Miles Davis Research Paper

Jelly Roll Morton was one of the greatest most talented mans to play the pianist at the tempo he plays it’s at. After sitting and listening to for an hour and a half I realized what a great pianist was. I was exotic when I heard him playing; it was nothing to do but flow with the music after hearing it. It really lit a fire under me to actually enjoy music with a nice pitch and a definite tone.

On September 28, 1991, one year after receiving the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, Davis died at the young age of sixty-five from a stroke, pneumonia and respiratory failure. Davis’ music has been, and will continue to be popular and one of the most sought after names in American Jazz. His influence on other genres spans wider than most people realize because of the amount of techniques and styles that he experimented with. No audience is out of reach of Davis’ music because of his uses elements of rock, pop,

As time went on Miles Davis III became a part of the music society. He first played

When J.J. Johnson was 11 years old, his mother, Nina, sent him to piano lessons, and he briefly played the baritone saxophone at school.  At the age of 14, J.J. Johnson’s classmates wanted to be in a band and needed a trombone player, so he took the opportunity and never looked back. Johnson and his friends were really enjoying the concept melody solos from the tenor saxophonist, Lester Young, and he was also drawn to the Trombone work of Dickie Wells. Therefore, around 1941 and 1942, J.J Johnson joined two bands called Clarence Love’s Regional Touring Band and Snookum Russell’s Band. Johnson then received a suggestion to join the band of Saxophonist Benny Carter for an extended tour, so the spring of 1945, Johnson worked with Carter’s band as a trombonist and a staff manager.

Louis was born in New Orleans where he grew up and learned to play the trumpet. He also learned to sing. Because of his long improvised solos, he inspired jazz so that long solos became an important part of jazz pieces and performances. (Cayton, 462) Armstrong was the king of jazz trumpet players. The new style that he created gave a voice-like quality to his horn. (Hakim, 58) Although Jazz was very popular itself, a majority of the fans and listeners were younger people. Flappers were commonly known during this time. They danced to the jazz music with a whole new style.

Robert Davis was an African American man. He was not a “thug,” he was not a “drunk,” he was a retired school teacher from New Orleans who was in his sixties. He was brutally attacked by three police officers. He suffered a broken nose and other broken bones in his face. The incident was recorded and went viral. Davis was arrested but faced no charges. Three police officers were charged but only two went to trial. In the end, two of the police officers were fired — the third never made it to trial because he had committed suicide. Davis was compensated for the assault.

Born in Alton, Illinois, Miles Davis grew up in a middle-class family in East St. Louis. Miles Davis took up the trumpet at the age of 13 and was playing professionally two years later. Some of his first gigs included performances with his high school bandand playing with Eddie Randall and the blue Devils. Miles Davis has said that the greatest musical experience of his life was hearing the Billy Eckstine orchestra when it passed through St. Louis. In September 1944 Davis went to New York to study at Juilliard but spend much more time hanging out on 52nd Street and eventually dropped out of school. He moved from his home in East St. Louis to New York primarily to enter school but also to locate his musical idol,

Because of his contact with people in the New York Clubs, Miles became addicted to heroin. Because of this, in 1953, Miles returned to his father's farm and remained there until his addiction was broken. In 1954 Miles made a number of important recordings, and began to utilize the Harmon mute which darkened the sound of his trumpet. Miles used this mute throughout the rest of his career. 1955 was perhaps one of the most important years of Mile's career. Miles played one his most popular solos ever for Thelonius Monk's "Round Midnight" at the Newport Jazz Festival. Miles was almost immediately popularized and continued to sign a record deal with Columbia and form his first quintet.

Who was Miles Davis and why was he such an important element in the music of Jazz? Miles Davis, as we would know him, was born Miles Dewey Davis in Alton, Illinois on the 25th of May 1926 to a middle-class black family.. A couple of years later, Miles went on to St. Louis where he grew up. Since he was a youngster, Miles' hobby was to collect records and play them over without getting tired of them. Since his family knew Miles was so interested in the music of his time, primarily Jazz, for his thirteenth birthday Miles received his first trumpet, although he had been playing since the age of nine. With this Miles began to practice and play his trumpet along with his records. Who would have known that just three years later, at the

Sonny Rollins was one of the composers that MDC jazz faculty and students utilized for their songs. He is a jazz tenor/soprano saxophonist, as well as a composer and bandleader. Rollins is an influential jazz musician. He was born in New York City, and made his first recordings in 1949. His real name is Theodore Walter Rollins. He is still active and alive at an age of 85. His main genres are jazz and hard bop. Sonny Rollins joined Miles Davis Quintet and the Max Roach, Clifford Brown quintet. He had many awards such as Grammy award for best improvised jazz solo in

One night in 1937, a teenage musician named Charlie Parker joined a jam session onstage at Kansas City's Reno Club. It was a special because a big-time drummer, Jo Jones, was there. He was the drummer for Count

Chet Baker was born on December 23rd 1929. He was born in a house that was basically in love with music! His father was a professional guitarist and his mother was a great pianist. He was a great person, mainly a successful Jazz trumpeter, and alongside he used to sing songs. his father had introduced him to brass instruments. He started off with a trombone and later changed his instrument to a trumpet since the trombone was a bit too large for him. He had released many albums that had were pretty impressive. The album that was first ever released by him was called “Quartet featuring Russ Freeman”. He has released many songs. For example, “Almost Blue”. This piece of music was recorded using the trumpet that he had.

With the installation of the Miles Davis Quintet, Davis picked up where his late forties sessions left off. Eschewing the rhythmic and harmonic complexity of the prevalent bebop, Davis was given space to play long, legato and essentially melodic lines, where he would begin to explore modal music, his lifelong obsession. Modal jazz is a new venture for jazz both harmonically and structurally, it no longer used the chord progressions of standard tunes as the basis for improvisation replaced by a succession of scales on which the performer improvised instead (Kingman, 1990:390). Davis had definitely gone a long way in his trumpet playing since collaborating with Parker. No longer dependant on bebop phrasing, he chose a minimalist approach instead. Ornate phrasing gave way to a smattering of tones. He was also utilizing a Harmon mute, sometimes adding reverb, which had a whisper effect and personalised his sound. Elements of texture and silence between notes were becoming more dominant (Kirker, 2005:2). By 1958, he had freed himself by using modal scales and slower moving harmonies. “Milestones” portrayed this example as

a steady job with the Lion Hampton band, where he was featured as a soloist. This

Miles Davis loved the "new" Coltrane, and hired him back into his band for a third time. Davis came up with a new jazz concept, modal improvisation.