Miles Davis is remembered as one of the few jazz players who managed to be appreciated not only by lovers of the genre, but also by the wider public. With a difficult personality and an equally tough history, here is the path and career of the great American musician.
Who was Miles Davis
Miles Davis (Alton, May 26, 1926 – Santa Monica, September 28, 1991) was an American musician. He grew up in an agate family made up of a dentist father and a pianist mother who brought him closer to the world of music. In fact, he receives a trumpet for his thirteenth birthday and immediately discovers that he is in love with it and loves the genre created by artists such as Duke Ellington and Coleman Hawkins.
After years of taking private lessons, the time comes for him perform in public in 1943 together with the Blue Davils group with which he gets a fair amount of notoriety and gets to know various exponents of the sector.
After school he moved to New York where he began hang out with artists and jazz night clubs. He manages to get into the business by overshadowing the canonical lessons proposed by Juilliard, which hardly stimulate him in his creative process. He starts playing with some groups and records for the first time in 1945 with Herbie Fields. He then collaborates with numerous colleagues, including Charlie Parker and his group, also making a tour of California and then returning to the city and preparing for the beginning of the real career.
The beginning of Miles Davis’ career
During the period in search of his path he meets Gil Evans with whom he decides to give life to one during an evening new formation. They make up a group of nine artists, known as the Tuba Band, with the desire to create sounds that are similar to human voices. The group is not always united and strong, but it allows them to get a contract with Capital Records with which they record several discs.
Through “Birth of the Cool” he manages to make himself known by critics, but not by the public. It seems that the artistic innovations introduced by him are not recognized in his specific case and this, combined with other personal factors, leads him to fall into the big black hole of drugs. Moreover, during a trip to France he has the opportunity to experience the conception that jazz musicians have there and leads him to further ruminate on his condition, which leads him to further become attached to drugs.
Miles Davis and the great success
He understands at a certain point that this clearly influences his artistic production and his relationships with others, so in 1954 he manages to get away from drugs by isolating himself for several months. He manages to get back active and not leave his artistic production behind, also collaborating with some well-known names of the moment. He also dedicates himself to artistic experimentation introducing the muted Harmon with which he modifies his style, which has now become almost more meditative and profound.
The difficult personal events do not therefore prevent him from carrying out great musical masterpieces. In fact, it also approaches the ballad to which it remains faithful for several years. During the 60s he dedicated himself to the formation of various groups also gradually approaching the rock and style of artists such as Jimi Hendrix.
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