Is Miles Davis the greatest ever? (jazz, favorite band, album, fan)

jazzfromhell · 08-19-2006, 06:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by smallz

Here's the next thing: I think I can arguably say that when Miles died, jazz stopped progressing. To analyze Miles is the analyze the history of jazz. He was at the forefront of every major style of jazz and he had the most monumental albums of any jazz musician I know.

Uh, yeah, every style except Dixieland/Traditional (hey, Miles was all over the beginning of jazz, especially because he wasn't born yet), Swing/Big Band, Hard Bop, Bebop (to a certain extent, it's where his roots lie and where he started, but he didn't matter nearly as much as Bird, Diz, Monk, Powell, etc.), Avant-Garde, Free Jazz, Free Improvisation, and Latin Jazz!

Seriously, Miles Davis does not even come close to being a leader in every form of jazz. Jazz made leaps and bounds before he began playing (and like I said, before he was even born). During his career, there were movements as great as any of those that he lead that happened. And believe it or not, while not as dramatically as it has in previous decades, jazz has continued moving forward since his death.