Miles Davis

(Requested by E.L. Wisty)
[NOTE: Basic Theory Post below, first in musical theory series of posts]

Link (Miles Davis official website):
http://www.milesdavis.com/

Name: Miles Dewey Davis III
Born: May 26, 1926
Died: September 28, 1991
Instrument: Trumpet

"Who's that motherfucker? He can't play shit!":
A response from Miles Davis when asked about Cecil Taylor, a free-jazz piano player. Most people either love Miles, or loathe him. He has been regarded as a man who changed the face of music more than once, the father of fusion, an innovator not only in the jazz genre, but one who influenced rock, and also a drug-addicted trumpet player who played many "wrong sounding" notes. Even if listening to his work is a matter of taste, the influence he had on the industry is undeniable.

"I’ll play it and tell you what is later.":
Miles came from a musical family, as so many of "the greats" do. However, even though his mother was a competant blues pianist, she kept this from her son as she felt that kind of music was too low-brow. Instead, Miles was sent to learn at the famous Juilliard School of Music in New York city, an education which he quickly abandoned to track down Charlie "Bird" Parker.

While learning his craft by doing, instead of the strict study environment of Juilliard, Miles also picked up a heroin habit much like his Jazz heros. During this time, his work was stilted, less than spectacular, and in fact, it sucked. Realizing that his career was in jeopardy, Miles returned to East St. Louis, and with the help of his father he kicked his habit. Even though the subsequent year saw the recording of "Bags' Groove", "Miles Davis and the Modern Jazz Giants", ande "Walkin' ", which were considered important recordings at the Prestige label, Miles' career didn't fully recover until he played the Newport Jazz Festival. His rendition of Thelonious Monk's "Round Midnight" redeemed him, and he was back in the game.

Miles formed his first quintet in 1955, with John Coltrane on sax, Red Garland on piano, Paul Chambers on bass, and Philly Joe Jones on the drums. He made several recordings with this group, later adding Cannonball Adderley on alto sax to record the famous "Milestones". In 1959 Miles Davis recorded "Kind of Blue" which is widely regarded as his masterpiece. Also, during this time, he worked on many recordings with Gil Evans. Miles was no stranger to the music industry rule: "Never turn down a gig".

The second Miles Davis Quintet was formed in 1965, with Wayne Shorter on sax, Herbie Hancock on piano (later to be replaced by Chick Corea), Ron Carter on bass (also later to be replaced, by Dave Holland), and Tony Williams on drums. With this quintet, Miles moved into what is called his "time no changes" period. Unlike the previous movement of bebop, this method of playing is referred to as "out there" and reflects the musical ideas that come to the player as they come to the player, unrestricted by the almost mathematical formulas of the chord changes.

"There are no wrong notes." (Bitches Brew):
Miles Davis' "Bitches Brew", released in 1970, is probably one of the most influencial recordings in music, while also being one of the most difficult to listen to. The concept is a fairly simple one: a group of talented musicians, many of whom are high at the time, play free-form in a recording studio for hours on end. The result of this was taken by Miles and Teo Macero, and spliced together into rather prolific (20min) tracks. While the idea is simple, the result was an extremely complex and interesting recording which influenced the work of many in the music industry, not just restricted to the genre of Jazz. This is the work that seperates the Miles Davis lovers from the haters. Bill Meyer from Ink Blot magazine, a critic, expressed this best when he said: "Davis drew a line in the sand that some jazz fans have never crossed, or even forgiven Davis for drawing."

Personnel on Bitches Brew:
Miles Davis (trumpet)
Wayne Shorter (soprano sax)
Bennie Maupin (bass clarinet)
Joe Zawinul, Larry Young, Chick Corea (electric piano)
John McLaughlin (guitar)
Dave Holland, Harvey Brooks (bass)
Lenny White, Jack DeJohnette (drums)
Don Alias, Jumma Santos (percussion)

"For me, music and life are all about style.":
It must be mentioned that although Miles Davis' style was highly improvisational, it was not what is known as "free jazz". In fact, Miles hated "free jazz". Even though Miles' music could be highly dissonant, as well as spontaneous, it was well planned beforehand to produce a certain result. Miles Davis' work was not based on the "happy accident" philosophy. Miles and Gil Evans would prepare skeletal harmonic frameworks before recording sessions, this was the planning stage. In order to preserve the improvisational nature of his work, the other musicians would only see this framework on the day of the recording. For this reason, Miles Davis hired some of the most talented sidemen in Jazz, and a further study of "the greats" in Jazz can be done by looking into each of the sidemen on any Miles Davis recording.

While able to solo in the busy bebop and post-bop manner, Miles is also well known for his haunting melodic lines. Not only could he weave a beautiful modal line, he knew how to play the empty space between his notes. He is a perfect example of the notion: "What you don't play is just as important as what you do play". A well executed silence can be as potent as a well played note.

Modal Jazz, which made Miles Davis' solos so original, broke many musical rules by inserting notes that would not usually be considered as "in the key of the piece", such as seconds, nines, and sharp thirteens where the chord changes didn't call for them. Miles would do things such as solo in dorian mode, which is a scale based on the second note of the key of the piece. This is an extremely dissonant mode as it is so close to the "correct" key, but not that key, that the ear of the listener keeps begging for it to resolve. A good example of this can be found in Miles' piece "So What". The structure of this piece is AABA, where the "A" sections of the piece are in D dorian mode (or the D major scale played from E to E), and the "B" sections of the piece are in Eb dorian mode (or the Eb major scale played from F to F). While this may sound "wrong" to classically trained musicians, it also creates a tension unexplored before in jazz.

Modes and Moods:
Dorian (I) - happy or joyous, the one we are most used to, the major scale
Hypodorian (ii) - serious, haunting, melancholy, highly dissonant ("wrong" sounding)
Phrygian (iii) - angry
Hypophyrigian (IV) - tender, tempered fierceness
Lydian (V) - happy, sounds extremely close to the Dorian mode
Hypolydian (vi) - pious or sad, the second most common mode, the minor scale
Mixolydian (vii) - pleasant sadness

"A legend is an old man with a cane known for what he used to do. I'm still doing it."
Miles Davis died of a stroke at age 65, on September 28th, 1991. His last album was released in 1992.



[Link removed - available upon request]