Miles Davis was arguably the most influential jazz musician in the post-World War II period, being at the forefront of changes in the genre for more than 40 years.
Born into a middle-class family, Davis started on the trumpet at age 13. His first professional music job came when he joined the Eddie Randall band in St. Louis in 1941. In the fall of 1944 Davis took a scholarship to attend the Juilliard School, a convenient passport to New York. It didn’t take him long to immerse himself in the New York scene and he began working 52nd Street gigs alongside Charlie Parker in 1945. Soon, Davis found work with Coleman Hawkins and the big bands of Billy Eckstine and Benny Carter.
During the late 1940s, a number of musical contemporaries began to meet and jam regularly at the small apartment of arranger-pianist Gil Evans. Among them were saxophonists Gerry Mulligan and Lee Konitz, and pianist John Lewis. Out of this group of musicians, Davis formed the nonet to record his first major musical statement, Birth of the Cool. In addition to the standard piano, bass, and drums rhythm section, Davis’ nonet horn section used French horn and tuba along with trombone and alto and baritone saxophones, lending the band a unique harmonic sound.
In 1955, Davis assembled his first important band with John Coltrane, Red Garland, Paul Chambers, and Philly Joe Jones, adding Cannonball Adderley in 1958. By this time Davis, influenced by George Russell‘s theories, had begun playing in modes rather than standard chord changes, which led to his most famous album (and the all-time biggest-selling jazz album), Kind of Blue, in 1959. Davis also continued an important musical partnership with Gil Evans, recording four releases in five years: Miles Ahead, Porgy and Bess, Sketches of Spain, and Quiet Nights.
In 1964, Davis assembled a new band of younger musicians, which became known as his second great quintet. This included Herbie Hancock, Tony Williams, Ron Carter, and Wayne Shorter. By this time, the Miles Davis Quintet was recording mostly originals, with all the band members contributing memorable tunes. Davis’ horn playing also changed, increasing the spacing of notes to create more suspense in the music.
In 1968, Davis again changed direction, leading the way for electric jazz with the release of In a Silent Way. By the 1969 release of Bitches Brew, as he deepened the electronic elements and rock rhythms of his music, the transformation was complete. By the mid- 1970s, following the debilitating effects of a 1972 auto accident, Davis went into semi-retirement. He returned to the scene in 1980 and resumed touring in 1981, attracting newer fans. From then to 1991, Davis remained vital and popular, receiving the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 1990.
Selected Discography
Birth of the Cool, Capitol, 1949-50
Kind of Blue, Columbia, 1959
The Complete Live at the Plugged Nickel, Columbia, 1965
Bitches Brew, Columbia, 1969
Amandla, Warner Brothers, 1989
https://www.arts.gov/honors/jazz/miles-davis
“So What”
is the first track on the 1959 album Kind of Blue by American trumpeter Miles Davis.
It is one of the best-known examples of modal jazz, set in the Dorian mode and consisting of 16 bars of D Dorian, followed by eight bars of E♭ Dorian and another eight of D Dorian. This AABA structure puts it in the thirty-two-bar format of American popular song.
The piano-and-bass introduction for the piece was written by Gil Evans for Bill Evans (no relation) and Paul Chambers on Kind of Blue. An orchestrated version by Gil Evans of this introduction is later to be found on a television broadcast given by Miles’s first quintet (minus Cannonball Adderley, who was ill that day) and the Gil Evans Orchestra; the orchestra gave the introduction, after which the quintet played the rest of “So What”. The use of the double bass to play the central theme makes the piece unusual. This arrangement was later performed and recorded as part of the album Miles Davis at Carnegie Hall.
PELICAN
Thursday April 23rd 1964
Jazz by Nessia Solomons
Jazz versatility in jazz
No classical music this week! Instead the fresh sound of modern jazz filled Winthrop Hall as the sounds of Jack Harrison (alto sax and clarinet) Billy Clowes (piano) David Ellis (bass) and Bill Tattersall (drums) presented a program on the changing styles of jazz. The Jack Harrison Quartet features the well-known Billy Clowes Trio while Jack Harrison is also a member of the W.A. Symphony Orchestra in which he plays clarinet. Although they play other styles of music, they enjoy playing jazz with a vibrant sound that is synonymous with modern jazz today. The opening number “9.20 special” a tune written for Count Basie, was of fast tempo and made the expectant audience sit up and listen. Unfortunately, the acoustics in Winthrop Hall caused the drumming to sound a little dominant at all times, however the smooth playing of both piano and saxophone tied this over to no disadvantage. Pianist Billy Clowes composed the next number played – a 12 bar blues – a style which has been popular at all times through the evolution of jazz to the present day. As always, when a composer plays his own tune, the result is an extra special sound with an atmosphere perfectly suited to its style. Perhaps it was just the Paul Desmondish sound of the alto sax or maybe some ultramodern chord forms, yet this and a few other numbers were reminiscent of Dave Brubeck’s style. The changing styles and jazz were illustrated through five numbers, the two most popular being a swinging version of “Alexander’s Ragtime Band” and an excellent takeoff Miles Davis in “So What”. Although the group was versatile as it had to be for that program, they seem to play with much greater ease the more modern numbers, especially “Work Song”. This number was played in great style – it possessed an interesting, varied beat as the drummer and the bass player really gave forth the jazz message in their solos. The musicians pleased an obviously critical audience with their versatility, as with showing by the applause for several numbers and on the whole, the jazz concert did lift, however slightly, the cultural curtain to edge a little way through the sound barrier that divides the two cults of music in the Western world today. [1]
| 1.12.1964 | Miles Davis’s “So What” PERTH PREMIERE | Jack Harrison (clarinet and alto-saxophone), Billy Clowes (piano) David Ellis (bass) and Bill Tattersall (drums) | ABC TV live to air broadcast Adelaide Terrace, Perth, Western Australia |
[1] PELICAN Undergraduate Newspaper UWA, Vol 35 No. 5 Thursday April 23rd 1964