Miles Davis.

Moving to New York in 1944 at age 18, Miles Davis enrolled at the Juilliard School after graduating from East St. Louis Lincoln High School. His father, Miles Henry Davis, was a dentist who supported his musical ambitions. Davis immersed himself in the jazz scene, meeting Thelonious Monk, Charlie Parker, and Charles Mingus.

Davis made his record debut in 1946. He formed a nonet that recorded Birth of the Cool in 1949, launching the cool jazz movement. In 1959, he recorded Kind of Blue with Bill Evans and John Coltrane, a landmark modal jazz album that remains the best-selling jazz record. He collaborated with Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter, and Chick Corea. In 1969, Bitches Brew fused jazz with rock, creating the first jazz-rock fusion album. Davis retired in 1975 due to hip problems and drug addiction but returned in 1980 with producer Marcus Miller, releasing electronic-driven albums like Tutu and Amandla.

Davis married three times: to Frances Taylor from 1958 to 1968, to Betty Mabry from 1968 to 1969, and to actress Cicely Tyson from 1981 to 1988. He had four children: Cheryl born 1944, Gregory born 1946, Miles IV born 1950, and Erin born 1970. Davis battled drug addiction in the 1970s and suffered hip problems that led to his temporary retirement.

Duke Ellington called Davis the Picasso of Jazz. He influenced rock artists like Sting, who placed him with Johann Sebastian Bach among music geniuses. Davis won the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2006. His album Kind of Blue 1959 is often called the greatest jazz recording of all time. He is remembered for reshaping jazz four times.