Miles Davis Biographical Essay Example

Miles Dewey Davis III, also referred to as Miles Davis, was born in Alton, Illinois, on the 25th day of May 1926. Miles Davis was the second born to the prosperous family, of a music teacher mother, known as Cloeta and his father, Miles Dewey Davis, Jr. who was a dental surgeon (New York Times). He had a sister who was older than him known as Dorothy Mae and a brother younger than him, called Vernon. He went to Jon Robinson Elementary school between 1932 and 1934, an institution for the blacks. His life was in a middle-class supportive household, where as soon as he was 13 years, his father introduced him to the trumpet. His skills in playing the trumpet advanced quickly with the private tutelage of Elwood Buchanan his father's friend who was a director of a music school. Buchanan made emphasis on the trumpet being played without vibrato, a style not common to trumpeters like Louis Armstrong, which were an important shaper and influencer of his style.

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As a young boy, he started showing interest in music. A radio program drew his attention, which showed the jazz records of great performers like Duke Ellington, Bessie Smith, Count Basie, and Louis Armstrong. When he visited his grandfather who was in Arkansas, he was impressed by the music that was played in the church, which was soulfully resonating in the ways of the backcountry. With the chance of playing the trumpet, he had an experiment on the skill's improvisation, which became the modern Jazz signature (Miles Davis). While he was a small boy, his family moved to New York in 1943. He spent most of his free time sharpening his skills and with such guides enabled him to perform in St. Louis. He later joined a dance group that was hard-driving known as the Eddie Randall's Blue Devils, which performed on the wing giant's performance such as Benny Goodman and Ellington. He then joined the New Orleans group after a lucrative year known as Adam Lambert's Six Brown Cats that was inclusive of Joe Williams, a jazz artist known then, who became the main star later. Gigging heels in Chicago, he became tired of the swing and went back home, which coincidentally became to be a launching pad for his career.

As his reputation grew, he visited Billy Eckstine who was a direct broadcaster of the contemporary luminaries and a trumpet player just like Buddy Anderson and Dizzy Gillespie, Ammons Gene the saxophonists and Charlie "Yardbird" Parker, and the drummers Thompson Lucky and Art Blakey. An illness of one of the trumpeters led to Gillespie requesting Davis to remain in the group.

Davis gained a lot of experience, thus felt the urge to be like his heroes to the New York City's jazz mecca, alongside his wife who he had married at the age of 17, and his son. With his mother's emphasis, he joined the Juilliard School, which was a prestigious one, enrolling in music theory studies and composer of classical during the day and at night did what he knew best by edge-cutting musician's sounds such as players of trumpet Freddie Webster, Max Roach the drummer, Gillespie, and Parker. In as much as he followed what he learned at Juilliard, he occasionally would look for inspirations from composers Ravel and Rachmaninoff. The school where he learned was frequented by an atmosphere of discrimination and oppression by the white. He later opted to drop out of the school, where he preferred to add his education in the jazz clubs hallowed halls under the tutelage of professors like Gillespie.

On a 1945 recording in Parker, his style of no-vibrato was featured, although the unique contribution by the trumpeter received critics who claimed that the solos were erroneous and derivative of Gillespie transparently. During the California extended stay, he befriended Charles Mingus a legendary bassist and organized a nine-piece ensemble in New York that featured Gerry Mulligan, Lee Konitz and John Lewis who is a saxophonist, with arrangements of lyrics by Gil Evans, the pianist-composer, who became his collaborator for a long time. As a result, their recording of the Birth of the cool done from 1949 to 1950 was released. There were general critics lauding the release although a turn of events to its consequences was observed where the music was played.

Following Europe's triumph, the most recognizable event that happened at the Jazz Festival in Paris, he became the victim of the insufficient work, which had befallen on his fellow jazzmen. Just like most of them, he was a victim of drug addiction. Although he avoided them as much as possible previously, he was discouraged by the massive troll which had befallen on their lives and stars in the tone like Webster and Parker. Davis was overwhelmed by the conspiracy in regards to his future which led to the pessimism and drugs prevalence. He wrote in his autobiography that he began to get enough money from whores with the aim of feeding and supporting his habits (Miles Davis). He would further add that he ceased to pimp them as soon as it came to his realization that whatever he was doing was not right. He referred to himself as a 'professional junkie' since that was his life. He was also so choosy in that he could choose the jobs he would do in relation to the ease of working on drug trafficking. He started getting heroine daily regardless of whatever duties awaited him (Miles Davis).

Davis was never entertained for some time by some managers of certain clubs who thought were wasting money on a trumpet player who was now being controlled by the drugs he was abusing. In 1954, he cultivated boxing skills as a self-imposed physical discipline which was a contributor to quitting drug abuse, which was his turning point. His time quintet, which included John Coltrane the saxophonist, Philly Joe the drummer, a bass player known as Paul chambers and red Garland the pianist, was a considerable source of the peer which led to the production of the albums that were classic like Milestones and Round About Midnight. According to the New York Times, there was a sensation caused by the Quintet between people who play Jazz (New York Times). The inclusion of Cannonball Adderley the Saxophonist led to the emerging of the sextet that had an expressive groundbreaking creation sound that had to establish elements.

Davis' mainstream success buoyed, thus he created considerable musical style flexibility. As the jazz clubs closed in the early 1960s, and jazz was threatened to death knell by rock and roll, he formed a group. The band comprised of drummer Tony Williams and keyboardist Herbie Hancock who made a production of some records that hit so hard and sustained the appeal of improvisation. At the decade end, he underwent his transmutation musical drama; with inspiration from the rock guitarist Jimi Hendrix power as well as the rock funk and sly acts of R$B and the stone and John Brown family, jazz was electrified by Davis, leading to what would be referred to as fusion later.

From 1975 to 1980, his skills in Trumpeting were not further improvised. He started being ill and substance abuse was recurrent and repelled him from music, although he had a major comeback in 1981 with, The Man with the Horn, album. However, some critics viewed it as a weak one, but later some recordings such as we want miles and Decoy, awarded him Grammy awards.

Currently, Jazz is played on various instruments including the human voice. However, the Saxophone dominates them all. The various instruments have their own tone color just as each musician has their own sound on the instrument. The saxophone has a powerful and seductive sonority hence outweighs the trumpet and clarinet which were previous stars of Jazz. Players of the saxophone are allowed to express their individuality in a higher taper while the raspy tones and buzzing of the saxophone enhance the texture of Jazz music. The saxophone is used since it coincided with the development of the Jazz genre in the 1920s. This happened after two American musicians (Sidney Bechet and Coleman Hawkins) played it on Jazz (Palmer).

Jazz started in the US, particularly New Orleans in the early 20th century with the aim of representing America. New Orleans was the most convenient place for all elements to come together as it was a port city and a place where different people met. Jazz started from the slave songs and spirituals played by African Americans in the region. In the early 20th century, the New York Jazz Festival that entwined classical music with African slave folk songs gave birth to Jazz. The event was led by Davis with his trumpets and without an electronic boost, making people gain the urge to listen and play jazz music. Over the years, the composition and style of the music have changed a couple of times and has been dynamic depending on the personal interpretation of the performer.

Today, people from various cultures and ethnic groups play and listen to Jazz and this encompasses the various global elements and style of music (Kirker). This comes after Miles Davis provided the various steps that are adhered to when playing Jazz. He earlier put players of startling originality in a common pool. These artists transformed his music into impeccable standards hence, new realms. Later, his album "Bag's Groove" was a common foundation for today's jazz. Miles played jazz music with the trumpet. He was later introduced to the saxophone by Charlie Parker then later took on with the quintet once more. Davis critically examined the artists he would like to play with.

Conclusion

Miles Davis passed on September 28, 1991, after pneumonic attack resulting in failure in the respiratory system alongside stroke effects that were debilitating. He was a jazz trumpeter from American origin, composer, and a bandleader. His death stunned the world because he was one of the influential as well as figure acclaimed in the jazz history and the entire music of the 20th century. Davis made adoption of the many directions of musical in his over 50 years career which made him be on the front line in most of the main jazz stylistic developments.

References

"Miles Davis." Biography.com, A&E Networks Television, 19 Jan. 2018

Kirker, Tim. "Miles Davis." All About Jazz, 6 Oct. 2005

New York Times, June 16, 1985.

Palmer, Robert. "Miles Davis: The Man Who Changed Music." Rolling Stone, Rolling Stone, 14 Nov. 1991