Miles Davis was born May 26, 1926. There is much to talk about in a deeper dive of specific recordings in a later blog, but I’d like to share a few things that aren’t necessarily known or directly associated with his musical body of work.
If you haven’t seen the recent American Masters documentary, Miles Davis: Birth of the Cool, I highly recommend it. Davis was a complicated and often difficult man and this documentary doesn’t shy away from that fact, but still finds a way to make him incredibly sympathetic.
Also, Don Cheadle starred and directed in the 2015 biopic on Miles Davis, Miles Ahead. Cheadle captures Miles’ anger and explosive personality, but also his intense connection to music and creativity. I highly recommend it.
This creativity is also evident in Davis’ rather large output of paintings. A short but informative article can be read here.
And while the album, Kind of Blue, will certainly be one of my recommendations, I love just as must this video of him playing So What.
Here are just a few of my favorite recordings.