His earliest songs, recorded with a nonet in the late 1940s, were later acknowledged as having been the "Birth Of The Cool", and were collected on the landmark Davis album of the same name. From there, Davis stripped back his outfit to the legendary quintet of the 1950s, introducing a then-unknown John Coltrane on saxophone, and debuting a modal style with one of the most influential jazz albums of all time, "Kind Of Blue", represented here with the anthem "So What".

A new quintet including Herbie Hancock and Wayne Shorter provided backing for the exploratory years of the 1960s, on albums including E.S.P. and Nefertiti, which were followed by an even more experimental early '70s period, as Davis fired up a prolific electronic fusion period which yielded further landmark albums such as "Bitches Brew" and "On The Corner". Medical problems incapacitated Davis for the second half of the '70s, and his return to playing in the 1980s found him in a reflective mode, summing up his full musical career, but still playing brilliantly and to critical acclaim right up until his passing.

The Essential Miles Davis documents every phase of this development, with highlights too numerous to mention. A career-long association with arranger Gil Evans manifests itself on wonderfully orchestrated tracks such as "New Rhumba" lifted from Miles Ahead, or Evans' reworking of Gershwin's "Summertime", from Porgy And Bess. An equally fruitful friendship with visionary sound engineer Teo Macero enhanced Miles' experimental ventures on "Miles Runs The Voodoo Down" and "Black Satin", the latter employing extensive overdubs and pioneering cut-and-paste techniques.

Throughout his career, Davis surrounded himself with gifted young musicians, as if to fuel his creative drive. Always the talent scout, he introduced a generation of names to the jazz hall of fame - Sonny Rollins, John Coltrane, Cannonball Adderley, Bill Evans, Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter, John McLaughlin, Chick Corea and Keith Jarrett all cut their teeth in Davis bands. Reinventing popular songs was another trademark of Miles', with subject matter ranging here from Thelonious Monk's "Round Midnight" to Cindy Lauper's "Time After Time". A true giant of jazz, his continual conceptual development during a lifetime of jazz has left a monumental contribution to music, of which The Essential Miles Davis offers an excellent overview.