Musicians are honoring legendary trumpeter, flugelhornist, composer, and bandleader Miles Davis at Georgetown’s historic Blues Alley during May as part of the Miles Davis Centennial Celebration.
With Davis born on May 26, 1926, the Blues Alley observance continues a year-long global look at the man through concerts, lectures, and reflections on the trumpeter’s influence on jazz from bebop to fusion.
Drummer Billy Hart, a D.C. native who played with Davis from 1972 to 1986, kicked off the Blues Alley Centennial Celebration in early May.
“Miles Davis is the great teacher. He would just say things to you, and I would say, ‘Yes, sir,’” Hart, whose most significant works with Davis can be heard on the jazz legend’s albums: “Miles Davis On the Corner” and “ Miles Davis Big Fun,” said in a National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) Jazz Masters interview.
Both Davis and Hart were NEA Jazz Masters, in 1984 and in 2022, respectively.
“He just had so much to do with forming the musical language,” Hart, who graduated from McKinley Tech High School and attended Howard University, continued.
Davis’ influence on “forming the musical language” is a theme that is heard from several of the artists participating in the Blues Alley celebration of the musician’s 100th birthday.
Guitarist and bandleader Mike Stern played in Davis’ band from 1981-1983, then again in 1985. In the multi-Grammy-nominated artist’s own composition “Wishing Well,” which Stern performed with his band at Blues Alley on May 14, audiences heard similarities to Davis’ 1986 title track from the album “Tutu.”
“Listening to him play every night and the way he rehearsed the band, it was so loose, but he got the concept that he wanted,” said the Alexandria, Virginia-born artist, who performed on Davis’ 1981 album “The Man with the Horn,” “We Want Miles” in 1982, and “Star People” in 1983. “Sometimes, we weren’t totally rehearsed before we played, but we knew the direction, and he liked it like that.”
Bassist Buster Williams — who was recently named one of the Jazz Legacies Fellows by the Mellon Foundation and the Jazz Foundation of America — joined the Miles celebration with his two nights at Blues Alley from May 16-17.
He was with Davis for a few months in 1967, while he was on hiatus from working with vocalist Nancy Wilson. During those months in 1967, Davis and Williams — who had observed the artist and his group since 1963 — primarily worked on live and session performances.
“Without democracy, the music cannot live,” said Williams, who explained he was ready to join Davis’ band because he “knew their work.” “So when I got up on the bandstand with the guys, there was a tremendous feeling of support.”
Remembering an ‘Icon’ Who Changed Jazz
As a teenager, legendary drummer Lenny White played on Davis’ “Bitches Brew” album.
The jazz fusion performances with Davis gave White visibility that connected him with the group Return to Forever, co-founded by NEA Jazz Masters composers, keyboardist Chick Corea and bassist Stanley Clarke.
“He had heard about me, and did not actually hear me play. Through word of mouth, I was one of the people he wanted to use to try to hear this new music that he heard,” said White in an interview from “Backstage Bay Area.” “He put different people together in a situation and asked them, ‘What is it that you hear? What is it that you are going to do with this?’”
Coming up next for the “Centennial Celebration” at Blues Alley is saxophonist and tour mate to Davis Bill Evans, who brings a jazz/funk tribute with his group Return of the VansBand May 21-22. On May 28, saxophonist and NEA Jazz Master Kenny Garrett wraps up a month-long observance of Davis’ 100th birthday. Garrett shared an influential mentor-protégé relationship from 1987 until Davis’ passing in 1991.
White lauded the legendary artist as an “icon.”
“He actually changed jazz a few times in a few ways,” White continued.
For Blues Alley ticket information, go to bluesalley.com.
