walking upstream…
Miles Davis
photo: firma hagblom-foto · public domain ↗Miles Davis
sourcesWikipedia
Miles Davis spent five decades restlessly discarding every style he perfected, moving from Charlie Parker's bebop quintet to the hushed modal calm of Kind of Blue to the electric squall of Bitches Brew, reinventing jazz roughly once a decade out of sheer restlessness. His spare, vibrato-less trumpet tone made empty space sound as expressive as any run of notes. Few musicians in any genre have shaped as many subsequent movements — fusion, ambient, hip-hop sampling among them — without ever settling into repeating himself.
the sound in question
1959
So WhatMiles Davis
walk the tributaries ↓
Charlie Parker1940s · Bebop / Jazz
A teenage Davis moved to New York and talked his way into Charlie Parker's working bebop quintet in 1944, spending years on the bandstand absorbing the new harmonic language in real time rather than from records.
listen: upstream & here
1945
Billie's BounceCharlie Parker
1959
So WhatMiles Davis
listen forHear Charlie Parker's blistering "Billie's Bounce" — with young Davis right there on trumpet — next to Davis's own spacious, unhurried "So What," and notice how thoroughly he'd later strip away the very density he apprenticed in.
Clark Terry1960s · Jazz / Swing
Terry informally taught and mentored Davis back in their shared hometown of St. Louis, years before either man was famous, instilling the clean, economical phrasing that stayed with Davis for the rest of his career.
listen: upstream & heresource: Wikipedia ↗
1957
Serenade to a Bus SeatClark Terry
1959
Blue in GreenMiles Davis
listen forCompare Clark Terry's warm, unhurried "Serenade to a Bus Seat" with Davis's "Blue in Green" — that same relaxed, vibrato-light tone, letting a handful of well-placed notes do the talking, runs through both.
Dizzy Gillespie1940s · Bebop / Jazz
Gillespie co-created bebop alongside Parker and personally mentored the young Davis, who later said Gillespie was "more generous and patient" as a teacher than Bird ever was.
listen: upstream & heresource: Wikipedia ↗
1945
A Night in TunisiaDizzy Gillespie
1954
FourMiles Davis
listen forPlay Dizzy Gillespie's dizzying "A Night in Tunisia" against Davis's own "Four" — the harmonic sophistication Gillespie hammered into bebop's foundation is still there in Davis's playing on that hard-bop tune, just filtered through his own leaner phrasing.