Worked For
Billy Eckstine (Summer 1944 & Summer 1946-February 1947)
Miles first met Billy Eckstine (AKA B) while still in St. Louis. In the summer of 1944, Eckstine's band was on tour. They arrived in St. Louis missing a trumpeter. Luckily, Miles walked in to hear the band rehearse with his trumpet over his shoulder. Dizzy Gillespie ran up and asked Miles if he could sit in—Miles filled in for two weeks.
Two years later, Eckstine would again ask Miles to join the group. At the time, Miles had just traveled to the West Coast with Charlie Parker, but Parker was hospitalized while there. He toured with the group for about eight months.
Charlie Parker (October 1945-December 1948)
“I learned a lot from Bird ... picking up from the way he played or didn't play a musical phrase or idea ... I never did talk to Bird much, never talked to him over fifteen minutes at a time, unless we were arguing about money. I'd tell him right up front, 'Bird, don't f**k with me about money.' But he always did.” - Miles
Worked With
Art Blakey
Drummer Art Blakey is known as a founder of hard bop. As a leader, his group The Jazz Messengers stayed together for over thirty years. During that time Blakey led dozens of young musicians who would eventually become stars in their own right.
Miles never actually played in the Jazz Messengers, but Blakey and Davis made numerous recordings together in the early fifties. Among them are Bags' Groove and Miles Davis & the Modern Jazz Giants.
Cannonball Adderley
Cannonball spent only two years with the Davis group, but he would go to lead numerous groups—some with his brother, trumpeter Nat Adderley.
