Miles Davies

‘A compelling few hours’ reading for anyone with an interest in 20th-century music’
The Daily Mail

Miles Davies (1926-91) was one of the great jazz musicians, bandleaders and composers. His recordings include several of the most acclaimed and popular jazz albums, from the relaxed style of Birth of the Cool to the orchestral Sketches of Spain and the iconic Kind of Blue. And he never ceased to innovate. As the 1960s moved into the 1970s, he developed a darker, more complex sound and began increasingly to use electric instruments. The crowning achievement of his experiments, Bitches Brew (1969), became the bestselling jazz album of all time. In this biography, noted jazz critic Brian Morton takes us through the musical history of this remarkable and influential artist and illuminates the personality behind the sound.

BRIAN MORTON was an academic, TLS literary editor and broadcaster, presenting seven jazz documentary series and his own BBC radio programme, The Brian Morton Show. He has published fiction, music and literary criticism, and is a regular columnist for the Sunday Herald, Financial Times, and the Scotsman. As a saxophonist and composer, he was the co-leader of the musical ensemble The Golden Horde, and has composed jazz and musical theatre pieces. His Penguin Guide to Jazz on CD (co-written with Richard Cook) is the essential reference work on recorded jazz.