Miles Davis, aged 21, plays trumpet beside Charlie Parker on alto saxophone in a small padded club, with Tommy Potter on bass and Duke Jordan at the piano — Miles Davis, 21, beside Charlie Parker at the Three Deuces on 52nd Street, about August 1947. William P. Gottlieb (Library of Congress, Gottlieb Collection) · Public domain

Miles Davis in a pale jacket plays trumpet into a microphone on stage, bass and drums behind him — Miles Davis at Antibes Juan-les-Pins, 26 July 1963. Mallory1180 · CC BY-SA 4.0

Alton · East St Louis · 52nd Street · 30th Street · Montreux

Miles Davis

Valve 1: 1947, 52nd Street.

He took the stem out of the Harmon mute and put the bell to the microphone. Press the valves for the years; mute the bell and every place below turns blue.

1701 Kansas Avenue · East St Louis, Illinois

A trumpet at thirteen.
A band in the basement.

He grew up in a racially mixed, middle-class neighbourhood in East St Louis.

1926Miles Dewey Davis III was born in Alton, Illinois, on 26 May 1926, to a dental surgeon and ranch owner.
1939He got a trumpet for his 13th birthday, 26 May 1939, and formed his first band in the basement.
1939–44He lived in the house on Kansas Avenue from 1939 to 1944.
1942He starts playing in public in East St Louis and goes to hear Clark Terry.
1943He joins Eddie Randle’s Blue Devils at the Rhumboogie in St Louis.
1944He arrives in New York, enrolled at Juilliard but really looking for Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie.

Sources

A small two-storey house with tan siding on a street corner, a House of Miles sign in the yard and a Miles Davis street sign — The House of Miles, 1701 Kansas Avenue, East St Louis, in 2021. Pierssen · CC BY-SA 4.0

Upstairs, a room where he practised is still intact; the original walls, ceilings and floors survive.

Lauren Parks and Jas Pearson saved it from demolition; the House of Miles opened in June 2018 as a museum, gallery and classroom.

A museum and community centre run by a nonprofit, with tours and programmes; contact HOME before you go.

Alton unveiled a bronze of him, leaning back with his trumpet, on West Third Street in September 2015.

Sources

House of Miles (HOME)

House of Miles East St. Louis

East St Louis, Illinois · Tours by arrangement

Tours and programmes in the house on Kansas Avenue where he lived from 1939 to 1944. Call ahead: (618) 213-8120.

Plan a visit

New York and Paris · 1944–1949

The Street.
Then uptown, then Paris.

He arrives in New York, enrolled at Juilliard but really looking for Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie. He jams on 52nd Street and uptown in Harlem while still at music school. His father lets him leave Juilliard, on condition that he finds his own sound.

52nd St

Green street signs for W 52 St and Swing St on a pole at Sixth Avenue, office towers behind — West 52nd Street at Sixth Avenue, signed Swing Street, 2018. Beyond My Ken · CC BY-SA 4.0

West 52nd Street, Swing Street

The clubs stood mostly between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. William Gottlieb photographed Charlie Parker’s quintet, with Davis on trumpet, at the Three Deuces in about August 1947.

The brownstones on the north side were pulled down in 1962 for the CBS headquarters. West 52nd Street at Sixth Avenue is now officially designated Swing Street.

A public street, free to walk at any hour. The clubs are gone; the Swing Street sign is at the Sixth Avenue corner.

Sources

Harlem

Minton’s Playhouse, Harlem

It was at Minton’s that Charlie Parker introduced him to the house pianist, Thelonious Monk.

Minton’s is known as the birthplace of bebop; Dizzy Gillespie called its Monday-night jams the seedbeds of the new music. Davis remembered the hotel as first class.

A city landmark in the old Hotel Cecil. The club has closed and reopened several times, so check before you go.

Sources

Paris

The pale stone front of the Salle Pleyel concert hall with tall windows above its glass doors — Salle Pleyel, Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré, 2014. Ermell · CC BY-SA 4.0

Salle Pleyel, Paris

In May 1949 he flew to Paris for the first Festival International du Jazz, his first time outside the United States. He played the Salle Pleyel between 8 and 15 May with Tadd Dameron, James Moody, Barney Spieler and Kenny Clarke.

In Paris he met Juliette Gréco and fell in love; he turned down staying with her and went home in June.

A working concert hall: see the front from the street, or go in with a ticket. The hall still sells concerts most nights of the season.

Sources

A young Miles Davis in a suit, playing trumpet in a club, a saxophone beside him — Miles Davis at the Three Deuces on 52nd Street, about August 1947. William P. Gottlieb (Library of Congress, Gottlieb Collection) · Public domain

Coleman Hawkins and a young Miles Davis side by side in a club — Coleman Hawkins and Miles Davis at the Three Deuces, about July 1947. William P. Gottlieb (Library of Congress, Gottlieb Collection) · Public domain

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Newport, 17 July 1955 · then the Café Bohemia

Mute the horn.
Then pull the stem.

Open horn. Bright and round: the sound of the clubs on the pages above.

He was nearly left off the 1955 Newport bill, and added to a jam session at the last minute.

At Newport, his ’Round Midnight, played with the bell cupping the microphone, is the talk of the festival; Columbia follows.

George Avakian would sign him to Columbia once he was free of heroin, kept a steady band and finished his Prestige contract.

He dispensed with the Harmon mute’s stem and hugged his trumpet to the microphone; the mute let him blow hard and still sound soft.

Sources

Miles Davis seated in an open-necked shirt, laughing, his hands folded over his knee — Miles Davis, photographed by Tom Palumbo in New York. Tom Palumbo · CC BY-SA 2.0

A brick front on Barrow Street with a blue door, iron railings and two bicycles — Barrow Street, Greenwich Village, 2015. Spencer Means · CC BY-SA 2.0

Café Bohemia, Barrow Street

The Café Bohemia ran at 15 Barrow Street from 1955 to 1960, a 100-seat club for progressive jazz. Its owner’s bar was failing when Charlie Parker, unable to pay for his drinks, offered to play for nothing.

After a run here in April 1957, Davis fired John Coltrane and Philly Joe Jones.

The building is on a residential Village street; the club is long gone. See it from the pavement.

Sources

207 East 30th Street · 2 March and 22 April 1959

A church, six players,
and scales instead of chords.

An engraving of a twin-spired brick church on a city street — Adams Memorial Church on East 30th Street, from King’s Handbook of New York City, 1893. Columbia later turned it into its 30th Street Studio. Moses King, King’s Handbook of New York City (1893) · Public domain

Columbia’s 30th Street Studio (site)

The studio was the old Adams-Parkhurst Memorial Presbyterian Church, turned into a recording room by Columbia in 1949. Many in the business thought it the best-sounding room of its time.

Davis and Gil Evans recorded in the former church.

Demolished: an apartment building stands on the site. There is nothing to see but the street. The last session there was Glenn Gould’s in 1981; the building was sold and demolished, and flats went up in its place.

Sources

Hand round the sketches

He brought the band in with no rehearsal and gave them only sketches.

No sketches out yet. Hand one to each player.

So What, on one page

So What is built on two Dorian scales, on D and on E♭, in an AABA form.

Section 1 of 4, A: D Dorian.

Flamenco Sketches runs through five scales; Bill Evans headed the chart with an instruction to play in the sound of these scales. The estate calls Kind of Blue the best-selling jazz record of all time.

Sources

The story everyone tells

He played with his back to the audience.
Mostly, he didn’t.

Lewis Porter calls the back-to-the-audience story a myth: hundreds of photographs show Davis facing the crowd.

Who is soloing?

His solo. He faces the audience, as hundreds of photographs show.

He turned round, or stepped off, only when someone else was soloing, to face the rhythm section. In the electric years a wireless microphone let him roam the stage.

Sources

Miles Davis in silhouette against a black stage, turned half away, trumpet raised — Miles Davis on stage in The Hague, July 1985. Rvb · CC BY-SA 3.0

Miles Davis stands bent over his trumpet, the bell pointing down at the stage, lights behind him — Head down, bell to the floor: The Hague, 15 July 1984. Rob Bogaerts / Anefo (Nationaal Archief) · CC0

Miles Davis in a white cap and dark glasses holds his trumpet and plays a keyboard on stage — Miles Davis at the North Sea Jazz Festival, The Hague, 15 July 1984. Rob Bogaerts / Anefo (Nationaal Archief) · CC0

West 77th Street · Upper West Side

A brownstone for nearly 25 years.
Now the block has his name.

In December 1958 he bought a four-storey brownstone on 77th Street between West End Avenue and Riverside Park. The estate gives the house as 312 West 77th Street, and says he owned the whole building.

He lived on the block for nearly 25 years and moved away in the mid-1980s.

A green Miles Davis Way sign beneath a brown W 77 St sign and a one-way arrow — The Miles Davis Way sign on West 77th Street, 2015. Billy Hathorn · CC BY-SA 3.0

A former neighbour, Shirley Zafirau, pushed from 2009 to rename it; the block became Miles Davis Way in May 2014.

A public street: the sign is at the corner. His old house on the block is a private home; it is named here, not mapped.

Sources

8 July to 25 August 1991

The last summer.
Montreux, Paris, Hollywood.

From Montreux to La Villette is about 571 km as the crow flies; from Paris to the Hollywood Bowl, about 13,309 km.

8 July
Bernard Bavaud’s bust of Miles Davis in Montreux, 2015. Dennis G. Jarvis · CC BY-SA 2.0
Parc Vernex and the Miles Davis Hall, Montreux
On 8 July 1991 he made the last of his many Montreux appearances.
Quincy Jones and Claude Nobs persuaded him to play a tribute to his friend Gil Evans, though he did not like to look back. At one end of the park, Bernard Bavaud’s busts of Miles Davis and Richard Strauss face each other. The convention centre next door has a Miles Davis Hall beside the Auditorium Stravinski and a Quincy Jones Hall.
An open lakeside park, free. The bust stands at one end; the 2m2c next door holds the festival’s main halls.
Sources
10 July
The Grande Halle de la Villette, Paris, 2016. Guilhem Vellut · CC BY 2.0
Grande Halle de la Villette, Paris
On 10 July 1991 he played a special tribute concert here.
The hall is a former cattle market of iron and glass, in the style of Victor Baltard. Renovated and listed, it now hosts exhibitions, concerts and festivals.
Open every day as a cultural centre; prices depend on the show.
Sources
16 July
France makes him a chevalier of the Légion d’Honneur.
Sources
25 August
The Hollywood Bowl from the hill above, 2016. Thank You (22 Millions+) views · CC BY 2.0
The Hollywood Bowl
On 25 August 1991 he led his quintet here, in the last concert of his life.
On 1 September he went into St John’s Hospital in Santa Monica; within days a series of strokes left him in a coma.
The Bowl Museum is free: off-season, Tuesday to Friday, 10am–5pm.
Sources

Miles Davis playing trumpet on a crowded stage beside a bassist in a yellow shirt — Miles Davis on stage at the Montreux Jazz Festival, 1986. Dr Jean Fortunet · CC BY-SA 3.0

Casino de Montreux · 1986–1990

He played two full sets at the Casino on 17 July 1986. He came back to the Casino in 1988, 1989 and 1990.

The low Casino building on the Montreux lakefront below a white tower block and green mountains — The Casino de Montreux from Lake Geneva, 2008. TriviaKing · CC BY-SA 3.0

A working casino and concert room on the lakefront; see it from the promenade.

Sources

Fairmont

Fairmont Le Montreux Palace

Montreux

A 1906 Belle Époque hotel on Avenue Claude Nobs, named for the festival founder who helped bring Davis back in 1991, a short walk along the lake from Parc Vernex. Pictured: the festival sign at the 2m2c.

Check rooms

Hollywood Bowl

Hollywood Bowl Museum

Los Angeles · Free

The museum at the Bowl where he played his last concert. Off-season it opens Tuesday to Friday, 10am–5pm.

Check hours

Miles Davis in close-up, eyes down, playing a red trumpet under warm stage light — Miles Davis at his last Dutch concert, North Sea Jazz Festival, 1991. Peter Buitelaar · CC BY 2.0

28 September 1991 · the Bronx

The trumpet points down.

He died on 28 September 1991 after nearly a month in a coma, and was buried at Woodlawn.

A polished black granite stone inscribed Sir Miles Davis, with flowers along its base and a tree behind — Miles Davis’s grave at Woodlawn Cemetery, the Bronx, 2007. Terryballard · CC BY-SA 3.0

His stone shows a trumpet pointing down beside the notes of his tune “Solar”, chosen by his daughter.

It stands on the hill overlooking Duke Ellington’s grave. Clark Terry, the trumpeter he went to hear as a boy, asked to rest somewhere between Duke and Miles.

A working cemetery: visit quietly. The office (718-920-0500) can direct you; his stone is on the hill above Duke Ellington’s.

Sources

The Woodlawn Conservancy

Woodlawn Conservancy tours

The Bronx · Some tours free · tickets required

Public walking and trolley tours in spring, summer and autumn, among them the free Where Harlem Rests trolley tour on Saturday 31 October at noon (reservation required).

See tours

Where it is now

12 places you can visit, from Kansas Avenue to the Hollywood Bowl. The 30th Street Studio is gone; his house on West 77th Street is private and is not on the map.

Pins mark public places; private homes are named but not pinned.

General reference · Public access · Coordinate precision: building · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. A museum and community centre run by a nonprofit, with tours and programmes; contact HOME before you go.

The House of Miles, 1701 Kansas Avenue, East St Louis, in 2021. Pierssen · CC BY-SA 4.0
1701 Kansas Avenue, East St Louis, Illinois
The House of Miles, East St Louis
Miles Dewey Davis III was born in Alton, Illinois, on 26 May 1926, to a dental surgeon and ranch owner.
A museum and community centre run by a nonprofit, with tours and programmes; contact HOME before you go.
Sources

Stay

Sleep by the lake.

A Belle Époque hotel on Avenue Claude Nobs in Montreux.

Fairmont

Fairmont Le Montreux Palace

Montreux

A 1906 Belle Époque hotel on Avenue Claude Nobs, named for the festival founder who helped bring Davis back in 1991, a short walk along the lake from Parc Vernex. Pictured: the festival sign at the 2m2c.

Check rooms

Go there