Miles Davis: Birth of the Cool (2019)

The life and career of musical giant and cultural icon Miles Davis, a true visionary, innovator and originator who defied categorization and embodied the word: cool.

Miles Davis: Horn player, bandleader, innovator. Elegant, intellectual, vain. Callous, conflicted, controversial. Magnificent, mercurial. Genius. The very embodiment of cool. The man with a sound so beautiful it could break your heart. The central theme of Miles Davis’s life was his restless determination to break boundaries and live life on his own terms. It made him a star— it also made him incredibly difficult to live with, for the people who loved him most. Again and again, in music and in life, Miles broke with convention—and when he thought his work came to represent a new convention, he changed it again. Miles’s bold disregard for tradition, his clarity of vision, his relentless drive, and constant thirst for new experiences made him an inspiring collaborator to fellow musicians and a cultural icon to generations of listeners. It made him an innovator in music—from bebop to “cool jazz,” modern quintets, orchestral music, jazz fusion, rock ‘n’ roll, and even hip-hop. Featuring never-before-seen archival footage, studio outtakes, and rare photos, Miles Davis: Birth of the Cool (w.t.) tells the story of a truly singular talent and unpacks the music and the myth of the man behind the horn.

Produced and Directed by
Stanley Nelson

Produced by
Nicole London

Voice of Miles Davis
Carl Lumbly

Edited by
Lewis Erskine, ACE
Natasha Livia Mottola
Yusuf Kapadia

Runtime: 105 minutes