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The Biography of Miles Davis
Miles Davis was one of the greatest
visionaries and most important figures in jazz history. He was born in
a well-to-do family in East St. Louis. He became a local phenom and
toured locally with Billy Eckstine's band while he was in high school.
He moved to New York under the guise of attending the Julliard School
of Music. However, his real intentions were to hook up with Charlie
Parker and Dizzy Gillespie. He quickly climbed up the ranks while
learning from Bird and Diz and became the trumpet player for Charlie
Parker's group for nearly 3 years. His first attempt at leading a group
came in 1949 and was the first of many occurrences in which he would
take jazz in a new direction. Along with arranger Gil Evans, he created
a nonet (9 members) that used non-traditional instruments in a jazz
setting, such as French horn and Tuba. He invented a more subtle, yet
still challenging style that became known as "cool jazz." This style
influenced a large group of musicians who played primarily on the west
coast and further explored this style. The recordings of the nonet were
packaged by Capitol records and released under the name The Birth of
the Cool. The group featured Lee Konitz, Gerry Mulligan, and Max Roach,
among others. This was one of the first instances in which Miles
demonstrated a recurring move that angered some: he brought in
musicians regardless of race. He once said he'd give a guy with green
skin and "polka-dotted breath" a job, as long as they could play sax as
well as Lee Konitz. After spending 4 years fighting a heroin addiction,
he conquered it, inspired by the discipline of the boxer Sugar Ray
Robinson.
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Posted: 18:40, 2007-Dec-8 |
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