Miles Davis among the most influential and acclaimed figures in the history of jazz
On my walk at Woodlawn Cemetery in the Bronx, New York—just a short distance from Yankee Stadium—I discovered the grave of one of the greatest horn players in history, Miles Davis.
Miles’s father, a dentist, bought him his first trumpet from one of his patients. Though his musical mother wished he’d learn the violin, Miles started playing trumpet in his early teens. He attended the prestigious Juilliard School in New York City but eventually dropped out to join legendary saxophonist Charlie Parker’s quintet, performing with “The Bird” from 1944 to 1948.
By 1957, Davis was exhausted from recording and touring and considered retiring to pursue new projects, even revealing he had received offers to teach at Harvard University. Fortunately for jazz lovers everywhere, Miles put teaching on hold. Two years later, he recorded what many consider the greatest jazz album ever produced, Kind of Blue, naming it for the mood that inspired him.
Known as “The Picasso of Jazz,” Miles Dewey Davis III passed away in Santa Monica, California, on September 28, 1991. He was 65.
1926-1991
“The Prince of Darkness “ Miles Davis is buried with one of his trumpets above ground in a crypt near jazz legends, Duke Ellington and Lionel Hampton.
Cicely Tyson, actress is interred in Woodlawn Cemetery (Bronx, New York) near her former husband, Miles Davis. She died in 2021.
Today, the tradition of leaving stones on a grave symbolizes showing respect to the deceased and serving as an indicator that someone has visited the gravesite. Miles as you see in the photo has had many visitors wishing to pay their respect to a jazz legend.
- all photos except the stock photos of Miles Davis and Cicely Tyson are owned by Phil Crawford.
