Without question, legendary musician Miles Davis has shaped and influenced the cultural and musical landscape of the jazz genre. His influence continues to resonate decades later in music, film, television, and documentaries told about his life. This September, comics publisher Z2 Comics is set to release the new graphic novel, Miles Davis and The Search for the Sound by Dave Chisholm, exploring the musical pioneer’s winding, exhilarating life, and the intoxicating music that followed.

Chronicling The Life and Legacy of Miles Davis

Dave Chisolm takes on the duties of writer, letterer, artist, and colorist in the upcoming graphic novel. Chisolm chronicles Davis’ journey from his childhood in Illinois to mastering jazz improvisation throughout the ’40s, ‘50s, and ‘60s. Consequently, these formative experiences led him to redefine and break the norms of Jazz (and music overall), and pushed the genre into new territories of exploration and experimentation. Additionally, the book will feature narration adapted from Davis’ own words and a shifting palette of visual styles that mirrors Davis’ famously varied oeuvre. This 150-page graphic novel follows Davis through four decades of musical innovation and ever-escalating obstacles.

Z2 Comics offered the following synopsis of the graphic novel:

Chisholm frames the narrative around Davis’ recovery from a stroke in 1982. With Davis unable to play his trumpet, his medical team urged him to regain coordination by scratching out patterns and scribbles with a pencil on paper. From there, the story hurdles back in time to the icon’s quest to find a mysterious tone he once heard on a moonlit country road in his childhood.

About Dave Chisolm and His Inspiration

Dave Chisholm is a graphic novelist and musician currently residing in Rochester, NY. According to Chisolm:

“Davis’ music has truly been a lifelong obsession of mine, inspiring me to pursue jazz trumpet in college and beyond—Sketches of Spain is the first music I ever remember hearing, and I even had the opportunity to perform all of the music he and Gil Evans did together at the Umbria Jazz Festival in Perugia, Italy,” Chisholm explains. “Miles continually inspires me to pursue stylistic change as an artist, both visually and musically. This is the book I’ve always dreamt of creating; it’s the biggest honor of my professional life to be given this opportunity by the Davis family.”

His expertise in music (Chisholm received his doctorate in jazz trumpet from the Eastman School of Music in 2013), as well as his formal inventiveness within the comics medium, has resulted in a string of critically-acclaimed music-centric graphic novels including Enter the Blue (2022, Z2 Comics), Chasin’ the Bird: Charlie Parker in California (2020, Z2 Comics), and the groundbreaking graphic novel/ original soundtrack Instrumental (2017, Z2 Comics).

Pre-Orders Available Now with Different Editions and Exclusives

Z2 Comics will release Miles Davis and the Search for the Sound on September 26, 2023 in standard hardcover and deluxe hardcover editions. Here is the following breakdown of the different releases, and included exclusives that will come with the different editions:

Standard Edition (Hardcover) — $39.99
• Standard Edition Graphic Novel (HC)
• Cover art by Dave Chisholm

Deluxe Edition (Oversized Hardcover) — $99.99
• Deluxe Edition Graphic Novel (Oversized HC)
• Graphic Novel Slipcase

• One (1) Miles Davis Limited Edition 3D Sculpture – The Cool / Icon Series 

Miles Davis and the Search for the Sound T-shirt — $29.99 (Special Pre-Order Pricing)