"One of the things that I loved about listening to Miles Davis is that Miles always had an instinct for which musicians were great for what situations. He could always pick a band, and that was the thing that separated him from everybody else"

Branford Marsalis highlights a central aspect of Miles Davis’s genius that extended far beyond his own exceptional trumpet playing. The praise is not for technical ability alone, but for the keen, almost preternatural judgment Davis possessed in assembling the right musicians for the right musical context. The implication is that Miles Davis's enduring influence is deeply connected to his talent for curation and his instinctive sense of how different artists’ individual strengths could blend together to serve a creative vision. Davis’s ensembles are renowned across multiple eras of jazz, namely the classic quintets and sextets, as well as his ventures into fusion, precisely because of this ability.

Listening to Miles Davis’s recordings, one notices that his bands were rarely static. He continuously reshuffled lineups, bringing in emerging artists who would later become giants themselves, John Coltrane, Herbie Hancock, Tony Williams, Wayne Shorter, and many others. This wasn’t happenstance. Davis seemed to intuit who could push boundaries and who would give voice to movements in jazz that hadn’t even materialized yet. Marsalis’s words point to the fact that some leaders simply seek technically proficient players, while Davis prioritized chemistry, potential for innovation, and adaptability to specific musical situations. This ensured a constant freshness in his work and made each phase of his career sound markedly different.

Marsalis’s admiration also suggests that the role of a great bandleader is as much about vision and trust as it is about personal brilliance. Davis empowered his collaborators, giving them the space to express their distinctive voices. In doing so, he fostered synergy and originality, producing groups whose sum was always greater than the parts. What set Miles Davis apart from his contemporaries wasn’t simply his own artistry, but the way he orchestrated the artistry of others, shaping the evolution of jazz for generations.