Miles Davis

Miles Davis changed the direction of jazz again and again. His trumpet playing was spare and lyrical, often muted, valuing space and mood as much as speed, and he surrounded himself with musicians who went on to lead jazz themselves.

Birth of the Cool helped launch cool jazz, his 50s quintet with John Coltrane honed hard bop, and Kind of Blue, built on modal scales, became the best-selling jazz album of all time. With Gil Evans he made lush orchestral records like Sketches of Spain, and his second great quintet, with Herbie Hancock and Wayne Shorter, stretched the music further. Then he plugged in: In a Silent Way and Bitches Brew launched jazz fusion, and On the Corner pushed into dense funk.