Underwhelmed by Miles Davis

Let me start off by saying this isn’t meant to be any type of trolling or s***posting, but genuinely confused and somewhat surprised by my initial reaction to listening to his music.

I’m hoping that someone can help me navigate whether I’m missing something or there are elements of Miles Davis‘s music that I’m not appreciating. as a lifelong listener of various music genres, I realize that my knowledge of jazz was limited and began to pull samples from at least some of the bigger names. Having been a trumpet player at one point in my life, needless to say Miles Davis was amongst the first artists that I pulled music from.

Let me start by saying that it is obvious that he is very talented as a musician. What I can’t tell is why he doesn’t sound remarkable to me compared to many other skilled trumpet players that I’ve heard. I’m not sure if I’m just missing an understanding of where he fell in time and how he influenced other artists, but while I find his music skilled and enjoyable, I don’t know that I find it remarkable. Maybe it’s just a matter of personal taste, but it seems like the type of music that most skilled trumpet players could play without me noticing. Is it his larger than life character that made him stand out? I assume I’m missing something, and would like to have a better appreciation as to what has made him stand out in the annals of jazz history.

Edit: Thanks all! A lot of good feedback and dialogue that was helpful. Always appreciate this aspect of sharing knowledge on Reddit, and these thoughtful responses were a great example of it.