Legendary trumpeter Davis set new tone for jazz

Reviewed by TIMOTHY HYLAND
Collegian Arts Writer

Miles Davis holds a unique and honored place in the history of jazz -- he is a musician who not only took part in all of the genre's major movements from the '40s to the '90s, but one who was instrumental in creating those movements as well.

Along the way, Davis helped shape the world of music.

If there was no Miles Davis, John Coltrane might never have composed such masterpieces as "A Love Supreme" or "Meditations," the entire genre of fusion probably wouldn't have ever existed and rock acts such as the Allman Brothers Band, the Jimi Hendrix Experience and the Grateful Dead couldn't have used his soloing techniques to inspire a whole new generation of improvisational rockers like Phish and Blues Traveler.

"I don't know how you would measure (his influence)," said Daniel Yoder, professor of music. "He's one of the most important musicians of all time."

More than 75 Davis recordings are available, and among these, very few are regarded as poor -- although his direction changed often, Davis' playing was almost always spectacular and his choice of sidemen prophetic.

Consequently, the bulk of Davis' recorded work is excellent. When at his best, Davis recorded albums that altered the course of jazz history, and these albums are the ones he will most be remembered for.

Davis started his career as most jazzmen do -- as a sideman. Luckily for Davis, he was fortunate enough to play for the legendary Charlie Parker, the saxophonist widely credited with turning jazz into a music of expression. Working alongside Parker, Davis was exposed to a master soloist as well as a musician constantly searching for new ways to express himself through music.

Even in his earliest days as a bandleader, Davis' depth of talent was clear. Early in the '50s, Davis entered the studio with arranger Gil Evans (who would later help Davis with the timeless Sketches of Spain) and a nine-piece band, and came out of the studio with a collection of songs that announced Davis as a force to be reckoned with.

"As a soloist, he might not have been the greatest," said Josh Ferko, manager of Arboria Records, 119 E. Beaver Ave., one of the record stores in town that offers a wide selection of jazz recordings. "A lot of (his influence) was more as a bandleader. He's a good soloist, but a lot of influence came from the directions he took jazz."

After Birth of the Cool established Davis' musical brilliance in a larger-band setting, he changed pace, pared his band down to a legendary quintet and recorded six masterworks: Round About Midnight; Steamin' With the Miles Davis Quintet; Relaxin' With the Miles Davis Quintet; Miles Davis; Workin'; and Steamin'.

It was with this band that Davis allowed a young, technically brilliant and one-day legendary Coltrane to help him set off the hard bop movement. Coltrane, who would go on to record some of jazz's greatest masterpieces, provided stark contrast to Davis' laid-back solos.

"Davis' influence in soloing was in economy," said Ken Kubala, manager of City Lights Records, 316 E. College Ave. "He tended to not play a lot of notes."

Where Davis preferred a tasteful, economic technique rooted in the blues, Coltrane's solos were frenetic, featuring a bombardment of notes and unique sense of tonality that challenged all the rules.

"They had Coltrane and Cannonball Adderly and Paul Chambers, who were all at the top of the field but had very different styles," Yoder said. "Yet when they recorded together, it came across as if they had been together forever."

Davis moved from Prestige to Columbia records in 1957, and two years later would record what many consider his definitive album: Kind of Blue. For the album, Davis enlisted the help of saxophonists Coltrane and Adderly and bassist Chambers, as well as James Cobb on drums, Wynton Kelley and Bill Evans on piano.

Instead of chord-based soloing, Davis and his sidemen played using a predetermined set of scales. Songs such as "So What," "All Blues" and "Blue in Green" are brilliant not just because of the players' talent, but for their fierce spontaneity as well.

The album's influence is not limited to jazz circles. The Grateful Dead have covered "So What" in concert, and the late Duane Allman cited Davis' soloing breakthroughs as critical to his own technique. Davis accomplished something very important with Kind of Blue -- he recorded an album that was not only seen as groundbreaking in the jazz world, but could be enjoyed be those who had previously not listened to jazz.

"I always recommend it for people to get when they want to get in to jazz," Ferko said. "It's very accessible, but it's also very substantial."

Just one year after recording Kind of Blue, Davis again changed directions, reuniting with his Birth of the Cool collaborator Evans to record a more orchestral album, Sketches of Spain. Soloing over Evans' colorful arrangements, Davis' playing may never have been more touching than on the 16-minute-plus "Concierto de Aranjuez." Davis' orchestral work on Sketches of Spain was a slight departure from traditional jazz forms, but on his next masterwork, Bitches Brew, Davis almost left jazz altogether.

Amplified instruments had slowly been working their way into jazz recordings, but never with the in-your-face intensity of Bitches Brew, which ultimately shocked jazz purists. Bitches Brew marked Davis' last major breakthrough, though he continued to make excellent recordings until his death in 1991. One thing Davis always avoided was stasis. Never content to rest on his laurels, he continually searched for new ways to express his musicality.

"Miles is apparently the kind of person that never liked to look back," Ferko said, "and he never did until the very end."