Explain the role of Miles Davis as a soloist and band leader in 'Round Midnight'.

From the outset of the piece we see Miles Davis as the leader of the quintet as his solo kicks off the track. The role that Davis has is to set the tempo for the rest of the piece as he is the first musician to play. Also, as the quintet did not have a conductor Miles Davis would have taken on the role of bringing everybody in together, I imagine this was done through physical gesture so that he was still prepared to come in at the same time.Miles Davis stands out as a soloist in this piece. One reason being the unique sound of his instrument. Davis uses a Harmon mute to create quite a raspy sound- he completely removed the stem which is what made his sound original. Another factor which made Davis stand out as a soloist in ‘Round Midnight’ was his ability to manipulate rhythms like no other trumpeter. He took the melody written originally by Monk and stuck to it fairly closely but Davis had the ability and control of embouchure to play repeated notes very quickly which put his own stamp on the melody but also made it very recognisable. I believe that Davis was not a very selfish band leader unlike some of his 'idols' such as Dizzy Gillespie, who was known for adding sections to give himself more solo time and also took every opportunity to show off his immense agility and range. Miles Davis does not come across in this way as his solo does not show off the entirety of Miles' range, he simply moulds his solo to showcase the recognisable tune by Monk. In conclusion, based upon 'Round Midnight' we can see that Miles Davis was a hard working but fair band leader. It is clear that he is the leader because he opens and closes the song. As a soloist he does stand out by using more subtle techniques such as rhythmic manipulation, where Coltrane more overtly shows off his agility and range in his solo.