Miles Davis
Miles Davis
Miles Dewey Davis IIIwas an American jazz trumpeter, bandleader, and composer. He is among the most influential and acclaimed figures in the history of jazz and 20th century music. With his ever-changing directions in music, Davis was at the forefront of a number of major stylistic developments in jazz over his five-decade career...
ProfessionTrumpet Player
Date of Birth26 May 1926
CityAlton, IL
play ballads heard
When I heard Coleman Hawkins, I learned to play ballads
school eye boys
In high school I was best in music class on the trumpet, but the prizes went to the boys with blue eyes. I made up my mind to outdo anybody white on my horn.
men alive
John Lee Hooker is the funkiest man alive
play jazz coltrane
Coltrane, you cant play everything at once!
rocks rock-n-roll dukes
[Prince] could very well be the Duke Ellington of Rock 'n' Roll.
music blue done
So What or Kind of Blue were done in that era, the right hour, the right day. It's over; it's on the record.
mean men white-man
I mean, it makes me sick when I see a white man sitting there smiling at me being entertaining, man. When I know what he's gonna do after he gets through. You know, when you see that thing on their face - like: "Entertain me." You know what I mean? Even the black guy that's trying to be white - even he can have that crap on his face.
funny mean player
I would never try and play like Harry James, because I don't like his tone - for me. It's just white. You know what I mean? He has what we black trumpet players call a white sound. But it's for white music ... I can tell a white trumpet player, just listening to a record. There'll be something he'll do that'll let me know that he's white.
hard-work blow games
You can dominate a game if you dominate on the line... We're just going to have to go out there and work hard and blow people off the ball, and let our runners do what they do best.
music guitar sound
Joao Gilberto on guitar could read a newspaper and sound good.
music notes
There are no wrong notes.
music swings purple
I don't care if a dude is purple with green breath as long as he can swing.
wife guy ego
Sometimes [playing free] doesn't happen, because maybe a guy's wife'll come in, you know, and his ego will catch him. If everybody's completely just straight-without any old ladies over here, a fourth of whisky over there; if it's balanced right, it'll come off. It has to be. But when you get egos involved with playing free, you can't do it.
player men ego
Look, man, all I am is a trumpet player.