Miles Davis Essay

Miles Davis is a widely famous musician known for his numerous contributions to jazz and its subgenres. Davis is prominent in many jazz styles including bebop, cool jazz, hard bop, modal jazz, third stream, funk, and jazz-rock fusion. Born in 1926, Davis is a baby of the early jazz era. By 13 years old, Davis’ affluent father introduced him to his famed instrument, the trumpet (Biography.com Editors) At 17, Davis had the opportunity to play with the iconic bebop figures Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker on stage (Biography.com Editors). Davis looked up to these musicians and would seek out Parker while in Julliard. Ultimately, Davis would join Parker on his gigs. In 1945, Davis left school and was featured in recordings with Parker (Martin

Later titled modal jazz, Davis’ compositions “incorporated fewer cords… these chords were often based on a single scale” (Martin & Waters 171). His 1958 album Milestones and 1959 album Kind of Blue were modal jazz. This genre uses “modal scales for improvising, slow harmonic rhythm, pedal points, and the absence or suppression of functional harmonic relationships” that have “sensitive melodic lines with frequent blues inflections” (Martin & Waters 162). Miles Davis worked on third stream recordings in 1959 and 1960. Third stream jazz merges jazz and classical music. This jazz style has a slower tempo and less improvisation. The complex unity of compositions in solos is evident in this genre. Davis’s third stream album Sketches of Spain was released in

At this time, his music “was a fine, swinging unit” but there was “a conventional hard bop approach” and was deemed as “old fashioned” (Martin & Waters 182). To make the music fresh again, Davis “hired the best young players” that would “challenge him” (Martin & Waters 159). The music was influenced by avant-garde due to some members’ interest in the genre. Avant-garde jazz eliminated aspects of jazz that were thought to be fundamental. Thus, there was no predetermined harmonic structure, no steady pulse, a change in the rhythm section role, extended techniques, and a relaxed formal structure. The sixties is also when we see Davis start dabbling in fusion, but under the title of funky or soul jazz. Funky jazz is influenced by R&B, gospel, and blues. Davis urged one of his players to use a “Fender Rhodes electric piano,” which is characteristic of funk (Martin & Waters 184). From here on, Davis and his music continued to shift toward