Miles was a major innovator in several different ways. To me, the most important will always be his actual solo voice style on the trumpet. It is on a level that few musicians ever reach, which reveals that he has a deep understanding of not only the structure of the composition he is playing, but also the artistic reason for the composition to exist in the first place, the feeling and the statement of the tune. However, he reveals this in a subtle, extremely well composed, and dramatic linear style, like a film maker or great storyteller. It is absolutely the antithesis of the verbose, scale based advanced bebop blowing that most people associate with modern jazz. I mean, I like Charlie Parker fine, but so many of his imitators (I don't call them his heirs unless they actually create something new, like he did, rather than doing the same thing he did, which is not the same as what he did !) really need to play about 1/10 as many notes as they do and focus instead on meaning, dynamics and tone as variables of expression that are each MORE important that note choices. This is a big part what the original period of free jazz was about, and it is interesting to note that you will find very few free players that don't love Miles, but you don't necessarily get that type of love for any other player from any older generation, at least not as universally as Miles.
I think Miles was a technical virtuoso, but his technique was geared toward his goals of an expressive voice, rather than trying to impress people with his chops. Lots of people can play their instruments "well", but who the hell cares, really ? Outside of other players of the same instrument, not too many people. And why should they ? It's one thing to blaze and have an endless supply of right or even "advanced" notes and riffs, but what does it all mean ?
His other major areas of innovation: rejection of older showbiz "values", and turning the resulting mystique to his advantage; freely mixing styles and backgrounds in the players he selected in his bands, and his related, general openness to all kinds of music and ideas, which has a lot to do with his lack of interest in repeating himself or sitting on his laurels; his willingness to enter a real collaboration with someone like Teo, who would in many cases radically edit and collage the recordings into the studio albums beginning with IASW; and his way of leading the band and spontaneously creating the set by playing riffs that indicate the next tune, which stems from the late 60s early 70s period.
I don't care to defend his 80s period much but I will say I saw him a couple of times then and he always played great himself, and taken to include the bands and tunes, that music still had its moments, though not like before.
Listen to the bridge melody and last A. A little nebulous there.
