Miles Davis and His Most Famous Works

Part 1 

Miles Davis served as among the popular musicians during his time while notable for the creation of jazz. Davis was born in 1926 in Illinois while he travelled to New York City at 18 years in an effort to pursue music. During his entire life, he played a role in altering the jazz concept. He managed to win eight Grammy awards prior to dying in 1991 in Santa Monica California due to respiratory distress. Miles was son to a popular dental surgeon as well as music teacher. Hos middle-class family supported him while growing up with his father introducing him to the trumpet when aged 13 years. Miles rapidly established a talent for using the trumpet under private guidance of Elwood Buchanan, who served as a director to a music school and his friend’s father. Buchanan focused on refraining from using vibrato when playing the trumpet. This approach contracted the dominant style that trumpeters, including Louis Armstrong used, while it later came to influence Miles Davis in creating his individual style. When in high school, Davis would play professionally. At the age of 17 years, Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie invited Miles to play with them onstage after the two popular musicians realized that they required a trumpet player, who would substitute a sick colleague. During 1944, Davis departed Illinois and headed to New York City. Here, he joined Juilliard School, which was referred to as Institute of Musical Art during that time. While pursuing courses at the institution, Miles requested Charlie Parker to join him after which they started playing at nightclubs situated at Harlem (MilesDavis, 2019) . During the performances, Davis encountered a number of musicians that he later played with and established the foundation for bebop, which served as an improvisational and fast-paced jazz style, which influenced the state of the present state of jazz.

For Miles Davis, he is an innovator and specifically his pioneering work with jazz fusion. After emerging a star at the Newport Jazz Festival of 1955, which comprised of an astonishing performance of Round Midnight” by Thelonious Monk, Miles Davis led the jazz world to realize significant recognition during the late 1950s. This was when he released various albums, including “Miles Ahead,” “Round about Midnight,” “Birth of the Cool,” and the “Kind of Blue,” which presently serves as the best-selling historic jazz album. During the 1960s and 1970s, David broadened his scope to jazz-rock fusion prior to directing his focus to avant-garde and essentially, electric experimentalism. Concerning the second Quintet by Miles Davis, it comprised of Herbie Hancock (pianist), Wayne Shorter (saxophonist), Ron Carter (bassist), and Tony Williams (drummer). These individuals managed to record popular albums, such as the 1967 “Sorcerer” and 1968 “Nefertiti. For this era, it serves as a transformative and astonishingly significant to both jazz musicians as well as prior rock ‘n’ rollers. With the performance taking place on March 7, 1970, Davis introduced the “Bitches Brew” album after a period of two weeks once the show ended. It served as a peak of experimentalism and fusion that ended up leaving a mark on musicians such as the Grateful Dead and Jimi Hendrix (Valelly, 2013) . With Davis now encountering challenges of ways to present his self-made jazz to an audience accustomed to rock music, this served as the initial time he embarked on such an endeavor.

Regarding his life and work, Miles Davis experienced certain cultural issues. David was not a religious or political person but mostly focused on music. He usually regarded jazz as black Americans’ property while resenting what he regarded as a form of jazz’s co-opting by white persons. He compared jazz to Americas’ discovery claiming that it resembled ways that Columbus discovered America whereas the Indians were already present. Davis used to focus on defending the culture of black Americans, which is a trait he acquired from his father who Miles referred to as “pro-black.” For this form of attitude, it led Miles to remain at odds with “the establishment.” During 1959, while in New York, a white police officer beat and arrested Davis, and act that almost led to the emergence of riots countrywide. A major depiction of the alignment of Davis to the black American culture relates to the story of when he spent a day at the White House. During the time when Reagan was the president, Davis was invited to attend dinner at the White House. A large number of the guests comprised of white people and elite class members while only a limited number of them knew Davis. With Nancy Reagan asking Miles of how he managed to accomplish a White House invitation, Miles replied that he had managed to change the music source for between five and six times while arguing that Nancy had done nothing aside from sleeping with the president (Bangs, 2018) . In this sense, it becomes evident Miles Davis was an accomplished musician who managed to alter the course of music in line with showing tremendous appreciation particularly for the black American culture.

Part 2 

“In a Silent Way” is the first selection by Miles Davis. Davis released it in 1969 while it reflected a transitional instance in his career as well as in the later years of developing the jazz genre. Many perceived it as the initial fusion recording while it also started the most divisive stage of the composer, which was popularly known as ‘Electric Period.” For this breakthrough album, it tested the dormant strains, which surrounded how jazz would be identified in the future. Other issues emerged relating how it would interact with new technology together with questions surrounding the legitimacy through which these touchy issues would continue serving as key areas of focus (Bangs, 2018) . Regarding “In a Silent Way,” it depicts the initial phase of transformation to fusion. It entails his second notable quintet. During this time, Miles worked with several performers for more than a year while they later emerged to serve jazz stars based in their areas of specialization, such as Wayne Sorter (saxophonist) and Herbie Hancock (pianist). In various sessions of “In a Silent Way,” Miles invited other musicians who could incorporate guitar, electric bass, and keys to sound. This set the foundation for emphasis on innovation, which dictated the subsequent six years in his career (Classic Album Sundays, 2019) . In this perspective, it is evident that “In a Silent Way” depicted numerous fresh ideas that solidified new innovative approaches by Davis boldly.

Regarding “Bitches Brew,” it serves as the second selection from Miles Davis. Miles recorded it in 1969 with its release being in April 1970. During this time, the electric style advanced to an astonishingly clear new sound, which interlinked modal improvisation with individual experimentation of rock’s front. Here, it became possible to find affinity with the vicious psych-rock associated with Jimi Hendrix in line with the Sly & the Family Stone’s kaleidoscopic pop/rock/funk. Popular fusion classics, such as “Miles Runs the Voodoo Down” have realized major popularity owing to the free-flowing nature of their groves, which would not be played simultaneously while Teo Macero, a longtime producer to Miles joined the pieces together. Whereas “Bitches Brew” by miles appears to serve as the culmination of his fusion trials during the late 1960s, it also led his music to land into new areas. While working as a bandleader and a trumpeter during the 1970s, Davis’ music commended pushing far past jazz boundaries (Spencer, 2010) . After releasing several albums between 1970s and 1974, the rhythms and textures of “Bitches Brew,” which featured rock emerged into new and broader shapes that led to powerful psychedelic funk. This was more than anything to have ever been recorded while he experimentations that German acts, such as Faust and Can were undertaking during around the same period came close. However, the power and the ferocity associated with the “Bitches Brew” featured a momentum, which presented intense challenges in reverting. In the event of the hypnotic groves, which originated from African music and rock, they led to the emergence of a new musical environment, which allowed Miles to acquire new audience in line with allowing him to divide the audience to two distinct groups. Each side had the opportunity of viewing the music from distinct and apparently unbridgeable standpoints (Tingen, 2017) . In this sense, it is apparent that “Bitches Brew” contributed greatly to transforming Davis’ musical career.

References

Bangs, L. (2018). In A Silent Way. Retrieved from https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-album-reviews/in-a-silent-way-181826/

Classic Album Sundays. (2019). The story of Miles Davis ‘In A Silent Way’. Retrieved from https://classicalbumsundays.com/the-story-of-miles-davis-in-a-silent-way/

MilesDavis. (2019). Biography. Retrieved from https://www.milesdavis.com/biography/

Spencer, N. (2010). Miles Davis: The muse who changed him, and the heady Brew that rewrote jazz. Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/music/2010/sep/05/miles-davis-bitches-brew-reissue

Tingen, P. (2017). Miles Davis and the making of Bitches Brew: Sorcerer’s Brew. Retrieved from https://jazztimes.com/features/profiles/miles-davis-and-the-making-of-bitches-brew-sorcerers-brew/

Valelly, P. (2013). Miles Davis' brilliant, pioneering fusion era. Retrieved from https://www.thecurrent.org/feature/2013/03/01/miles-davis-fusion-era