Miles Davis and American Culture examines Davis in cultural context. In this new collection of a dozen essays, William Kenney explores the St. Louis jazz scene of Davis"s youth; Eugene B. Redmond looks at East St. Louis"s cultural history; Ingrid Monson examines Davis and civil rights; and Waldo Martin discusses Davis and his relation to the black avant-garde of the 1960s.Original interviews and classic photographs round out the volume, published to coincide with the 2001 Miles Davis Festival, celebrating what would have been Davis"s seventy-fifth birthday.