Miles Davis: MidCentury Modern Music

by John Cousins

The story of Miles' career is the story of the golden age of jazz. It is the story of the transition from big bands to small ensembles. It is the story of developing and exploring improvised music in small trios, quartets, quintets, and sextets. Miles was at the forefront of every major style and genre of jazz that took place over a rapidly maturing arc from just after World War II through the sixties. This period was twenty-five years of explosive creativity and accelerated musical development. The breadth and depth of Miles’ impact, influence, and creative output are staggering. Creative and artistic periods don't have clear boundaries. They are like clouds; from a distance, you can grasp the form, but the closer you get, the more the boundary blurs. With Modern Jazz, the period boundaries blur, but there are distinct aesthetics and centers of gravity to the movements such as bebop, cool, hard bop, modal, and post-bop. The name attached to creating all these genres and forms of music is Miles. Jazz is the only truly American art form, and no one has had such a profound and wide-ranging impact on jazz as Miles Davis. As a bandleader and composer, Miles Davis has influenced most, if not all, notable musicians and bands from all genres of music. One could make a good case for dividing jazz into two BM and AM, Before Miles and After Miles. Actually, the main category of jazz is DM, During Miles. Miles' tenure represents the golden age of jazz music. Everything else is a series of footnotes.

102 pages, Kindle Edition

Published January 4, 2021

About the author

John is an author of over 50 books, blogger, podcaster, online course creator, investor, inventor, entrepreneur and musician. John began his career, after graduating from Boston University and MIT with degrees in Media Studies and Electronics, working for one of the great early Silicon Valley tech firms: Ampex. He then spent a decade in Manhattan working for ABC Television as a systems engineer designing and building facilities for the network and managing programs for sports and news; big spectacles like the Olympics and political conventions.
John then received his MBA from Wharton. He has since taken two companies public as CFO and CEO and has had 15 years experience as a public company CFO and ten years experience as a public company CEO. John has been involved in many start up and public company financings and deal making. He has founded numerous startups in alternative energy, life sciences, and technology. His career shifted to teaching at numerous universities in US and internationally in the past ten years. His company MBA ASAP delivers digital content on business topics via eBooks, paperbacks, audiobooks, podcasts and online courses. Visit http://www.mba-asap.com/

Reviews

[Scott Satterwhite · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this to be a good background on Miles Davis, with a pretty good explanation of the music itself, especially bop and hard bop. The author is clearly very excited about jazz and the Mike's Davis. I enjoyed this.

[Mark O'mara · Rating 2 out of 5]

Slight.

[Bruce Cline · Rating 3 out of 5]

Too little about Miles Davis and no music!