Talk:Miles Davis

The opening notes of "Dig," Miles Davis's contrafact on "Sweet Georgia Brown," are inscribed on his headstone.Cdg1072 (talk) 16:52, 29 November 2021 (UTC)

The discography list on this page (separate from the main article: Miles Davis discography) is bothering me. I can't figure out what it's trying to list. It feels like a bunch of listed releases have counter examples not included.

• Compilations: Some of this is just because Davis was active during an interesting time during the history of how music was released: I noticed some edit history where someone tried to split the section to have his 10" LPs and 12" LPs listed which I feel wasn't a terrible idea. A lot of his earlier material released on 10" was later compiled together in 12" releases that are more well known than the original releases (Dig (Miles Davis album) is probably better known than The New Sounds and Blue Period (album) - all three are listed for now). Birth of the Cool (also a compilation) is certainly more well known than many of his other releases and yet isn't listed, and Classics in Jazz doesn't even have its own Wiki article.
  • I think we should either add Birth of the Cool or remove Dig, Miles Davis and Horns, Blue Haze, Walkin', Bag's Groove, and Miles Davis and the Modern Jazz Giants
  • I think we should also add Modern Jazz Trumpets which is marked as a "compilation" right now, but I'd argue it's a split (compiled from a few artists) rather than a "compilation" (like, in the sense of a "best of"/re-issue release)
• Live material: Live-Evil (Miles Davis album) and We Want Miles are live albums and listed, yet plenty more live albums aren't. Live-Evil is a bit special since it includes a bit of extra studio material (roughly 16 min of the album's 101 min of material).
  • I understand why we'd keep Live-Evil, but it should arguably be removed. We should definitely drop We Want Miles.
• Soundtracks: Jack Johnson (album) is listed but not Ascenseur pour l'échafaud (soundtrack) or Jazz Track? Should we list Ascenseur (France/Europe only release originally) or Jazz Track as that was in his home market? Both? What about other soundtracks like Siesta? Dingo? Hot Spot?
  • Jazz Track can also have a similar discussion to the compilation stuff, what about releases that are mostly compilations but have one/few new recording(s) added? Since Jazz Track was Ascenseur with three additional unreleased tracks, and ones that are quite interesting/important in the Miles Davis chronology.
  • I really don't know what is best for this. I think it'd be a bit weird to have stuff like Dingo and Siesta listed, but at the same time Jack Johnson and Ascenseur make sense to me as those are well known.

There's probably some good cleaning up to be had at Miles Davis discography and Template:Miles Davis as well, but starting the conversation here for now, and I'll start by removing We Want Miles which seems to be the most egregious issue on this page for now. Hopefully a discussion can be had and an agreement reached. --WillMak050389 03:49, 20 January 2022 (UTC)

Well, I let this sit for a month and no one responded, so I'm making the changes I think are best. If there's pushback, let's discuss reasoning here. I think my only additional note is that I included both Ascenseur and Jazz Track, but on the same numbered list item, since the former was the original release, and the latter was the release in his primary market (US), so I think both have a clear claim for being included.

We might also want to consider archival stuff like Circle in the Round and Directions (Miles Davis album).

--WillMak050389 02:26, 21 February 2022 (UTC)

WP:WPMAG says to "provide a summary of the musician's major works". How "major" they are can be determined from the literature available on them, including the translated coverage at their articles. For Jack Johnson, the story of that album paints it as a soundtrack effort that evolved into a stand-alone studio album, and marketed as such (independently from the documentary film), and having notability (and notoriety) in Davis' artistic development. Live albums like Agharta also are key releases that I wouldn't think should be omitted. I don't see nearly the same level of importance attached to Dingo or The Hot Spot, for example. Piotr Jr. (talk) 20:52, 21 February 2022 (UTC)

Very late to this but I have the same problems! I would love to help with this if I can get some consensus. Davis released albums after Columbia released the LP but before the 12" won the format war. The 12" reissues being called "comps" when they're effectively albums bothers me, and I also think the live albums need cleaning up TlonicChronic (talk) 06:32, 30 December 2023 (UTC)

His gravestone says ‘Sir Miles Davis’. Was he knighted. 86.156.2.208 (talk) 17:30, 10 December 2022 (UTC)

probably just a way of showing respect. Like how you call people "sir" in completely informal situations. Rateb4isik (talk) 17:40, 2 November 2023 (UTC)

Another optional full name of Miles Morales, who atypically has the last name of his mother, Rio Morales, rather than of his father, Jefferson Davis (brother of the Prowler)

הראש (talk) 15:15, 3 June 2023 (UTC)

That would be original research as Morales never goes by "Miles Davis". It seems very unlikely that anyone would be searching for "Miles Davis" in the expectation of finding Morales Grachester (talk) 16:11, 3 June 2023 (UTC)

Should Fontana (or Capitol) be listed as one of Davis's labels? My understanding is he released Ascenseur pour l'échafaud on Fontana, but he had contracts with Prestige, Columbia and Warner. And if Capitol is there, my guess is Blue Note and Debut should be added as well. It feels like there should be more or less, but I don't feel confident enough to boldly edit. TlonicChronic (talk) 06:28, 30 December 2023 (UTC)

Forgive me if this has been already discussed, but: the assertion

Doctors suggested he have a tracheal tube implanted to relieve his breathing after repeated bouts of bronchial pneumonia. The suggestion provoked an outburst from Davis that led to an intracerebral hemorrhage followed by a coma.

certainly sounds like something that should have an associated cite in an encyclopedia. (The cite for the following sentence regarding Davis' final painting isn't related.) I tried to find a citation on the web, but all I could find was either this exact verbiage, attributed to Wikipedia, or minor-rewordings of this in various articles, none of which (that I encountered) cited a source. It certainly sounds more than plausible, but one would think someone (hopefully someone who was there in the room) must have relayed this first, somewhere. EricTN (talk) 02:56, 6 March 2025 (UTC)

Hi all, I saw that the infobox photo for this article was changed recently, and I'm not sure the change is an improvement; accordingly, I wanted to open some discussion here and see what consensus there might be for any image. Looking at the files in commons:Category:Miles Davis, there are three images that seem like the most promising options:

• Image 1 is the prior status quo infobox image on this article. It shows Davis' face clearly and he's at the approximate age when he had the greatest renown, but there is the drawback that he doesn't appear with his instrument.
• Image 2 was promoted to the infobox image last month. It shows Davis playing the trumpet, but his face isn't clearly visible due to the lighting and angle.
• Image 3 shows Davis playing the trumpet and clearly depicts his face, but he's at a younger age (the photo dates to approx. 1947) and is making a pretty stern expression.

What do people think is the best image for this article's infobox? Personally, my preference among these three is 1 > 3 > 2. I'm also open to other suggested images if anyone has other ideas. ModernDayTrilobite (talk • contribs) 18:00, 18 August 2025 (UTC)

• • I added a fourth photograph, which is the last incarnation of Miles. It's my favourite, because it shows him at the top of what he always was: an original. I personally don't like the first one at all because he was not a smiling person, while the stern face has always been his trademark. So, my preference among these three is 4 > 3 > 2 > 1. Tatvam (talk) 10:59, 19 August 2025 (UTC)

    Thank you for the input! Image 4 is an interesting one to consider. I like that it's more recent and in color, but I'm concerned that at small sizes the composition is a bit tricky to parse, especially with his outfit being so similar in color to parts of the drum kit behind him. The note about his personality is also well taken, as I'm not as familiar with that aspect of him; with that in mind, I think I shift to having #3 as my favorite overall. ModernDayTrilobite (talk • contribs) 13:26, 19 August 2025 (UTC)

I'm thankful there's a proper discussion on this, given how these edits tend to go by without any establishment. Really, the first two images are the only ones that nail Davis completely. Image three is awkward, framing him as more of a background figure in the middle of a job and not the man who centers the stage. Image 4 is an obvious no-go, as he's almost camouflaged in the gold and brown and orange around him.

Now with Images 1 & 2, they're both great in about the same totality, but with mostly different reasons, mainly since they capture two different eras (in the years '56 and '71). The 1956 image shows his face clearly and he's in his youth, closing out his 20s as he's close to establishing modal jazz. The 1971 image obscures his face a bit but shows his trumpet and him as the leading figure in jazz fusion and the image's related performance.

Considering Davis's overall legacy, I'm tipping towards Image 2 (1971), because Davis the jazz fusion leader demonstrates a crucial part of his legacy: That he's a chameleon who explores every aspect of musical improvisation and sees potential in every instrument and every player, not just with jazz's musicianship and interplay. He's an experimental man who's always hungry for new things, and this was apparent as early as the 1950s, when he moved from hard bop to cool and modal jazz. Image 2 firmly states his long-running experimentalism for good. Carlinal (talk) 17:39, 21 August 2025 (UTC)

@ModernDayTrilobite @Tatvam @Carlinal - I uploaded a new image of a publicity photo of Davis and I'm pretty sure more are coming - it is 1:19 AM and I will look for more later. Anyways, I think this image could be the one since it is posed and can be cropped out so the instrument is visible. I'm not sure though, what are your opinions Wcamp9 (talk) 05:20, 30 August 2025 (UTC)

I appreciate the effort in finding this, but unfortunately I'm not a huge fan of the photo—the pose and expression both feel odd to me for a lead image. ModernDayTrilobite (talk • contribs) 16:19, 30 August 2025 (UTC)