Miles Davis, supreme innovator, flawless musician and cultural icon, died on 28 September, 1991, aged 65. He was at the centre of every major jazz movement of the 20th century, be it bebop, modal, or fusion with rock and funk.

His body of work encompasses myriad styles, reflecting a constant desire to evolve and restless imagination. His most famous albums include Kind of Blue , Sketches of Spain and Bitches Brew .

A uniquely talented trumpeter, he fronted many bands from which other great talents, such as John Coltrane and Herbie Hancock, would learn and go on to achieve stellar heights of their own.

Miles Dewey Davis III was born on May 26, 1926, in Alton, Illinois, into an affluent middle class family.

As a child he was obsessed with music, and after seeing the Billy Eckstine big band, featuring Charlie Parker on saxophone and Dizzy Gillespie on trumpet, moved to New York in 1944 to attend the famous Julliard School of Music.

He soon dropped out of college to play with Charlie Parker and others and in 1949 formed a nine-piece band containing such unusual instruments as tuba and French horn. The band released material on Capitol Records under the name The Birth of Cool.

In 1955 he formed a new group that included John Coltrane on tenor sax. In the late fifties he made two groundbreaking albums with the band, Milestones and the seminal Kind of Blue .

Having mastered bebop and modal jazz, he turned to Spanish flamenco music with Sketches of Spain in 1960.

In the mid 60s he put together his second classic band line up, with Herbie Hancock on piano. Mr Davis' relentless experimenting led to some intriguing, avant-garde recordings at this time, before he began using electric instruments in the late sixties.

The result was a direction that jazz had never taken before, fusing rock, funk and other forms. The new style is most startlingly in evidence on Bitches Brew .

In the 70s and 80s Davis suffered many health problems but continued recording and performing up until his death.