Miles Davis

AKA:

Prince Of Darkness

Birth Name:

Miles Dewey Davis III

Birth Date:

May 26, 1926

Birth Place:

Alton, Illinois

Death Date:

September 28, 1991

Place of Death:

St. John's Hospital, Santa Monica, California

Age:

Cause of Death:

Stroke, pneumonia, and respiratory failure

Cemetery Name:

Woodlawn Cemetery

Claim to Fame:

Music

Associates:

Duke Ellington

There are few musical geniuses in this world, but as jazz trumpeter, composer and bandleader Miles Davis is one of the most influential and acclaimed figures in the history of jazz and 20th-century music. His sound, technique and restless innovation as an individual performer and as a leader of jazz bands and groups won him recognition as perhaps the foremost setter of style and fashion in what is often called America's only indigenous musical art form.

The rest of the story …

Injuries and health problems had plagued Miles Davis for years. He had undergone treatment for diabetes, had problems with a hip joint that were attributed to sickle cell anemia and broke both legs in a 1972 automobile accident. By his own admission, Davis overcame heroin addiction in the 1950s, but later used cocaine for a time.

Even though his Wikipedia entry is wiped clean of any controversy, let’s make this perfectly clear – Miles Davis was an asshole. For example, his treatment of women is contemptible: he wasn’t averse to slugging them to keep them in line. The women in his life rarely brought it up—perhaps to salvage their own dignity, or maybe because of fear of reprisals. But in a rare interview with The New York Times, his first wife, Frances Davis, recalled, “I actually left running for my life—more than once.”

Even at the end of his life he held everyone in contempt. After a routine check-up at St. John’s Hospital in Santa Monica, California doctors suggested he have a tracheal tube implanted to relieve his breathing after repeated bouts of bronchial pneumonia. The suggestion provoked an such a profound outburst from Davis that it led to an intracerebral hemorrhage followed by a coma. He died two weeks later.

Cemetery Information:

Final Resting Place:

Woodlawn Cemetery

4199 Webster Avenue

Bronx, New York, 10470

USA

North America

Map:

Map of Woodlawn Cemetery, Bronx, New York

Grave Location:

Jazz Corner

Grave Location Description

The above ground crypt of Miles Davis is located at the intersection of Alpine, Fir and Heather Avenue across from Duke Ellington and Lionel Hampton. This area of the cemetery is called Jazz Corner as there are literally 10+ jazz giants buried within 100 feet of Miles Davis’ grave.