New York Street Renamed in Honor of Jazz Great Miles Davis

A New York City street has been renamed in honor of jazz great Miles Davis according to New York Times. Yesterday, hundreds of fans came out to honor the musician in a ceremony unveiling "Miles Davis Way," a stretch of 77th Street between Riverside Drive and West End Avenue on New York's Upper West Side.

Davis, who passed away from respiratory failure and a stroked at the age of 65 in 1991, resided in an apartment building at 312 West 77th Street for almost 25 years, until the mid-1980s.

The campaign to have the street renamed was led by Davis' one-time neighbor Shirley Zafirau. The renaming was enacted into law last December by former New York mayor Michael Bloomberg.

For nearly six decades, Miles Davis has embodied all that is cool - in his music (and most especially jazz), in his art, fashion, romance, and in his international, if not intergalactic, presence that looms strong as ever today. 2006 - The year in which Miles Davis was inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame on March 13th - is a land­mark year, commemorating the 80th anniversary of his birth on May 26, 1926, and the 15th anniversary of his death on September 28, 1991. In between those two markers is more than a half-century of brilliance - often exasperating, brutally honest with himself and to others, uncompromising in a way that transcended mere intuition.

Photo courtesy of Miles Davis official web site