Throughout a professional career lasting 50 years, Miles Davis played the trumpet in a lyrical, introspective, and melodic style, often employing a stemless Harmon mute to make his sound more personal and intimate. But if his approach to his instrument was constant, his approach to jazz was dazzlingly protean. To examine his career is to examine the history of jazz from the mid-'40s to the early '90s, since he was in the thick of almost every important innovation and stylistic development in the music during that period, and he often led the way in those changes, both with his own performances and recordings and by choosing sidemen and collaborators who forged new directions. It can even be argued that jazz stopped evolving when Davis wasn't there to push it.

Track Listing

Disc 1:

1. Now's The Time
2. Jeru
3. Compulsion
4. Tempus Fugit
5. Walkin'
6. 'Round Midnight
7. Bye Bye Blackbird
8. New Rhumba
9. Generique
10. Summertime
11. So What
12. The Pan Piper
13. Someday My Prince Will Come

Disc 2:

1. My Funny Valentine (Live)
2. E.S.P.
3. Nefertiti
4. Petits Machins (Little Stuff)
5. Miles Runs The Voodoo Down
6. Little Church
7. Black Satin
8. Jean Pierre
9. Time After Time
10. Portia

Disc 3:

1. Stella By Starlight
2. Milestones
3. Seven Steps To Heaven
4. Footprints
5. In A Silent Way