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Email Share 0 Tweet Tweet 0 Music review: Miles Davis' works get a night out at Hollywood Bowl Marcus Miller, Jimmy Cobb and the Miles Electric Band take their turn playing jazz, reminding listeners that just as Davis continued to evolve in his lifetime, so does his music today. June 29, 2012 | By Greg Burk, Special to the Los Angeles Times Many have revisited Miles Davis' jazz; few have recaptured his magic. As 1980s Davis collaborator Marcus Miller observed Wednesday night, the ever-evolving trumpeter never looked back, so contemporary interpreters better keep an ear to the present. Three ensembles picked up the gauntlet at the Hollywood Bowl, where Davis staged his last public performance in August 1991, just one month before he died. Toughest work: Performing the entire landmark "Kind of Blue" album — an appropriate task for drummer Jimmy Cobb's "So What" Band, since Cobb is the 1959 sextet's lone survivor. PHOTOS: Miles Davis remembered in sight, sound Tall tenor saxist Javon Jackson didn't tremble in the big loafers of John Coltrane; he swaggered through characteristic wide leaps and struck the right level of sensitivity with a bluesier tone than his predecessor. Alto man Vincent Herring's mathematical intensity contrasted with the guttier template of Cannonball Adderley; Buster Williams' huge bass dug deep in the earth; pianist Larry Willis pounded block chords that never would have occurred to Bill Evans or Wynton Kelly. In ball cap and suspenders (his bandmates wore suits), Cobb uptempoed his spare groove and flailed a shake-'em-up solo. Trumpeter Jeremy Pelt kept his melancholy cool. And it grew clear that "Kind of Blue," the ultimate lid-on simmer pot, could expand under the stars on the strength of elemental compositions such as the coasting "Freddie Freeloader" and the sensual waltz "All Blues." The Miles Electric Band, attacking mostly material from Davis' festival-friendly 1969-74 period, needed to make no similar adjustments. With Davis nephew Vince Wilburn Jr. laying down the drum slosh and former Miles percussionists Badal Roy, Mino Cinelu and Munyungo Jackson jolting the appreciative audience's spines, the Miles Electric Band quickly pumped up a party vibe. Blackbyrd McKnight cranked wah-wah fantasies from his pink guitar; versatile trumpeter Nicholas ADVERTISEMENT Woman is 53 But Looks 27 Brooklyn: Mom publishes free facelift secret that has angered doctors... FROM THE ARCHIVES Miles Davis stamp to be dedicated in NYC and at Hollywood... May 29, 2012 Cobb's Mob Pairs Drummer With Young Lions May 14, 1999 MORE STORIES ABOUT Business Entertainment Not_live_web Not Live Web ADVERTISEMENT YOU ARE HERE: LAT Home → Collections → Business Membership Services Jobs Cars Real Estate Subscribe Rentals Classifieds Custom Publishing Place Ad LOCAL U.S. WORLD BUSINESS SPORTS ENTERTAINMENT HEALTH LIVING TRAVEL OPINION DEALS Search Recommend 227 MOVIES TV MUSIC CELEBRITY ARTS & CULTURE INDUSTRY AWARDS: THE ENVELOPE CALENDAR BOOKS COMICS Music review: Miles Davis works get a night out at Hollywood... http://articles.latimes.com/2012/jun/29/entertainment/la-et-mile... 1 of 2 8/15/12 1:19 PM
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Music review: Miles Davis' works get a night out atHollywood BowlMarcus Miller, Jimmy Cobb and the Miles Electric Band take their turn playing jazz,reminding listeners that just as Davis continued to evolve in his lifetime, so does his musictoday.
June 29, 2012 | By Greg Burk, Special to the Los Angeles Times
Many have revisited Miles Davis' jazz; few have recaptured
his magic. As 1980s Davis collaborator Marcus Miller
observed Wednesday night, the ever-evolving trumpeter
never looked back, so contemporary interpreters better
keep an ear to the present.
Three ensembles picked up the gauntlet at the Hollywood
Bowl, where Davis staged his last public performance in
August 1991, just one month before he died.
Toughest work: Performing the entire landmark "Kind of Blue" album — an appropriate task for
drummer Jimmy Cobb's "So What" Band, since Cobb is the 1959 sextet's lone survivor.
PHOTOS: Miles Davis remembered in sight, sound
Tall tenor saxist Javon Jackson didn't tremble in the big loafers of John Coltrane; he swaggered through
characteristic wide leaps and struck the right level of sensitivity with a bluesier tone than his predecessor.
Alto man Vincent Herring's mathematical intensity contrasted with the guttier template of Cannonball
Adderley; Buster Williams' huge bass dug deep in the earth; pianist Larry Willis pounded block chords
that never would have occurred to Bill Evans or Wynton Kelly.
In ball cap and suspenders (his bandmates wore suits), Cobb uptempoed his spare groove and flailed a
shake-'em-up solo. Trumpeter Jeremy Pelt kept his melancholy cool. And it grew clear that "Kind of
Blue," the ultimate lid-on simmer pot, could expand under the stars on the strength of elemental
compositions such as the coasting "Freddie Freeloader" and the sensual waltz "All Blues."
The Miles Electric Band, attacking mostly material from Davis' festival-friendly 1969-74 period, needed
to make no similar adjustments. With Davis nephew Vince Wilburn Jr. laying down the drum slosh and
former Miles percussionists Badal Roy, Mino Cinelu and Munyungo Jackson jolting the appreciative
audience's spines, the Miles Electric Band quickly pumped up a party vibe.
Blackbyrd McKnight cranked wah-wah fantasies from his pink guitar; versatile trumpeter Nicholas
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Woman is 53 But Looks 27Brooklyn: Mom publishes free facelift secret
that has angered doctors...
FROM THE ARCHIVES
Miles Davis stamp to be dedicated in NYC and at
Hollywood...
May 29, 2012
Cobb's Mob Pairs Drummer With Young Lions
May 14, 1999
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Payton blew flame from under his purple short-brimmed hat; Robert Irving III's sci-fi keyboard effects
and DJ Logic's turntable whooshes bounced off the hillside. The sleepy "Nefertiti" wafted attractive
out-of-phase hallucinations, and at set's end, a heavy take on the nursery-rhymy "Jean Pierre" made an
apt transition to Marcus Miller's "Tutu Revisited" ensemble.
Popping and riffing skillfully on Fender bass, Miller brought the funk with a vengeance. Although the
1980s studio period when Miller was on the team represented Miles Davis' most insubstantial aesthetic,
that era's live concerts hauled more freight, and Wednesday's show stacked it even deeper.
Louis Cato's thudding rhythms, Alex Han's passionate sax and Miller's basic blues hooks made solid
impact, building to a peak with the concluding "Tutu." If that 1986 tune's anti-apartheid title and the
emotional meditation of "Gorée" (a Senegal port once used as a slave pen) stood at odds with their upbeat
lilt, chalk it up to transcendence. But as Davis frequently demonstrated, you can tell only half the story
without a healthy dose of darkness.
Miles keyboardist and independent legend Herbie Hancock, who played with the Davis Quintet at the
Bowl in 1964, offered between-sets context and commentary along with screen projections. But we
missed his fingers on the keys.
A new "forever" postage stamp featuring Miles Davis in iconic cobra posture was unveiled before the
show; its back will feature a QR code linking his music. Beloved rebels must be acknowledged, so if you
can't lick 'em, stick 'em.
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