Miles Davis: The Definitive Biography

This acclaimed classic biography, now fully revised, truly becomes the definitive account. Ian Carr's updated edition of his seminal biography of Miles Davis sheds new light on his remarkable life and career. It covers his early days in New York with Charlie Parker, his pioneering Birth of the Cool band, and his struggle with drug addiction in the early 1950s. The book then delves into the years of extraordinary achievements from 1954 to 1960, a period during which he created a series of recorded masterpieces and attracted unparalleled talents to his band, such as John Coltrane, Bill Evans, Wynton Kelly, and Cannonball Adderley.

Carr also provides a detailed description of Miles's dark, reclusive period between 1975 and 1980, and his gradual descent towards disintegration. He recounts how the events of a single day compelled Davis to re-engage with life and slowly return to music. The incessant activity of his final decade—his music-making, his painting and art exhibitions, his extraordinary trumpet playing, and his marriage to and divorce from Cicely Tyson—is recounted with fascinating insight.

Miles Davis, whose work has been called 'one of the greatest musical legacies of the twentieth century,' remained a controversial figure until his death. This definitive biography examines the controversy from all angles. With privileged access to Davis's inner circle of friends and associates, Ian Carr includes new interviews with jazz greats such as Max Roach, George Russell, George Avakian, Ron Carter, John Carisi, John Scofield, Bill Evans, and Jack and Lydia DeJohnette. He also revisits those who contributed to the first edition, including Keith Jarrett, Dave Holland, Joe Zawinul, and Paul Buckmaster. This new, revised edition is an essential source for anyone seeking to understand Miles, his music, and the 'jazz life'.