On May 26, 2026, the jazz world celebrates what would have been Miles Davis’ 100th birthday. Though he passed at the age of 65, his influence continues to shape musicians and reform listeners. Davis transformed not only how the trumpet is played, but also how artists approach music itself. He had a unique ability to take existing ideas and reshape them into something entirely new. For him, there were no mistakes—only opportunities to reimagine sound.
The Birth of a New Sound
For me, “Kind of Blue” was one of my favorites as it was for millions of others. Rightfully so, the album led by Davis featured “saxophonists John Coltrane and Julian “Cannonball” Adderley, pianist Bill Evans, bassist Paul Chambers, and drummer Jimmy Cobb, with new band pianist Wynton Kelly”. It was improvisationally recorded in a New York studio in two days, then released on August 17th, 1959. A true piece of dynamite production by a tight team of creators. In 2019, it became the best-selling jazz album of all time.
Miles Davis as Revisionist
Saxophonist Jimmy Heath reminisces in the 2022 Documentary “Round Miles”. saying, “Miles was a Gemini, so he constantly needed change.” Yes, Davis desired a unique type of growth. It wasn’t about tweaking his instruments’ sound or style as much as it was about reinventing them both. Some have said that Davis was like Picasso as an artist/musician. He went through a variety of stylistic shifts, starting with bebop to cool jazz, modal jazz, avant-garde jazz, electronic fusion, jazz rock, and even hip-hop.
A musician’s musician, he thrived on improvising and sculpting his sound within band collaborations. Surely, one of the reasons “Kind of Blue” was such a tight album. When playing with Davis, Heath heard him say “now that’s good fitim’s”. He coined this phrase, which meant “licks that fit on any chord”. To this point, “Kind of Blue” bridged into a new jazz sound called “modal jazz,” shifting away from bebop’s rapid chord progressions. The album was the first to root its sound based on scales (or modes) versus chord progressions. Davis, a true innovator, strived to do something new.
Paris and the Creative Expansion
In 1958, he took a trip to Paris. During his stay, he wrote the soundtrack for “Ascenseur pour L’echafaud” (Elevator to the Gallows). Given full artistic freedom by the director, Louis Malle, Davis decided to improvise the soundtrack with his band. Standing in front of the film as it played, he created the music. Since the film is a crime thriller, the tracks embody a sultry, dark moodiness. The whole experience gave Davis renewed vigor in his approach to making music. When he returned to New York, “Kind of Blue” was born.
A Turning Point
However, life for the musician was about to change. After the release of the 1959 album, Davis ended up in a brutal confrontation with the police. Davis was playing at NYC’s Birdland Club one evening. He went upstairs to have a cigarette. While outside smoking, an officer approached him and told him to put out his cigarette. Not complying, the officer started to beat Davis with his Billy stick. Other officers soon arrived on the scene. From a 1959 news article, a witness stated, “It was the most brutal thing they had seen.” It shook Davis to his core. His wife, Frances Taylor, said when she arrived, “he had the fears in him.” Bassist Marcus Miller, a 1980’s collaborator, said he still talked of it.
Despite this setback, Davis continued pushing musical boundaries. His collaboration with Gil Evans on Sketches of Spain further demonstrated his artistic vision. Throughout his career, he focused on restraint as much as expression, often emphasizing the importance of the space between the notes. As Davis famously said, “I always listen for what I can leave out.” A classic example of these openings is heard in the track “So What” from Kind of Blue. Trumpeter Melissa Aldana points out that Miles “set the tone for modern jazz by creating such a sense of space”.
Breaking Boundaries: The Birth of Jazz Fusion
Making room between the notes also gave room for his collaborators. Fellow musicians said Davis would open up space so they could walk in. His work often brought out the best in people. He had a knack for finding and guiding unknowns who later became leaders in their genres. In the late 60s and early 70s, he started working with Herbie Hancock, John McLaughlin, and Chick Corea. When asked to play an electronic keyboard during a studio recording, Hancock initially resisted. However, it was a request that later shaped Hancock’s career.
During this era, “Bitches Brew” was recorded in August 1969 and released in April 1970. This was the birth of Jazz Rock. While it appalled jazz purists, Davis’ motivation grew. It was the beginning of another stage for the musical genius. It was regarded as the “Big Bang of Jazz Rock”; the album soon became a touchstone for other genres of music, too. Similarly, most of the collaborating musicians became founding fathers in their fields. In the end, the release won a Grammy for best large jazz ensemble and gave Davis his first gold record.
Years later, with the final releases of the experimental jazz rock period, Agharta (1975), Pangaea (1976), and Dark Magus (1977), he took a step back. Again, Davis became plagued by drug use. It was most likely brought on by a car accident and the era itself. In 1972, he broke both ankles and started using cocaine and pharmaceuticals to manage the pain. By 1975, he started to burn out. When he stepped back for the next five years, he sank even further down. This era was possibly one of the darkest periods of his life.
A Lasting Legacy
Once the 80’s rolled around, Davis felt stronger and ready to begin again. This time he worked with a leaner sense of playing. Still collaborating with his producer, Teo Macero, of the jazz-rock days, he released “The Man with the Horn”. It was a wobbly start, but he worked with a young bassist, Marcus Miller. Years later, Miller approached him with a demo arrangement named “Tutu.” The album with the same name was released in 1986. Outside of Davis’s trumpet, it was a clean, studio-based, layered album with overdubbed instruments.
Miller, fresh at album arrangements, felt intimidated to be directing Davis. After Davis’s insistence, the young musician started giving feedback. Miller points out that the title track layered past tracks of Davis’ sound, at the same time, naming it after Archbishop Desmond Tutu. It was a song of its time, a homage to the African diaspora. This production brought a new breath of life back into Davis, and his following album releases found him exploring once more.
All in all, the innovations and contributions of Miles Davis not only redefined Jazz but also helped shape other genres of music. He was a musician who was born of change and thrived in it. He was an artist who had a desire for growth and a limitless drive to learn. In the end, the forever student became the master.
See Changemaker’s upcoming interviews pay homage to this master. We will be talking to two phenomenal young jazz trumpeters, Robin Mansanti (Paris, France) and Feven Kidane (Vancouver, Canada). They will tell us how Miles Davis has contributed to their genre as well as other topics.
REFERENCES:
Artists Who Changed Music: Miles Davis
The Guardian – 100 Years of Miles Davis
Unlimited Miles: Celebrating 100 Years of Miles Davis