In recognition of the beginning of Black History Month, I’m taking some time today to reflect on one of my musical heroes.
When I was 18 years old, a Miles Davis recording changed my life.
I had spent my adolescence playing drums in various rock and heavy metal bands, and mostly resisting my music teachers’ pleas that I learn about jazz. My father was a huge Frank Sinatra fan, and I grew up both believing that “jazz” only meant “Sinatra” and that listening to anything my father liked would be woefully uncool.
That all changed when one day I tuned into to jazz station WDCB just in time to hear the DJ announce the tune So What by trumpeter Miles Davis. The effect of the music on me was so powerful I had to pull over, and my relationship with music has never been the same since.
Born in St. Louis in 1926, Miles’ professional career took off after he joined Charlie Parker’s band and cut his teeth playing bebop. While he had nowhere near the technical virtuosity of his idol Dizzy Gillespie, he had a distinctive “cool-toned” sound of his own that made him readily identifiable even to casual listeners. For the next five decades, Miles would change the direction of jazz over and over again.
In addition to being widely regarded as one of the top talent scouts in the history jazz (his bands included dozens of musicians who went on to make their own indelible marks on music), Miles is generally credited as the driving force behind three important evolutions of jazz: “cool” jazz, “modal” jazz, and “fusion”.
In 1949 and 1950, Miles recorded a series of tracks that were later released as the compilation album “Birth of the Cool”. The sound, which came to be known as “cool” jazz, was influenced by classical music and represented a departure from bebop, a complicated style of playing that alienated many listeners accustomed to the swing/big-band styles of the 1930’s. Cool jazz was Miles’ attempt to reclaim a broader jazz audience without diluting the artistic integrity of the music. (Check out the tune Move.)
In 1959, Miles recorded and released Kind of Blue, which remains the best-selling album in the history of jazz. Kind of Blue represents a style of jazz called “modal” jazz, where the players rely less on chord changes to determine which notes are appropriate to play at any given moment. Instead, players utilize specific scales (or “modes”) for long stretches of time. The limited note choices forced players to invent compelling improvisations by focusing more on melody, rhythm, or tone quality. (Check out So What or Flamenco Sketches.)
Just ten years later (after leading a highly influential post-bop band), Miles reinvented himself again with the album In a Silent Way. Heavily influenced by the music (and fame) of popular rock, funk, and soul artists (James Brown, Hendrix, and Sly and the Family Stone, for example), Miles spent the much of the 70’s inventing and leading “fusion” bands — not quite “rock and roll”, but certainly not meeting the conventional definitions of “jazz” either. (Check out Shhh Peaceful.)
For these reasons (and many more), no respectable list of the most important figures in jazz history doesn’t include Miles Davis. (The others in the Top Four, in my humble opinion, are Duke Ellington, Charlie Parker, and Louis Armstrong.) I hope you’ll take some time this weekend to introduce yourself to one of the most important musical figures — of any genre — of the 20th century. (Here are some of my personal favorites: Milestones, My Funny Valentine, Prayer (Oh Doctor Jesus), and Blackbird).
-Jason
P.S. And just for fun: here’s me playing Miles’ famous solo from Straight No Chaser on bass.