2013

/ Icons & Legends

Miles Davis Turns 87!

EBONY.com celebrates the posthumous birthday of jazz legend Miles Davis (1926-1991)!

Miles Davis Turns 87!

<p>
No jazzman was ever a bigger rock star than Miles Davis.</p>

<p>
Miles went so far beyond catergorization that his inspiration for records like <em>On the Corner</em> came from funk innovator Sly Stone and experimental German composer Karlheinz Stockhausen.</p>

<p>
Miles Davis kicked off the whole cool school of jazz with <em>Birth of the Cool </em>in the 1950s.</p>

<p>
Miles was eternally cool because he stayed rooted in the now and never looked back.</p>

<p>
Turning down gigs at 52nd Street nightclubs like Birdland and opting instead to play the Isle of Wight rock festival for over 600,000 fans at a time, Miles refused to be boxed in.</p>

<p>
By the time <em>Birth of the Cool </em>spawned a whole new subgenre of jazz in the 1950s, Miles was already at the center of the hard-bop scene with records like <em>Walkin' </em>(1954).</p>

<p>
Miles's exploration of musical modes instead of chord progressions blossomed on <em>Kind of Blue </em>(1959), the greatest-selling jazz record of all time.</p>

<p>
The about-facing <em>Sketches of Spain </em>(1960) followed <em>Kind of Blue</em> less than a year later. Inspired by classical and big-band music, it's the most celebrated of Miles's collaborations with arranger Gil Evans.</p>

<p>
After a series of feted freebop recordings, Miles dropped his first full-on electric album, <em>In a Silent Way</em>, and jazz was never the same. Again.</p>

<p>
With producer Teo Macero slicing and dicing different takes like a pre-hip-hop mixmaster, the jazz-fusion highball <em>Bitches Brew</em> (1970) proved there was never any turning back with Miles.</p>

<p>
Dividing fans and critics alike, <em>Bitches Brew </em>made it plain that Miles Davis was always going to do whatsoever he wanted.</p>

<p>
Full of electric guitar and synthesizers, ambient mood and rock-style improvisation, Davis's double album <em>Bitches Brew</em> marked the final major stylistic shift in jazz to date.</p>

<p>
On his final studio album, Miles teamed with producer Easy Mo Bee (future collaborator with rapper Biggie Smalls) and came up with the 1992 Grammy-winning <em>Doo-Bop</em>.</p>

<p>
No jazzman was ever a bigger rock star than Miles Davis.</p>

<p>
Miles went so far beyond catergorization that his inspiration for records like <em>On the Corner</em> came from funk innovator Sly Stone and experimental German composer Karlheinz Stockhausen.</p>

<p>
Miles Davis kicked off the whole cool school of jazz with <em>Birth of the Cool </em>in the 1950s.</p>

<p>
Miles was eternally cool because he stayed rooted in the now and never looked back.</p>

<p>
Turning down gigs at 52nd Street nightclubs like Birdland and opting instead to play the Isle of Wight rock festival for over 600,000 fans at a time, Miles refused to be boxed in.</p>

<p>
By the time <em>Birth of the Cool </em>spawned a whole new subgenre of jazz in the 1950s, Miles was already at the center of the hard-bop scene with records like <em>Walkin' </em>(1954).</p>

<p>
Miles's exploration of musical modes instead of chord progressions blossomed on <em>Kind of Blue </em>(1959), the greatest-selling jazz record of all time.</p>

<p>
The about-facing <em>Sketches of Spain </em>(1960) followed <em>Kind of Blue</em> less than a year later. Inspired by classical and big-band music, it's the most celebrated of Miles's collaborations with arranger Gil Evans.</p>

<p>
After a series of feted freebop recordings, Miles dropped his first full-on electric album, <em>In a Silent Way</em>, and jazz was never the same. Again.</p>

<p>
With producer Teo Macero slicing and dicing different takes like a pre-hip-hop mixmaster, the jazz-fusion highball <em>Bitches Brew</em> (1970) proved there was never any turning back with Miles.</p>

<p>
Dividing fans and critics alike, <em>Bitches Brew </em>made it plain that Miles Davis was always going to do whatsoever he wanted.</p>

<p>
Full of electric guitar and synthesizers, ambient mood and rock-style improvisation, Davis's double album <em>Bitches Brew</em> marked the final major stylistic shift in jazz to date.</p>

<p>
On his final studio album, Miles teamed with producer Easy Mo Bee (future collaborator with rapper Biggie Smalls) and came up with the 1992 Grammy-winning <em>Doo-Bop</em>.</p>

More Ebony

jimi, miles, and mccartney?

Supergroup with Jimi, Miles, and...Paul McCartney

Miles Davis film gets title

Don Cheadle's Upcoming Miles Davis Film Gets Title

Christian Scott Talks New Album

[INTERVIEW] Christian Scott Defies Traditional Boundaries of Jazz

[INTERVIEW] Marcus Miller's Renaissance

[INTERVIEW] Marcus Miller's 'Renaissance'

Share THIS on twitter with #Ebony hashtags.

Stay in the Know

Sign up for the EBONY Newsletter