Miles Davis recorded tune after tune in order to fulfill his contractual obligation to Prestige Records. In the process, he recorded "gems" of jazz spontaneity.

Miles Davis' son Erin talks about the Prince album that his father played over and over while on a road trip in his Rolls-Royce in California.

Miles Davis didn't provide sheet music for his musicians during the recording of his iconic album "Kind of Blue." He said that "I didn't write out the music for 'Kind of Blue.' But brought in sketches 'cause I wanted a lot of spontaneity in the playing." American Masters Presents Miles Davis: Birth of the Cool February 25 at 9 p.m. ET on PBS.

The Miles Davis Estate offered unprecedented access to its archive in order to help make this film the "definitive" documentary on Miles Davis, according to Davis's relatives.

Stanley Nelson, director of Miles Davis: Birth of the Cool, talks about why he chose to make a film about the iconic jazz musician. He also discusses how this film is more than just a film about a jazz musician and really a film about the United States in the second half of the 20th century as told through music.

Four-time Tony Award-winner Zoe Caldwell (“Slapstick Tragedy,” “Medea,” “Master Class”) died this week at 86. In her memory, we present this video clip of her discussing the rigid class system in England, and how she playfully disrupted expectations at a party with a lighthearted song and dance. This exclusive interview outtake is taken from American Masters – Paul Robeson: Here I Stand (1999).

Delve into the enigmatic life and mind of the Pulitzer Prize-winning author and poet N. Scott Momaday, best known for “House Made of Dawn” and a formative voice of the Native American Renaissance in art and literature.

In this clip from American Masters — N. Scott Momaday: Words From a Bear, the writer discusses how riding his horse on the same plains as his ancestors opened up his imagination.

N. Scott Momaday, Jeff Bridges, and Robert Redford discuss the historic role Indigenous groups have played in fighting to protect our planet

When N. Scott Momaday won the Pulitzer Prize for his book "House Made of Dawn," it was a victory for the entire Native American community. Hear Jeff Bridges, Joy Harjo, Robert Redford and James Earl Jones explain the importance of Momaday's writing.

When a New York Times art critic reviewed Mark Rothko and Adolph Gottlieb's work, the artists responded with a letter that became a manifesto on abstract art. In it, they stressed being in favor of the "simple expression of the complex thought,” and for "the large shape because it has the impact of the unequivocal," among other points.

In post World War II New York City, a new group of artists including Mark Rothko, Jackson Pollock, Willem de Kooning, Lee Krasner, Joan Mitchell, & Clyfford Still started a movement known as Abstract Expressionism and took the art world by storm.

Born Marcus Rothkowitz in Dvinsk, Russia, on September 25, 1903, Rothko emigrated to Portland, Oregon, with his family at age 10. Learn more in this clip from American Masters —Rothko: Pictures Must Be Miraculous.

Explore the life of the celebrated artist whose luminous color field paintings helped define the abstract expressionist movement, which shifted the art world epicenter from Paris to New York. Featuring original scenes with Alfred Molina.

Remembering Diahann Carroll

Explore a warm and revealing portrait of the charismatic, groundbreaking actor’s journey from his native Puerto Rico to the creative hotbed of 1960s New York City, to prominence on Broadway and in Hollywood. Filled with passion, determination and joy, Juliá’s brilliant and daring career was tragically cut short by his untimely death 25 years ago, at age 54.

In an outtake from Raúl Juliá: The World’s a Stage, Edward James Olmos recalls watching his friend Raúl Juliá spontaneously perform Shakespeare on tabletops in bars.

Esai Morales looks back at the legacy of his friend and co-star Raúl Juliá, and discusses what made him acting and the energy he had as a performer.

Raúl Juliá's younger sister Maria recalls the story of going to the exclusive New York City club Studio 54 with her famous older brother.

Two of the greatest actors of their generation unleash their powers in this clip from Raúl Juliá: The World’s a Stage that features rare, archival footage of Joseph Papp's 1978 Shakespeare in the Park production of The Taming of the Shrew. Raúl Juliá plays Petruchio, an equal match for Meryl Streep's Kate.