LOS ANGELES — Miles Davis died here more than 20 years ago, but in some ways he remains as much a presence as ever, and not just because recordings continue to be issued under his name. A book of his paintings and drawings was published last week, a biopic about him is in the works, a stamp with his image circulates, and a museum exhibition devoted to his life is traveling the world.

Overseeing those initiatives, and others, are his three heirs: his son Erin, his daughter, Cheryl, and their cousin Vince Wilburn Jr. Like those who manage the estates of Jimi Hendrix, Bob Marley or John Coltrane, they are grappling with a complicated challenge: How do you keep this trumpeter, an archetype of 20th-century popular music, in the public eye and maintain his brand, even as his original core audience is aging?

“We’re talking to everybody, because we’re involved in growing and promoting and exposure,” Erin Davis said during a long joint interview late last month at the office of the heirs’ publicists here. “It’s taken me 20 years to realize what we’re doing and how it affects the future.”

The heirs confront a paradox: With more than four million copies sold in the United States alone, Davis’s 1959 album “Kind of Blue” is the most popular jazz record of all time. But the rest of his catalog, which includes historic recordings like “Birth of the Cool” and “Bitches Brew” and covers a gamut of styles from hard bop to fusion and funk, is not as familiar to the public.