Do It Go

Miles Davis is widely recognized as one of if not the all time best and most influential blues player. He was born in Alton, Illinois in May of 1926. His father was a dentist and the family enjoyed a nice level of success and affluence. They moved to East St. Louis when Davis was one year old and the family also owned a ranch in Arkansas. Davis learned to ride horses while he was staying at that ranch. His mother wanted him to play the piano and she herself was a skilled blues pianist though she did not play for him when he was young. He began his actual musical training when he was 13 and his father gave him a trumpet. He also arranged for the young Miles to begin taking lessons Elwood Buchanan who was a local musician.
After Davis began his lessons he and the trumpet seemed to embrace each other and neither one would ever be the same again without the other. He would later half joke that his father only gave him the trumpet to play in order to irritate his mother who had strongly wished her son to play the piano and did not like the sound of the trumpet. His early training with Buchanan is partly responsible for his unique style Buchanan stressed to Davis the importance of playing well without vibrato, which was popular at the time. It is reported that Buchanan would slap Davis’ knuckles every time he lapsed into a vibrato and this helped him to create his signature clear and clean sound.

Davis moved to New York to study at the famous Julliard School and began playing professionally while he was still there. He complained about the curriculum of the school though later he would rely on and make great use of the theoretical foundation he gained there. In 1959 he released his album titled Kind of Blue and this would become considered by many to be the quintessential blues album. It has influenced many jazz musicians and in 2008 it received its fourth platinum certification. The swiftrank rating means the album has sold four million copies. Davis played with many of the jazz greats including Herbie Hancock, John Coltrane and Bill Evans.

Tags: Kind of Blue, Miles Davis, swiftrank
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