MILES DAVIS

🔍 How to Answer Matching Information Questions

This question type asks you to match a list of statements to the correct paragraphs (A–F) in the text.

✅ Tips:

1. Skim the statements and underline keywords (names, time periods, emotions, achievements, etc.)

2. Scan each paragraph quickly for words or ideas that match those keywords or their synonyms/paraphrases.

3. Look for specific details, not general themes.

4. Be aware that:

   • Some paragraphs may match more than one statement.

   • The statements are not in order.

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📝 Questions: Match the statements (1–8) with paragraphs (A–F)

Read the article on Miles Davis and match the headings with the correct paragraph

1. He changed his music style several times throughout his life.

2. His innovations were not always recognised immediately.

3. He developed a unique playing technique very early in his life.

4. His personal struggles affected his perception of success.

5. He worked with others to create a new kind of jazz.

6. He gained practical experience by performing with jazz legends.

7. His experiments with modern styles were criticised by other musicians.

8. He felt formal music training was too focused on European tradition

A  At the age of thirteen, Miles Davis was given his first trumpet, lessons were

arranged with a local trumpet player, and a musical odyssey began. These early lessons,

paid for and supported by his father, had a profound effect on shaping Davis’ signature

sound. Whereas most trumpeters of the era favoured the use of vibrato (a wobbly quiver in

pitch inflected in the instrument’s tone), Davis was taught to play with a long, straight tone,

a preference his instructor reportedly drilled into the young trumpeter with a rap on the

knuckles every time Davis began using vibrato. This clear, distinctive style never left

Davis. He continued playing with it for the rest of his career, once remarking, ‘If I can’t get

that sound, I can’t play anything.’

 

B Having graduated from high school in 1944, Davis moved to New York City, where

he continued his musical education both in the clubs and in the classroom. His enrolment

in the prestigious Julliard School of Music was short-lived, however – he soon dropped

out, criticising what he perceived as an over-emphasis on the classical European

repertoire and a neglect of jazz. Davis did later acknowledge, however, that this time at the

school was invaluable in terms of developing his trumpet-playing technique and giving him

a solid grounding in music theory. Much of his early training took place in the form of jam

sessions and performances in the clubs of 52nd Street, where he played alongside both upand-coming and established members of the jazz pantheon such as Coleman Hawkins,

Eddie ‘Lockjaw’ Davis, and Thelonious Monk.

 

C In the late 1940s, Davis collaborated with nine other instrumentalists, including a

French horn and a tuba player, to produce The Birth of Cool, an album now renowned for

the inchoate sounds of what would later become known as ‘cool’ jazz. In contrast to

popular jazz styles of the day, which featured rapid, rollicking beats, shrieking vocals, and

short, sharp horn blasts, Davis’ album was the forerunner of a different kind of sound –

thin, light horn-playing, hushed drums and a more restrained, formal arrangement.

1 An iconoclast is somebody who challenges traditional beliefs or customs

Although it received little acclaim at the time (the liner notes to one of Davis’ later

recordings call it a ‘spectacular failure’), in hindsight The Birth of Cool has become

recognised as a pivotal moment in jazz history, cementing – alongside his 1958 recording,

Kind of Blue – Davis’ legacy as one of the most innovative musicians of his era.

 

D Though Davis’ trumpet playing may have sounded effortless and breezy, this ease

rarely carried over into the rest of his life. The early 1950s, in particular, were a time of

great personal turmoil. After returning from a stint in Paris, Davis suffered from prolonged

depression, which he attributed to the unravelling of a number of relationships, including

his romance with a French actress and some musical partnerships that ruptured as a

result of creative disputes. Davis was also frustrated by his perception that he had been

overlooked by the music critics, who were hailing the success of his collaborators and

descendants in the ‘cool’ tradition, such as Gerry Mulligan and Dave Brubeck, but who

afforded him little credit for introducing the cool sound in the first place.

 

E In the latter decades of his career, Davis broke out of exclusive jazz settings and

began to diversify his output across a range of musical styles. In the 1960s, he was

influenced by early funk performers such as Sly and the Family Stone, which then

expanded into the jazz-rock fusion genre – of which he was a frontrunner – in the 1970s.

Electronic recording effects and electric instruments were incorporated into his sound. By

the 1980s, Davis was pushing the boundaries further, covering pop anthems such as

Cyndi Lauper’s Time After Time and Michael Jackson’s Human Nature, dabbling in hip

hop, and even appearing in some movies.

 

F Not everyone was supportive of Davis’ change of tune. Compared to the recordings

of his early career, universally applauded as linchpins of the jazz oeuvre, trumpeter

Wynston Marsalis derided his fusion work as being ‘not true jazz’, and pianist Bill Evans

denounced the ‘corrupting influence’ of record companies, noting that rock and pop ‘draw

wider audiences’. In the face of this criticism Davis remained defiant, commenting that his

earlier recordings were part of a moment in time that he had no ‘feel’ for any more. He

firmly believed that remaining stylistically inert would have hampered his ability to develop

new ways of producing music. From this perspective, Davis’ continual revamping of genre

was not merely a rebellion, but an evolution, a necessary path that allowed him to release

his full musical potential.

✅ Answer Key + Explanations

1. E – He changed his music style several times throughout his life.

2. ➡ Paragraph E discusses how Davis explored funk, jazz-rock fusion, pop, and hip hop – clearly showing he evolved his musical style across decades.

3. C – His innovations were not always recognised immediately.
   ➡ The Birth of Cool was initially seen as a “spectacular failure” but later became “a pivotal moment” – showing delayed recognition.

4. A – He developed a unique playing technique very early in his life.
   ➡ At age 13, he learned a clear, straight tone without vibrato, which became his signature style.

5. D – His personal struggles affected his perception of success.
   ➡ Mentions his depression, failed relationships, and feeling overlooked by critics, despite his contributions.

6. C – He worked with others to create a new kind of jazz.
   ➡ He collaborated with nine musicians to create The Birth of Cool, introducing a new jazz style.

7. B – He gained practical experience by performing with jazz legends.
   ➡ Davis performed in clubs with greats like Thelonious Monk, gaining real-world training.

8. F – His experiments with modern styles were criticised by other musicians.
   ➡ Wynston Marsalis and Bill Evans criticised his fusion work, saying it wasn’t “true jazz”.

9. B – He felt formal music training was too focused on European tradition.
   ➡ He dropped out of Juilliard, saying it over-emphasised classical European music.