Miles Davis

After years of hard-edged experimental fusion, Miles took his electric jazz in a new direction in the '80s.

Though streamlined, his funk feel didn’t falter: Tracks like “Speak” and “U ’n’ I” move with a head-nodding flow reminiscent of Prince’s grooves and the emerging genre of hip-hop. With a guitar section that included John Scofield, the trumpeter showed an ability to adapt his sound for a new decade on tracks like “It Gets Better”.