Sometimes you have to play a long time to be able to play like yourself.
Rest in peace, iconic Miles Davis, one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century. Miles Davis passed away today in 1991 of a stroke and pneumonia. Davis was an American jazz trumpeter, bandleader, and composer. The 1959 album ‘Kind of Blue’ is a major influence on jazz music.
Monumental innovator, icon and maverick trumpeter Miles Davis released masterpiece jazz album Kind of Blue. Its influence on music, including jazz, rock, and classical genres, has led writers to call it one of the most influential albums ever recorded.
Album Kind of Blue broke new ground as Davis dispensed with chords as the basis for improvisation, instead favouring modal scales and tone centres.
Miles Davis helped define the course of jazz and popular culture in the 20th century, bridging the gap between bebop, modal music, funk, and fusion. Davis played the trumpet in a lyrical, introspective style, often using a stemless Harmon mute to make his sound more intimate. It was a style that, along with his brooding stage persona, earned him the nickname “Prince of Darkness.”
Davis proved to be a dazzlingly protean artist, moving into fiery modal jazz in the ‘60s and electrified funk and fusion in the ‘70s.
Raised in St Louis, Missouri, Davis pioneered several styles of jazz – including cool jazz, hard-bop, modal jazz, jazz-rock, jazz-funk and the use of electronics.
“To be and stay a great musician, you’ve got to always be open to what’s new, what’s happening at the moment,” – Miles Davis
Among his best-selling albums were the experimental, improvised double set Bitches’ Brew and the meticulous, introspective Birth of the Cool, a compilation that charted his development of the cool jazz sound.
Kind Of Blue changed the very face of music. It is consistently rated not just as one of the greatest jazz albums but as one of THE greatest musical statements of the 20th century. The improvisation and sophistication of the music remain peerless.
In the early 50s, George Russell had raised the possibility of using a modal approach (i.e. playing within a certain scale, as opposed to according to a fixed chord sequence) as a way out of the straightjacket that restricted improvisation.
Miles was in thrall to hard bop, but by 1958’s Milestones he was ready to try the modal approach, the title track being his first recorded foray into the form.
Kind Of Blue took the idea and developed it to an astounding degree. The album’s smoky evocation of late-night ambience is a byword for laid back elegance.
It uses the blues but transmutes those seventh chords into something that still sounds modern 50 years on. Source
Davis outlined the song arrangements for the musicians on the day with no rehearsal. The exception was, ‘So What’ and ‘All Blues’ played live prior to the session.
The band Miles assembled were the sextet of saxophonists John Coltrane and Cannonball Adderley, drummer Jimmy Cobb, bassist Paul Chambers and pianist Bill Evans.
All players were to have illustrious careers, but it was Coltrane who took Miles’ modal template and went farther with it, with remarkable results.
The star died in 1991 of pneumonia, respiratory failure and stroke.
This article is a republish of another post of the buzzr blog
