The Prince of Darkness

                                                          
Miles Davis is one of the most revered and influential musicians in music history. From his beginnings with Charlie Parker, Davis would go on to play with some of jazz's greatest legends before making his own mark as a bandleader. His career spanned the genres of bebop in the 1940s through to the jazz-rock of the '70s, which he helped create, and he defined what it meant to be cool with his dark sunglasses and Italian suits. Davis, for all his talent and success, was a complex, and at times, combative person. Much of this had to do with the racial atmosphere he lived in at the peak of his fame. The 1950s were not an easy time for black people, and celebrities weren't immune to prejudice. One infamous incident happened outside of the Birdland jazz club on Broadway in August 1959. Between sets, Miles had gone outside to smoke a cigarette when he was told by a white police officer to leave. When Davis refused, he was beaten and arrested. Davis would say that this "changed my whole life and my whole attitude again, made me bitter and cynical again when I was really starting to feel good about the things that had changed in this country." He earned the nickname "Prince of Darkness" due to his serious, aloof nature, and for his habit of turning his back to the audience when he performed. Nevertheless, it seemed as if he was always at the forefront of any new musical style, which can be seen in his 1969 album Bitches Brew, which blew the doors open on the burgeoning fusion genre, and revolutionized the possibilities of the trumpet. Most of his recordings would become classics, and the quality of his catalogue is amazing. Perhaps his most famous record is Kind of Blue, recorded in 1959. This record has been cited as a major inspiration by many musicians, including the Allman Brothers. Porgy and Bess, Miles Ahead, and Milestones were other classic albums from this period. Davis had a beautiful trumpet sound that distinguished him from other players such as Dizzy Gillespie, whose focus was more on speed and technical mastery, than on tone. Davis had two classic quintets, one in the 1950s and one in the 1960s. The former group included John Coltrane, and this must have been one of the most powerful tandems in the history of jazz. When Coltrane left to start his own classic Quartet, Davis would assemble his second great quintet of Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter, Ron Carter, and Tony Williams. Williams was only 17 when he joined this group, and he was a true drum prodigy. Miles Davis would hit some bumps in the following decades, and would never truly regain his status in the eyes of journalists and fans, but his legacy was already cemented.