Miles Davis Home - New York City

Miles Davis's home is located on West 77th Street in New York City's Upper West Side.  The jazz trumpeter lived here from 1958 to 1983 while securing his reputation as one of the most influential musicians of his time.  He was born in Alton, Illinois in 1926, and raised in East St. Louis.  In 1944 he moved to New York to study at the Juilliard School, then known as the Institute of Musical Arts, where he finished three semesters before dropping out in favor of a career in live music.  He soon came to the attention of some of the city's name jazz musicians and for the next several years performed with Charlie Parker, Billy Eckstine and Dizzy Gillespie, among others.  During this time he also developed a serious heroin addiction which would plague him for the rest of his life.  His fortunes sank during the early 50's as drugs and depression led to work offers drying up.  His performance at the Newport Jazz Festival in 1955 led to a contract with Columbia and the formation of his first quintet.  His early years at Columbia proved successful enough that Davis was able to move into this Upper West Side apartment in 1958.  For the next several years he released a string of successful and important jazz classics, including Kind of Blue (1959), Sketches of Spain (1960), Someday My Prince Will Come (1961), Miles Smiles (1967), In A Silent Way (1969), and Bitches Brew (1970).  Most of his recordings of this period were recorded at the Columbia 30th Street Studio and Columbia's Studio B at the CBS Studio Building.  By 1975 drugs and alcohol had overwhelmed him to the point that he took a five-year hiatus from performing.  In the late 70's Davis rekindled his relationship with actress Cicely Tyson, whom he would marry in 1981.  He credited her with helping him overcome his debilitating cocaine addiction and getting him back on the track to performing.  He returned to music in 1980, but his great days were long behind him.  He eventually moved from this apartment in 1983.  His health gradually deteriorated and he died in Santa Monica in 1991.  He and Tyson divorced in 1989.  Throughout his career Davis was nominated for 32 Grammy Awards, winnning 8 times.  In 2006 he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.  The block of West 77th Street that he called home for 25 years has been named Miles Davis Way.        

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