Prince of Darkness – Miles Davis Born Today, May 27, 1926

May 27, 1926: Happy Birthday Miles

Miles and miles of smiles for Miles. Today is Miles Davis’ birthday, born in 1926 he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2006. Davis is considered one of the most influential musicians of the 20^th century. His 1959 album, Kind of Blue, received its fourth platinum in 2008 for selling at least 4 million copies in the US. If I could only take five albums with me to a desert island this is one I’d take.

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On December 15, 2009, even the U.S. House of Representatives recognized Miles by passing a resolution commemorating the album Kind of Blue on its 50th anniversary, “honoring the masterpiece and reaffirming jazz as a national treasure”.

At 13 his father (a prominent dentist) gave him a trumpet to irk his mother who disliked the trumpet sound but also played blues piano, a fact she kept secret from Miles.

At 16 he played his first professional gig (Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker were members of the Billy Eckstine band) but his parents made sure he graduated high school before attending Julliard School of Music in 1944.

By 1953 MD was almost a gonner as his heroin addiction messed with his playing abilities and he spiraled downwards. Somehow he realized he had to quit and returned to his father’s home in St. Louis. With family support he basically locked himself in his bedroom for several months until he had gone through the painful withdrawals.

In 1955 he had an operation to remove polyps from his larynx and was told not to speak for ten days. Miles being Miles got pissed at someone, raising his voice to argue. Besides damaging his vocal cords forever, he ended up with the characteristic voice that came to be associated with him.

The “nocturnal” quality of his playing, Davis’ somber reputation, and with his whispering voice, earned him the lasting moniker, “Prince of Darkness“.

Miles Davis is regarded as one of the most innovative, influential and respected figures in the history of music. He has been described as “one of the great innovators in jazz”. The Rolling Stone Encyclopedia of Rock & Roll noted “Miles Davis played a crucial and inevitably controversial role in every major development in jazz since the mid-’40s, and no other jazz musician has had so profound an effect on rock. Miles Davis was the most widely recognized jazz musician of his era, an outspoken social critic and an arbiter of style—in attitude and fashion—as well as music”. His album Kind of Blue is the best-selling album in the history of jazz music. On November 5, 2009, Rep. John Conyers of Michigan sponsored a measure in the United States House of Representatives to recognize and commemorate the album on its 50th anniversary. The measure also affirms jazz as a national treasure and “encourages the United States government to preserve and advance the art form of jazz music.” It passed, unanimously, with a vote of 409–0 on December 15, 2009. [Wikipedia]