- Trumpeters Eddie Henderson, Justin Kisor and Brandon Lee will be featured in evening concerts at the Stanley H. Kaplan Penthouse on December 11, 12 & 13, 2003.
- Wynton Marsalis will host a Jazz for Young People concert exploring the topic of “Who is Miles Davis?" on December 13, 2003 at Alice Tully Hall.
Jazz at Lincoln Center (JALC) continues its season with concerts featuring the music of the preeminent trumpeter and bandleader Miles Davis. This celebration of his legacy will kick off with a series of three concerts in JALC's Music of the Masters series titled The Music of Miles Davis. The concerts will take place at the Stanley H. Kaplan Penthouse on December 11, 12 & 13, 2003 at 8pm.
For these three exciting evenings, veteran trumpeter Eddie Henderson and up and coming trumpeters and Juilliard Jazz students Justin Kisor and Brandon Lee will offer their own takes on Davis' formidable musical legacy. The rhythm section will feature pianist Billy Childs, bassist Peter Washington and drummer Joe Farnsworth. Focusing on Davis' work during the late 1950s Kind Of Blue period, the program for these concerts will include classic tunes like “So What," “On Green Dolphin Street," “Footprints," and “Someday My Prince Will Come."
On Saturday, December 13, 2003 at 11am & 1pm, JALC Artistic Director Wynton Marsalis will host a Jazz for Young People concert titled “Who is Miles Davis?," which will explore Davis' innovations in many different styles of jazz, from bebop and cool, to modal and beyond. Marsalis will be joined for this engaging performance and demonstration by the musicians featured in the Music of Miles Davis concerts at the Penthouse. Tickets for the evening concerts at the Penthouse and the Jazz for Young People concert are available at the Alice Tully Hall box office, by calling CenterCharge at (212) 721-6500, or via www.jazzatlincolncenter.org.
Miles Davis was one of the most consistently innovative musicians in jazz history. A primary force in the development of jazz from bebop through fusion, his concise, lyrical phrasing, introspective style, and boundless invention serve as a model to jazz musicians of all instruments. Born on May 25, 1926, in Alton Illinois, Mile Dewey Davis III was raised in a black middle class neighborhood in East St. Louis. The son of a dental surgeon and a music teacher, Davis took up the trumpet at age 13. He began playing professionally just two years later. Days after graduating from high school, Davis received his first big break when he was allowed to sit in with the Billy Eckstine Orchestra. There he met trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie and alto saxophonist Charlie “Bird" Parker, pioneers of an emerging style of jazz called bebop. Young Davis was entranced by their incredible technique, twisting solos, and complex rhythms. He quickly followed them to New York City, where he enrolled in The Juilliard School. Before long, Davis was performing regularly with Parker, who had become his idol. By the late 1940s, Davis was leading his own groups and developing his own, unique musical approach. He organized a nine-piece band with an unusual horn section that played lush, relaxed-sounding arrangements by Gil Evans and others. Their recordings, eventually released as Birth of the Cool , inspired many of the band's musicians, including saxophonists Gerry Mulligan and Lee Konitz, and pianist John Lewis, and are considered the beginning of the cool jazz movement. Davis soon grew restless with both bebop and cool jazz. He and his colleagues drummer Art Blakey, pianist Horace Silver, and others, missed the driving swing and soulful, blues-based melodies upon which jazz was built. They developed a new style called hard bop, filling bebop with powerful grooves, singable melodies, and thick, earthy tones that brought jazz back to the juke joint. In 1955, Davis made an informal appearance at the Newport Jazz Festival. The dazzling performance earned Davis a contract with Columbia records and spurred the formation of his first, now classic, quintet, featuring pianist Red Garland, bassist Paul Chambers, drummer Philly Joe Jones, and saxophonist John Coltrane. Alto saxophonist Julian “Cannonball" Adderly would eventually join the group to make one of the most celebrated recordings in jazz history, Kind of Blue. The recording, which featured pianist Bill Evans, highlighted a new “modal" approach to improvisation and composition that offered the musicians an alternative to the fast-moving harmonies of bop. Davis' exploratory impulse was relentless and by the early 1960s, the quintet's personnel had changed completely. This second quintet, which featured saxophonist Wayne Shorter, pianist Herbie Hancock, bassist Ron Carter, and drummer Tony Williams, shared this willingness to experiment. Their music featured unusual song forms and varied textures and rhythms. Together, they tested the possibilities of new electronic instruments and eventually began incorporating elements of rock and R&B into their music. By the late 1960s and early 1970s, these experiments had developed into a new genre called fusion. From the mid-1970s through the early 1980s, Davis was semi-retired, but he made a comeback in 1982. As a living legend, Davis performed and recorded a diverse blend of pop and jazz until his death on September 28, 1991.
Penthouse Concerts:
Date/Time: Thursday, Friday & Saturday, December 11, 12 & 13, 2003, 8pm
Place: Stanley H. Kaplan Penthouse, 65th Street and Broadway, 10th Floor
Event: Music of the Masters: The Music of Miles Davis
Featuring: Eddie Henderson, Justin Kisor, Brandon Lee, Billy Childs, Joe Farnsworth & Peter Washington
Tickets: $55, available at the Alice Tully Hall box office, by calling CenterCharge at (212)721-6500, or via www.jazzatlincolncenter.org.
Jazz for Young People Concert:
Date/Time: Thursday, Friday & Saturday, December 13, 2003, 11am & 1pm
Place: Alice Tully Hall, 65th Street and Broadway
Event: Jazz for Young People: Who is Miles Davis?
Featuring: Host Wynton Marsalis with Eddie Henderson, Justin Kisor, Brandon Lee, Billy Childs, Joe Farnsworth & Peter Washington
Tickets: $20 adults, $15 students, available at the Alice Tully Hall box office, by calling CenterCharge at (212)721-6500, or via www.jazzatlincolncenter.org.
For more information contact All About Jazz.
