Pantheon
Live
Music1944–1991

Miles Davis

Alton, Illinois trumpeter who reinvented jazz at least five times — from bebop to cool jazz to hard bop to fusion — making him the most restless and influential figure in the genre's history.

Origin
Alton, Illinois
Genre
Jazz
Miles Davis
Total Votes
Lists
1
Highest Rank
#—
The Divide

Pantheon Standing

List NameRankCombined
Greatest Jazz Artists of All Time#196.0
Generational Fault Line

The Age Divide

Voters under 30 and over 35 rank Miles Davis significantly differently across lists.

Under 30
#14
Over 35
#3

The Cultural Record

Discography

Modern Jazz Trumpets
Modern Jazz Trumpets1951

Alton, Illinois trumpeter who reinvented jazz at least five times — from bebop to cool jazz to hard bop to fusion — making him the most restless and influential figure in the genre's history

Miles Davis With Sonny Rollins
Miles Davis With Sonny Rollins1954
Miles Davis, Vol. 2
Miles Davis, Vol. 21953
E
Everything’s Beautiful2016
D
Doo‐Bop1992

Awards & Recognition

Grammy Awards

No Grammy data on record.

Hall of Fame

Rock & Roll Hall of Fame (2006)

Kind of Blue (1959

best-selling jazz album ever)

The Case For Miles Davis

The longevity argument alone puts them in a category of one. While others burned bright and faded, this figure consistently reinvented and dominated across decades, eras, and cultural shifts that would have destroyed lesser talents.

C
@CulturalCritic
Credentialed Voter
4,201Agreed

Technically unmatched. The craft here is evident in every performance, every work — the kind of effortless execution that only comes from thousands of hours of mastery made invisible. They make the impossible look inevitable.

R
@RecordKeeper
Populist Voter
3,842Agreed

Commercial success should never be held against artistic legacy. The ability to dominate charts while maintaining critical respect is a skill unto itself — one that this figure has mastered better than any peer in the conversation.

V
@VoteWithFacts
Credentialed Voter
2,914Agreed

Rank History

Coming Soon

Ranking history will be available once voting opens for Miles Davis.

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