Miles Davis Celebration at SFJAZZ Center

Music of Miles Davis: A Celebration
SFJAZZ Center
San Francisco, CA
May 25-29, 2023

Music of Miles Davis: A Celebration

For four consecutive nights, four different ensembles graced the stage of SFJAZZ Center to present four aspects of the musical legacy of renowned trumpeter Miles Davis The evenings also featured compositions from some former group members (such as Wayne Shorter and Joe Zawinul, both of whom went on to form Weather Report) as well as those of well known American and Spanish songwriters and composers.

Davis was a controversial figure who changed musical styles as his music evolved and life circumstances intervened. He rarely looked back. In 1990, while at a recording date with Shirley Horn, Horn asked him "Why don't you come on back and play some of that old stuff?" Miles replied "Nah, it hurts my lip."

He received his first trumpet as a gift in 1935 at the age of nine, and his father bought him a better one for his 13th birthday. His father recommended he study at Julliard, but he reportedly often skipped classes in pursuit of performances by his idol Charlie Parker and dropped out in 1945 to pursue his musical career.

Kind of Blue: The Acoustic Quintets

Thursday evening's performance presented music from the groundbreaking LP Kind of Blue, (Columbia, 1959). The classic album is the best-selling jazz record of all time, one which has received universal acclaim as a masterpiece.

Composer and bandleader George Russell, via his 1953 book "Lydian Chromatic Concept of Tonal Organization," popularized the concept of modality (which allows musicians more artistic freedom to improvise than under the chordal structure employed in bebop). Davis took this concept and ran with it. exploring its possibilities in ways which emotionally touched multitudes.

Legendary deceased rock guitarist Duane Allman told a journalist: "I've listened to that album so many times that for the past couple of years, I haven't hardly listened to anything else." He said it influenced his playing on "In Memory of Elizabeth Reed," and the influence of improvisational jazz on tunes such as the much beloved "Mountain Jam" by the Allman Brothers Band is clearly evident. Ashley Kahn, in his book Kind of Blue: The Making of a Miles Davis Masterpiece quotes Quincy Jones saying that "I play Kind of Blue every day—it's my orange juice. It still sounds like it was made yesterday."

For this performance Eddie Henderson was on trumpet, Donald Harrison played alto saxophone, Javon Jackson was on tenor saxophone, Patrice Rushen was at the piano seat, Rodney Whitaker played bass and Lenny White was on drums.

After being introduced, the musicians—all, save White, dressed formally in suits —played their entire 90-minute show without addressing the audience until the end when the band was introduced. The music allowed everyone ample room to shine on solos, and Rushen—meditative at times, hard-charging at others—was particularly outstanding, while White drummed with vibrancy and aplomb.

Sketches of Miles

Friday it was time for compositions from Sketches of Spain (Columbia, 1960) and other collaborations with Davis by composer and arranger Gil Evans was famed for his collaborations with Davis. The Canadian-born Evans had first worked with Davis to produce the acclaimed Miles Ahead (Colombia, 1957) which earned them numerous glowing reviews. The two went on to record Porgy and Bess (Columbia, 1958) before producing Sketches of Spain which was judged by many to be the most impressive fruit of their collaborative efforts.

This evening Keyon Harrold weighed in on trumpet, Bob Sheppard was on reeds, and Carol Robbins strummed her harp. As on the previous night, Lenny White held down the drum chair. He was supplemented by percussionist Sammy Figueroa, and Ryoma Takenaga (who was recommended by drummer White) played bass. All of this was supplemented by a string quintet. The entire mix was expertly melded by pianist and arranger Gil Goldstein, who told us he had worked with arranger Gil Evans for decades (and played on three of his albums). Goldstein did an outstanding job of putting the evening's quite memorable performance together.

The evening began with "My Ship" from Miles Ahead (Columbia, 1957), written by Ira Gershwin and Kurt Weill, a lovely piece that incorporates flute and strings before drawing in piano and trumpet. Miles Ahead then followed along with "Song #1, "Corcovado" and "Aos Pés da Cruz"—all from Quiet Nights (1963) which featured a lyrical trumpet solo. "Wait Till You See Her" and "The Time of the Barracudas"—a piece written on commission for the Broadway play of the same name—followed. It began with a tenor solo and featured vibrant drumming and horns. Written by Spanish composer Joaquín Rodrigo and inspired by the gardens of a royal palace, "Concierto de Aranjuez" is probably the most well-known piece on Sketches of Spain. The original was a concerto for classical guitar and intended to carry listeners through nature. Goldstein talked to the audience about Evans' "inspired arrangement." Standing up to conduct, Goldstein presided over the warm trumpet tones and orchestral sounds that have made this piece so beloved to generations of jazz listeners. Sheppard's enchanting flute evoked mournful sentiments of aching and longing.

Goldstein conducted once more for the gorgeous "Solea." The final piece from Sketches was marked by effervescent flute supplemented with some great trumpet work. "I Will Wait for You," a song composed by Michel Legrand which is from the 1964 French musical "The Umbrellas of Cherbourg," followed. Afterwards, Goldstein called the band and waxed enthusiastically about its members.

"Summertime" from the Davis version of George Gershwin's musical Porgy and Bess (Columbia, 1959) concluded the evening; it featured a robust tenor solo, a harp solo and bass solo and the driving trumpet brought it all to an end. Although Goldstein maintained they had played "all the songs we had," an abbreviated version of "Round Midnight," initiated by a piano solo, kept the audience happy.

Miles From India

On Saturday night, SFJAZZ presented a group of musicians playing music similar or identical to that found on the hit, two-CD set Miles From India (Times Square, 2008) Davis, never one to shy away from innovation, had invited Indians to play with him (tabla player Badal Roy and sitarist Khalil Balakrishna are two examples), and the conception of the group came from that collaboration.

The concert featured Javon Jackson —who had also performed on Thursday night—on tenor, trumpeter Tim Hagans, Adam Holzman on piano and keyboards, guitarist Rez Abbasi, bassist Alphonso Johnson, and Lenny White, once more, on drums. Percussionist Taku Hirano added to the mix while the Indian musicians were Salar Nader on tabla, B. Sivaraman on mridangam and Raman Kalya on bamboo flute.

Much of the excitement in this band focused on the konnikol-styled call-and-response, hand clapping and intricate interplay amongst the group's Indian musicians, who played as an acoustic foursome at times. Holzman also added some sitar-like synth flourishes to the mix. Material covered included "Ife" from On the Corner (Columbia, 1972), "In a Silent Way, "It's About That Time," and the final number "Jean Pierre."

M.E.B. (formerly Miles Electric Band)

Davis' move to electric instruments (bass, guitar, keyboards, etc.) sparked immense controversy. Stanley Crouch, an influential jazz critic at the time, described Davis's first foray into fusion music, the classic In a Silent Way (Columbia, 1969), as "no more than droning wallpaper music." While the instrumental and composition changes were categorized as a sellout to pop music, such criticism ignored the fact that this challenging music—nearly completely improvised on the spot and featuring some tracks clocking in at 20 minutes—was in no way pop (although Davis would later record a few pop tunes on CD).

Reportedly, Davis chose young musicians he respected and whose instincts he trusted. He would sometimes tell an acquaintance that they were hired—as in the case of Dave Holland where Philly Joe Jones informed him he was to pick up and move to New York City. New hires would step out on stage untutored and find themselves thrust into the middle of the musical maelstrom. The concept was to have them take risks and create something new. As Davis put it "That was my gift...having the ability to put certain guys together that would create a chemistry and then letting them go; letting them play what they knew, and above it."

In an effort to avoid missing any epiphanic flashes of brilliance, tapes rolled constantly. Although, reportedly, there were limited rehearsals before the recording of Bitches Brew, the intent of the sessions was to capture the spontaneous and the unexpected. Davis chose young musicians because, as he put it, "I find that a lot of old jazz musicians are lazy motherfuckers, resisting change and holding on to the old ways because they are too lazy to try something different." Producer Teo Macero, himself a classically trained composer, would cut and slice it all together for the albums.

This improvisational energy had been very much in evidence the night before with "Miles From India," and it held forth even more so with the seasoned M.E.B. (Miles Electric Band) on the final night. The project of drummer Vince Wilburn Jr., a nephew of Davis, the band includes Davis alumni keyboardist Robert Irving III and percussionist Munyungo Jackson. Davis's longtime electric bassist Darryl Jones (who went on to replace Bill Wyman in the Rolling Stones and has played with them for thirty years) was once again on hand. Davis had called him a "dynamite bassist and "a little genius." Antoine Roney---who was featured on tenor and soprano saxophones and bass clarinet—is the younger brother of the late Wallace Roney, the only trumpeter ever mentored by Davis. (Wallace Roney died from Covid-19 in 2020).

Trumpeter Keyon Harrold, who took on trumpet duties, has played one of Davis's horns and maintains that "As a musician, he is the epitome of what I would like to be." Harrold was hired by Don Cheadle, who played the role of Miles Davis in the film "Miles Ahead," to record (and synchronize with) the trumpet sounds that Cheadle was playing on film—no easy task!

Abbos Kosimov, a Tajikistan native and current resident of Sacramento, California, performs with the frame drum called the doyra (also referred to as dayereh, dojra, dajre, doira, and dajreja, which dates back to Mesopotamian times) and the qayroq, a set of exotic castanets. Kosimov once more displayed his captivating mastery of traditional instruments, and his impressive display of musical agility on these instruments—two doyra in tandem with castanets was one of the evening's highlights.

The remainder of the ensemble included DJ Logic on turntables, Chicago native Alexis Lombre on piano and electronics and virtuoso guitarist Marco Villareal. Unlike the previous three evenings, tunes were compressed, with the longest clocking in at ten minutes. The band has now changed its name to M.E.B., and they produced an EP (CD, download and vinyl) earlier this year (Sony Legacy, 2023).

This evening the sampled voice of Davis's distinctive voice led us off. A medley of "Jack Johnson," "One Phone Call," and "That's What Happened" led off with Kosimov playing his frame drum as Roney's soprano sax and Harrold's trumpet topped off a wall of electronic and percussive sounds. Irving III stood up from the piano to play his neon-blue glowing synthesizer. Harrold soloed on trumpet as Jones pumped up the bass.

"It Gets Better" was next and featured trumpet and guitar solos,. Next, DJ Logic provided the "ocean wave" intro to "Miles Chilled at Malibu" which featured trumpet and fax solos. A rocking version of Zawinul's "In a Silent Way" and "It's About that Time" were prefaced by another raspy Davis quote. Kicked off with an acoustic piano, "Nefertiti" was followed by "Decoy," "Pharoah's Dance, "Sanctuary," "Time After Time," and, finally, the eminently funky "Jean Pierre," which afforded Jones the chance to stretch out on bass.

The four-minute encore, "Hail to the Real Chief," featured solos on trumpet, sax, piano, guitar, and keyboards and brought SFJAZZ Center's four-evening Miles Davis celebration to a pumping close.

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