Rethinking Miles Davis

Abstract Much has been written about Miles Davis, the jazz trumpeter and band leader, yet studies of Davis are often restricted to the groundbreaking acoustic jazz he produced between the 1940s and 1950s. While more recent studies revisit his 1960s and 1970s work, Davis’ later engagements with music, fashion and the mainstream media are ripe for reassessment. Rethinking Miles Davis confronts familiar narratives about Davis and his music through a range of perspectives: from the ways Davis pushed jazz into new genre forms, re-envisioned jazz standards and collaborated musically, to his role in the record companies that released his music, the persona he developed in video, film and fashion, and how his masculinity manifested both professionally and personally. The collection includes a photo essay of international jazz musicians’ take on Davis’ albums, in which each musician explains the personal significance of a favourite recording. Ultimately Rethinking Miles Davis challenges the orthodoxy of jazz criticism, repositioning Davis within a larger framework of modernism and mass culture.