EP 21: Miles Davis For Beginners. Part One, The Electric Years.

Think you are not a fan of jazz, think Miles Davis has nothing to offer you? Davis, during his 45 plus year career, released at least 60 studio albums and 39 live albums, as well as 46 compilation albums, 27 box sets, and 4 soundtrack albums. He reinvented himself almost as often as he changed his socks (well at least every few years anyway). Starting in the 1940s there was a move away from big band swing with Be Bop. He then moved on to cool jazz - he was there for the birth of the cool. Then in 1959 he redefined jazz, moving from chord changes to modes - he was the guy who did that first. 

But in the 1970s he moved again. This time to electric jazz or fusion - he was one of the creators. After a nearly seven year hiatus of not recording or performing he returned playing popular songs of the day including Cindy Lauper and Michael Jackson numbers. He even impressed the master of funk himself - Prince. Return to big bands - sure he did that too. Mix jazz and hip-hop. He was not just sampled but created his own hip hop inspired sounds. So there certainly must be something in there that you can swing to, bop to, rap to, grove to, or just lay back to. Yes because Miles at his best was often laid back and he could be downright mellow.