The Miles Davis Story: 1. Don't Call Me Legend

About this episode

Clarke Peters explores the life and legacy of a visionary artist whose relentless pursuit of the "new" often scorched his own life and the lives of those around him. In September 1944, an 18-year-old Miles Davis arrives in New York with a trumpet in his hand and a secret mission. He may have first arrived in New York to take up a place at the prestigious Juilliard School, but in reality Miles was actually patrolling the smoke-filled jazz clubs of 52nd Street, chasing the high-speed sounds of his bebop heroes, Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie. Across the series, Clarke charts Miles’s ever-evolving artform, starting with this first great transformation of a legend - when the young Miles chose to step into the unknown, seize control of his own creative destiny, and begin his journey as a leader. Narrator, acclaimed actor and longtime fan, Clarke Peters (The Wire, Treme, Da 5 Bloods) reveals the restless genius and radical evolution of Miles Davis. Growing up in a New York household where his father’s jazz records were the permanent soundtrack, Clarke was captivated by Miles long before he fully appreciated the man behind the music. Across five episodes, Clarke traces a 50 year