A great decade in American jazz history occurred between the years 1949 and 1959. It was then that the late Miles Davis latched on to the musical standards of the day and slowed them down, adding harmony and an overall sophistication to these completely rearranged works. Sunday at 7 p.m., George Mason University Center for the Arts, in a tribute to the great jazz innovator, presents a multimedia production honoring both the man and the decade. The program is called The Miles Davis Experience: 1949-1959 and showcases the period with live music, photography, film clips and poet-style narration. Trumpeter Jason Palmer leads a quintet performing live versions of Davis’ music during the Blue Note (record company) years. They include tunes like “Dear Old Stockholm” and “Milestones,” recordings that would later appear on “Birth of the Cool” followed by his seminal release, “Kind of Blue.”
“One of the things I really admire about [Davis] was his ability to hand-pick a group of musicians for his band that operated on an astronomical level,” said Palmer. “He was able to put together all-stars, and the music from those arrangements was pure magic.”
| Onstage |
| The Miles Davis Experience |
| Where: George Mason University Center for the Arts |
| When: 7 p.m. Sunday; a pre-performance discussion at 6:15 p.m. is free to ticket holders |
| Info: $22 to $44; 1-888-945-2468; cfa.gmu.edu |
In addition to Palmer, the other quintet members in Sunday’s performance include tenor saxophonist Walter Smith III, pianist Sam Harris, bassist Harish Raghavan and percussionist Justin Brown.
” ‘Birth of the Cool’ was a transition out of the bebop era, a style of music where the tunes were really fast and there were a lot of pyrotechnics,” Palmer continued. “The cool style was the other side of that. These tunes are masterpieces — Davis broadened the palette of the art itself, creating a new color for other people to use.”
In addition to his performance schedule, Palmer holds a position as assistant professor at the Berklee College of Music.
“I’ve been teaching about 12 years and I’m starting to see some of my [former] students out on the scene now,” he said. “I’m calling some of them to play gigs with me!”
Palmer said he would have liked to take a lesson or two from the great Davis, a man whose music spoke to the challenges and optimism of postwar America, as well as to the struggle for civil rights.
“Just hearing him live would have been lesson enough for me, he said. ” I would have loved to be a fly on the wall when the band played; just [to hear] the sound of the instruments themselves. We’re doing our best to bring that kind of phonic feeling to the whole Miles experience.”
