Miles was human, all too human, and some of his personal relationships were difficult, and he may not have behaved well at times. But when we assess his life, we also see that he had many mentors, characters who shaped his attitudes to music, style and politics.

Drawing a parallel with Stanley Kubrick’s famous film 2001: A Space Odyssey, maybe we can see them as Miles’s “monoliths”, characters who shunted him into his next phase of evolution, showing him the way forward. And though Miles changed music several times, and became a father figure to many musicians (John McLaughlin, James “Mtume” Heath, Darryl Jones etc. etc.), he also needed guidance and confirmation from various people. But who were they? Here’s a partial list:

Elwood Buchanan

Reportedly Miles’s mother would have preferred her son to take up the violin, but Miles was instinctively drawn to the illustrious St. Louis trumpet sound. Elwood Buchanan was part of that legacy and also Miles’s teacher at Lincoln High School (and a client and friend of Miles Sr.). 

Mr Buchanan’s first major coup was advising Miles to switch from cornet to trumpet. He also urged Miles to drop his broad, Harry James-style vibrato, and rather focus on alternating between long, “unsentimental” notes and staccato, rhythmic ideas, both of course key facets of his future style.

Gil Evans

Miles loved the Canadian arranger and composer from the day they met in 1947 until Gil’s death in 1988. Gil would show Miles paintings, and play him classical recordings he hadn’t heard and ask Miles for his opinions. “He was the just the kind of guy you loved being around, because he would see things that nobody else saw,” Miles said in his autobiography. Miles and Gil’s collaborations changed music.

Juliette Greco

_{Juliette Gréco, Netherlands, 1962 (left) and 1966 (right).Photo: Jac. de Nijs (left) and Ron Kroon (right) / Anefo Collection, Nationaal Archief.}

Miles’s first visit to Paris in 1949 liberated him in many ways. He met Pablo Picasso and Jean-Paul Sartre, and fell in love with the actress Juliette Greco. “It was the freedom of being in France and being treated like a human being, like someone important,” he reported in his autobiography. Miles would continue his love affair with France throughout his life, and made a point of visiting his friend James Baldwin in Saint-Paul-de-Vence whenever he could.

Frances Taylor

They first met in the early 1950s while Frances was part of The Katherine Dunham Dance Company. Frances was an evolved person, elegant and beautiful, well-travelled, a wide reader and speaker of several languages. As they became a married couple later in the decade, Frances nurtured Miles’s nascent love of dance and “world” music, taking him to a performance of The Ballet Africaine and later appearing in “Porgy and Bess”, “Carmen Jones” and “West Side Story”. Their combination of music, movement, rhythm, colour and complexity would profoundly influence Miles’s future artwork and music. Frances featured on the cover of Miles’ 1958 album “Someday My Prince Will Come”.

Cicely Tyson

Miles first met Tyson in 1966 or 1967. She was a ground-breaking actor and activist, a dynamic, serious presence who stayed a rare confidante during Miles’s hell years of the late 1970s. By all accounts Tyson seems to have been the catalyst for his recovery and ‘80s comeback, distancing him from drugs and drink and turning him on to health foods and acupuncture. “All of a sudden I started thinking clearer”, Miles reported in his autobiography. It seems Cicely was also responsible for Miles’s love of doodling and drawing: she bought him his first sketch pads. They married in November 1981 and stayed together until 1988. Cicely also graced the cover of “Sorcerer”.

Betty Mabry

Miles met Betty during the spring of 1968. She was a vital young presence on the New York scene, a model, club owner and songwriter. She encouraged Miles to modernise his wardrobe, embrace funk and soul music more and also introduced him to Sly Stone and Jimi Hendrix. They married on 30 September 1968, and Miles named a song after her: “Mademoiselle Mabry”, from the “Filles De Kilimanjaro” LP which also bears a photo of Betty. She would later record her own influential albums under the name Betty Davis, but would separate from Miles by the end of 1969.

Jo Gelbard

Miles met 34-year-old artist and sculptor Gelbard as he came out of the elevator in his New York building sometime in 1984, when he was at a very low ebb. She would become his final partner and lover, and the two would spend days working on art together (they would collaborate on the “Amandla” cover, which featured the tribute tune “Jo-Jo”, and also produce the artwork that formed a backdrop to his famous Paris concert on 10 July 1991). She also introduced Miles to the work of Jean-Michel Basquiat, a huge influence on his art and stage presentation.

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Matt Phillips is a London-based writer and musician whose work has appeared in Jazzwise, Classic Pop, Record Collector and The Oldie. He’s the author of “John McLaughlin: From Miles & Mahavishnu to the 4th Dimension” and “Level 42: Every Album, Every Song”.

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_{Header image: Cicely Tyson and Miles Davis. Photo: Ebet Roberts/Getty.}