German postcard by Benedikt Taschen Verlag G.m.b.H., Köln, 1997. Photo: William Claxton. Caption: Miles Davis, Hollywood, 1957, from the book 'William Claxton's Jazz Photography'.
French postcard by Éditions Hazan, Paris, 1995. Photo: Jean-Philippe Charbonnier / Agence TOP. Caption: Juliette Greco and Miles Davis, Halle Pleyel, May 1949.
French poster postcard by Encyclopédie du Cinéma, no.EDC 284, VIS 1. Belgian poster for Ascenseur pour l'échafaud / Elevator to the Gallows (Louis Malle, 1957) with music by Miles Davis.
French postcard in the Collection Magie Noire by Editions Hazan, Paris, 1993, no. 6350. Photo: Guy Le Querrec / Magnum. Caption: Miles Davis, Jazz Festival de Nîmes, 20 July 1984.
Kicking his heroin addiction
Miles Dewey Davis III was born in Alton, Illinois, in 1926. Davis was the son of a dental surgeon, Dr. Miles Dewey Davis, Jr., and a music teacher, Cleota Mae (Henry) Davis. He grew up in the black middle class of East St. Louis after the family moved there shortly after his birth. His mother wanted him to learn to play the violin. Instead, his father gave him a trumpet for his thirteenth birthday, which he devoted himself to from then on. The family owned a ranch, where young Miles learned to ride horses.
When Davis was 15, he played for audiences with bandleader Eddie Randall and studied under trumpeter Elwood Buchanan. Against the fashion of the time, Buchanan emphasised the importance of playing without vibrato. Davis retained this distinctive, clear tone throughout his career. William Ruhlmann at AllMusic: "At 17, he joined Eddie Randle's Blue Devils, a territory band based in St. Louis. He enjoyed a personal apotheosis in 1944, just after graduating from high school, when he saw and was allowed to sit in with Billy Eckstine's big band, which was playing in St. Louis. The band featured trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie and saxophonist Charlie Parker, the architects of the emerging bebop style of jazz, which was characterised by fast, inventive soloing and dynamic rhythm variations."
In 1945, Davis moved to New York, ostensibly to study at the Institute of Musical Art in New York City (renamed Juilliard) on a scholarship. In reality, he neglected his education and went in search of his heroes, such as Thelonious Monk and Coleman Hawkins. He regularly went out with Dizzy Gillespie, and they became good friends. By 1949, he had fulfilled his 'probation' as a fellow player, both on stage and on recordings. His own recording career subsequently flourished. That same year, Davis began collaborating with Gil Evans. This collaboration continued over the next 20 years for many of his major works. The records they made in the late 1940s were released on a limited basis for the first decade.
Through New York's jazz clubs, Davis regularly came into contact with both users and sellers of illegal drugs. By 1950, he had a serious heroin addiction, possibly exacerbated by the lacklustre reception of his first personal recordings. In the first part of the 1950s, the talent Davis possessed seemed to be lost. He played several gigs, but these were uninspired. Aware of this, Davis returned to East Saint Louis in 1954, where he tried to kick the habit with the help of his father. The latter mistakenly thought it had to do with his teeth. Davis closed himself off from society until he was free of his drug addiction.
By 1954, he had overcome his heroin addiction, although he continued to use cocaine, among other things. Reborn, he returned to New York and founded the first major version of the Miles Davis Quintet. This band included the young John Coltrane and occasionally some other jazz artists known at the time, such as Sonny Rollins and Charles Mingus. Musically, the group continued where Davis left off in his sessions in the late 1940s. They avoided the rhythmic and harmonic complexity of the dominant bebop, and Davis was given the space to play long, legato and essentially melodic lines, in which he learned to make sense of modal music. This was a lifelong obsession for him.
American postcard by Fotofolio, NY, NY, no. M 133. Photo: William P. Gottlieb. Charlie Parker and Miles Davis, 1948.
Vintage promotion card by Fontana, no. GF 06421.
German postcard by Edition Tushita, no. B 985. Photo: Artwork Media GmbH.
French postcard by Editions du Désastre, Paris, no. WC 4, 1989. Photo: William Claxton. Caption: Miles Davis, Los Angeles, 1956.
The birth of cool jazz
In February 1957, Capitol finally issued the 1949 recordings, together on an LP called 'Birth of the Cool'. He also recorded 'Relaxin' with the Miles Davis Quintet'. These albums defined the sound of cool jazz, one of the dominant trends in music for the next decade and beyond. In December 1957, Miles Davis returned to Paris, where he improvised the background music for the film Ascenseur pour l'échafaud / Elevator to the Gallows (Louis Malle, 1957) with Jeanne Moreau and Maurice Ronet.
Davis recorded the music in a single recording session while he watched a screening. He composed it while watching a rough cut and then invited a quartet of French and US musicians in from 11 pm to 5 am one night, improvising each number and allegedly sipping champagne with Jeanne Moreau and Louis Malle. Claudio Carvalho at IMDb: "The soundtrack with the music of Miles Davis gives a touch of class to this little masterpiece. The result is one of the best thrillers entwined with comedy of errors that I have ever seen."
While the rest of the music establishment was still trying to accept Miles Davis' innovations, he himself was further along. Reunited with Gil Evans, he recorded a series of albums of great variety and complexity, demonstrating his mastery of his instrument in almost every musical context. On the first album, 'Miles Ahead' (1957), he played with a traditional jazz big band. This had a driven brass section arranged by Gil Evans. In addition to jazz numbers (including Dave Brubeck's 'The Duke'), the two took on Léo Delibes' 'Les Filles de Cadix'. This was the first time Davis recorded European classical music.
'Milestones' (1958) captured the sound of his current sextet, which now consisted of Davis, John Coltrane, Julian "Cannonball" Adderley (alto sax), Red Garland (piano), Paul Chambers (bass) and Philly Joe Jones (drums). Musically, this album encompassed both the past and future of jazz. Davis showed he could play blues and bebop (accompanied by Garland), but the centrepiece is the title track, a composition by Davis around the Dorian and Aeolian modes and with the free improvisational modal style Davis made his own.
This modal style flourished on 'Kind of Blue' (1959), an album that became a landmark in modern jazz and the most popular album of Davis' career. It eventually sold over two million copies, a phenomenal success for a jazz record. The sextet improvised on short modal themes that had not been rehearsed beforehand. In the group, Bill Evans took over the piano, bringing classical influences to the group. On one of the tracks, Wynton Kelly played piano. He later became a permanent member of the group. After 'Kind of Blue', the group broke up. Coltrane, Evans and Adderley continued as bandleaders. Miles Davis found less inspiration, and his group changed line-ups regularly.
German postcard by Edition Tushita, Duisburg Innenhafen, no. B 511. Photo: Jean-Philippe Charbonnier / ADN, Berlin / Tushita. Caption: Miles Davis & Juliette Greco, Paris Jazz Club.
German postcard by Edition Tushita, no. B 1147. Caption: Some Day My Prince Will Come. Miles Davis "the 60ies".
French postcard by Editions Hazan, Paris, 1991, no. 6295. Photo: Guy Le Querrec / Magnum. Caption: Miles Davis, 1969.
Swiss postcard by News Productions, Baulmes, no. 56221. Photo: Edouard Curchod.
A landmark for emerging jazz fusion music
In 1964, Miles Davis formed his second major quintet. Herbie Hancock on piano, Wayne Shorter on saxophone, Ron Carter on bass and the still young Tony Williams on drums. Davis stated, "You have to know the rules first to then be able to break them." Jazz standards were played live, pushing the boundaries of tradition. Long improvisations with much emphasis on harmonic boundaries and tight group playing allowed him to play with texture more than before.
Live, he played standards and in the studio new work, especially compositions by his saxophonist Wayne Shorter. The limits were reached on 'Live at Plugged Nickel'. It formed a counterpoint to the free jazz of Ornette Coleman, whom Davis reviled in his autobiography. In June 1970, Miles Davis, Chick Corea, Keith Jarrett, Dave Holland, Jack DeJohnette and John McLaughlin, among others, met for four nights at the modest nightclub The Cellar Door in Washington, D.C. A six-song CD of those performances was released in 2006.
In the late 1960s, Davis went electric with an electric piano, electric bass and an electric guitar. The 'groove' became important. After Davis heard 'Machine Gun' by Jimi Hendrix at the Isle of Wight Festival, Davis immediately wanted to start a band with him. "It's that goddamned motherfucking 'Machine Gun'," Miles replied when asked what he thought of Hendrix's music. Due to Hendrix's death, it never took place. In the 1970s, he tried to reach black youth by putting funk influences in his music. As heard on the revolutionary album 'On The Corner'. 'Bitches Brew' (1970) became a landmark for emerging jazz fusion music.
In late 1975, Davis withdrew from music and no longer wanted to play the trumpet. He again struggled with addiction, this time to cocaine and alcohol. Poor health, partly caused by years of excessive drug use, led to a radio silence of almost six years. Miles Davis returned to music anyway. His style changed more to a pop style. He recorded new, intriguing albums such as electronic-driven 'Tutu or Amandla', as well as Spanish-flavoured music for the film Siesta (Mary Lambert, 1987) with Ellen Barkin and Gabriel Byrne.
Miles Davis died in Santa Monica, California, in 1991. He was 65. Already in a coma, he died of pneumonia following a severe stroke and was buried next to Duke Ellington at Woodlawn Cemetery in The Bronx, New York. Davis was married to Frances Taylor (1958-1968), Betty Mabry (1968-1969) and actress Cicely Tyson (1981-1988). He had four children: Cheryl (1944), Gregory (1946), Miles IV (1950) and Erin (1970). Twenty-four years after Davis' death, he was the subject of Miles Ahead (2015), a biopic co-written and directed by Don Cheadle, who also portrayed him. Its soundtrack functioned as a career overview with additional music provided by pianist Robert Glasper and associates. In 2020, the trumpeter was also the focus of director Stanley Nelson's documentary Miles Davis: Birth of the Cool, which showcased music from throughout Davis's career.
West German flyer by Illustrierte Film-Bühne (merged with Illustrierte Film-Kurier), no. 4417, for Ascenseur pour l'échafaud / Elevator to the Gallows (Louis Malle, 1957) with music by Miles Davis, page 1. Photos: Pallas Film. The German title was Fahrstuhl zum Schafott.
West German flyer by Illustrierte Film-Bühne (merged with Illustrierte Film-Kurier), no. 4417, for Ascenseur pour l'échafaud / Elevator to the Gallows (Louis Malle, 1957) with music by Miles Davis, page 2. Photos: Pallas Film. The German title was Fahrstuhl zum Schafott.
West German flyer by Illustrierte Film-Bühne (merged with Illustrierte Film-Kurier), no. 4417, for Ascenseur pour l'échafaud / Elevator to the Gallows (Louis Malle, 1957) with music by Miles Davis, page 3. Photos: Pallas Film. The German title was Fahrstuhl zum Schafott.
West German flyer by Illustrierte Film-Bühne (merged with Illustrierte Film-Kurier), no. 4417, for Ascenseur pour l'échafaud / Elevator to the Gallows (Louis Malle, 1957) with music by Miles Davis, page 4. Photos: Pallas Film. The German title was Fahrstuhl zum Schafott.
Sources: William Ruhlmann (AllMusic), Piotr Strzyzowski (IMDb), Claudio Carvalho (IMDb), Wikipedia (Dutch) and IMDb.
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