Rebirth

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 this week 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.

Kate Molleson and Nate Chinen with the last chapter in the life and work of Miles Davis. Following an intense period of creativity and an impossibly excessive lifestyle, Miles Davis withdrew from the scene in the 1970s and went off-grid. We hear how a few trusted people helped him to recovery and how, instead of trading on past success, he resolved to be at the vanguard once again, inspired by contemporary artists he admired like Prince, and teaming up with the bassist and producer Marcus Miller for albums such as Amandla and Tutu, both named in solidarity for the anti-apartheid movement in South Africa.

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

Music featured:

Take Off (from Volume 2)
He Loved him Madly (from Get Up With It
Star on Cicely (from Star People)
Back Seat Betty (from We Want Miles)
Star on Cicely (from Star People)
White (from Aura)
Cobra (from Amandla)
Tomaas (from Tutu)
The Pan Piper (from Miles & Quincy Live at Montreux)
Someday My Prince Will Come (from Someday My Prince Will Come)

Produced by Felix Carey for BBC Audio Wales and West