Not sure where to start with Miles Davis? Try these 15 songs

Appearing on Kind of Blue, the album that made Davis a household name, no song captures the spirit of jazz quite like this one. Featuring the Milestones band, with John Coltrane and Cannonball Adderley on sax, and the graceful Bill Evans on piano, So What has been drawing fans to the genre for more than five decades. 

Time stands still on this 20-minute track. Electric sounds and textures make way for horn sections that sound like a clock being sped up and then slowed down. Are we in slow motion? Light-speed? Upside down or right-side up? It doesn't matter--we're here.

The title track from Davis' fifth album, Milestones is one of the songs that helped reinvent the jazz band. Throw together an all-star team and get a coach calling the plays (that would be arranger Gil Evans), and you can run circles around the competition. Everyone from Davis to Coltrane gets a chance to shine on this one, and there's no sense of anyone trying to outdo their teammates.

Not content with reinventing the jazz band, Davis would reinvent the orchestra just one year later. On this tense, atmospheric track, he plays the trumpet alongside a 20-piece orchestra. It's one of his best works and sounds more like a movie score than it does a jazz piece. Think Ennio Morricone on downers. 

Take a shot every time we say Davis "reinvented" something, and you might just pass out. The first of these reinventions came in 1949 when he pulled back the reigns on bop and delivered a more "cool" style of jazz.  

This barn burner of a song was the third track on Davis' 1969 album. It sounds like he's playing in the middle of New York, the sounds bouncing off the buildings and echoing in the streets. It's pure, magnificent chaos.

Okay, so it's technically not a Davis song, but listening to Cannonball Adderley's Autumn Leaves does remind you of how great Davis is on trumpet. It's a perfect track, the kind you play over a warm fire on a Sunday night.

Even though the album Round Bout Midnight may not be the best Davis/Coltrane collab, they sure found magic on this one. Listen to the way they play off each other and be wowed by their chemistry. 

Along with All of You, Bye, Bye Blackbird is a masterpiece from the 1950's quintet with Coltrane. It's a nice, relaxed track with a drum beat holding it all together. Maybe you've heard it before in movies, or maybe this is your first time. Either way, it's always a treat to dive in. 

Davis worked with more drummers than Spinal Tap and more quintets than we can count. By the end of 1965, he was working with Wayne Shorter, Ron Carter, Tony Williams, and Herbie Hancock, all of whom brought their A-games on this whispy, nostalgiac track. 

Funk. Jazz. Classical. Avant Garde. It's all here on this 35-minute track, which sets up a collection of themes, structures, and ideas and then demolishes them with a sledgehammer. 

Davis made a number of film scores, but none came close to the work he did on A Tribute to Jack Johnson. The biopic was never released in theaters, but the score knocked listeners out with a one-two-punch of Davis and guitar. 

This one sees Davis reinventing (drink!) the small jazz band with his second quintet, who only spent a couple of minutes rehearsing before they pressed record. The result is an improvisational masterwork. 

Before he changed the course of music, Davis was just another boy in the band...except he could outplay everyone. Listen to him and Charlie Parker trade riffs and see what I mean. 

My personal favorite on this list. Billy Boy is one of the most upbeat, joyous, and playful songs in jazz history. As the title suggests, it makes you feel like a kid again.