Kind of Blue

This week Kate Molleson explores the life and work of a cultural icon: trumpeter, composer and bandleader Miles Davis, who was born 100 years ago today and remains one of the most innovative and influential figures in 20th-century music. Kate is joined throughout the week by the leading American jazz critic Nate Chinen. Together, they'll survey his vast recorded output which spans five decades, prioritising his own compositions but also appreciating the art of improvisation as spontaneous composition.
Miles Davis was born in Illinois 26 May 1926 and grew up in East St. Louis. He enrolled at the Juilliard School of Music in New York City in 1944 but was quickly drawn to the bebop scene of 52nd Street, playing alongside Charlie Parker, with whom he made some of his first key recordings. From that point on, he was at the heart of almost every new development in jazz, from hard bop to post-bop, third stream, fusion and beyond, hand-picking key collaborators for his ever-changing sound, including composer-arranger Gil Evans, saxophonists John Coltrane and Wayne Shorter, keyboardists Herbie Hancock and Joe Zawinul and, in his later years, the bassist and producer Marcus Miller. He made it his mission to be at the vanguard culturally and musically, rejecting convention and tradition in favour of pursuing innovation and the new thing.

Today, Kate Molleson and Nate Chinen explore the 1950s, a golden period for the trumpeter with the coming together of his First Great Quintet, featuring saxophonist John Coltrane, glorious orchestral collaborations with Gil Evans, an improvised film soundtrack recorded during a sojourn in Paris, and experiments in modal jazz culminating with his most famous release - sometimes described as the greatest jazz record ever made - Kind of Blue.

To listen on most smart speakers, just say “Ask BBC Sounds to play Composer of the Week.”

Music featured:

If I were a Bell; You're My Everything (from Relaxin')
Half Nelson (from Cookin')
Miles Ahead (from Miles Ahead)
Milestones (from Milestones)
Florence sur les Champs Elysee from L'ascenseur pour l'échafaud
Two Bass Hit (from Miles & Coltrane at Newport)
So What (from Kind of Blue)

Produced by Felix Carey for BBC Audio Wales and West