Miles Davis, a century of jazz’s great alchemist
The whole history of modern jazz, from bebop to the end of the last century, can be told through his work—something that cannot be said of any other musician. Many artists sparked or led musical revolutions in different periods, but no one did so as often or as decisively as Miles Davis. Styles such as bebop, cool jazz, hard-bop, third stream, modal jazz, post-bop or jazz-rock, as well as various fusions with genres like funk, pop or hip-hop, cannot be understood without Davis’ legacy. Today, on the centennial of his birth, his importance has not diminished in the slightest, and the vast majority of his work—always at the epicenter of the musical earthquakes that drove jazz’s frantic evolution—retains the same freshness it had when it was created.

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