Although born in Alton, Illinois, Miles Davis lived in East St Louis. He came from a wealthy middle-class background. It isn't surprising to see that a person with the talent of Miles Davis came from a Davis' father musical family. His mother played the violin, and his sister played the piano. Although Miles was not very musical himself, he obviously saw talent in his son, and for his thirteenth birthday, bought Miles his first trumpet. Miles was very privileged to come from the family he did, because it meant he was able to have private trumpet lessons. He learnt from a teacher called Elwood Buchanan, who taught Miles all the basics he needed to know, before his natural talent and flare for improvisation took over. Miles progressed quickly at the trumpet, and played in many bands and ensembles at his school. While still in school, he joined his first independent group as a trumpeter. They were called Eddie Randall's Blue Devils.

Many jazz musicians influenced Miles Davis. When Billy Eckstine's band played

The way Davis improvised was very different from the standards set for jazz trumpeters at the time, and this is why he had such a profound impact on the jazz world. His solos were often placed in the middle register, where he could achieve the most tuneful melodies. His mastery of improvising memorable tunes made it seem almost as though his solos were composed beforehand.

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Due to the complexity of the chord progression that is used here, the notes that Davis uses outside the chords actually become fewer. He lets the chords guide his improvisation, more than feeling more free about what notes to play. The accompaniment to bar 65 is an Am7 chord, Davis sticks to the chord in this bar. Davis also stays on the D7 chord in bar 66, although there is a sharp 7th, but when it is looked at in the context of the whole musical phrase, it is quite clear that it is a passing note. In bars 67 and 68, where the chords are G▲ and G7, followed by C, Davis stays totally on those chords. Bar 69 has the chords F▲ and F7. Davis stays on these chords except for a 9th extension which he uses in the second half of the bar. Davis plays only on the Bb7/F chord in bar 70, although there is an E at the end of the bar, but this is clearly anticipating the chord change into the next bar. When it does change to EØ/A, Davis employs a 9th extension in the latter half of the bar, and in the last bar of this 8 bar section, which has the chord Gm+b5/A, Davis gives the bar colour with the use of a 13th.

The next 24 bars is quite a strange section of the piece. For the first 6 bars of this section, Davis is playing with a little theme. Each time he plays the theme it is a slight variation on the last time, with changes in rhythm, and in the actual notes being used. Throughout these 6 bars, this theme contains the notes C# quickly followed by D. This gives a strange analysis for this section, as there is a #7 in each bar. However, this #7 is there due to the motif that Davis has found, and is using and varying. In this 6 bar section Davis also makes use of the 11th extension, as seen in bars 75, 76, and 78. By bar 80 Davis has moved on from this motif, but he is still improvising in a somewhat disjointed way. When physically looking at the transcript, one can see that he develops a pattern of playing for a bar, and leaving all rests in the next bar, and then playing again in the bar after that. This gives the impression of having many different little tunes incorporated into the solo, before he begins runs again at bar 90. From bars 80 to 90 Davis is making use of extensions, but he is also using notes outside the chord, which highlights the differences in the little tunes, and the abstractness of the style of improvising. The 7th, 9th and 13th extensions are widely used, but he also uses some flat 13th's and sharp 13th's. These are often used as passing notes in an ascending phrase, for example in bar 84, but they are also used in their own right, and this is what separates this section from the rest of the piece.

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Approximate Word count = 3711
Approximate Pages = 15 (250 words per page double spaced)