A CENTENARY CELEBRATION OF MILES DAVIS (15)

SPECIAL DOCUMENTARY & LIVE JAZZ GIG

This year’s Festival Jazz Night celebrates arguably the most influential and mercurial figure in modern jazz: trumpeter, composer, and bandleader Miles Davis, in his centenary year. Across five decades of relentless reinvention, Davis helped shape the course of jazz itself. We will start the evening with 2011 Miles documentary ‘Birth of the Cool’, before moving from screen to stage with a stellar quartet of leading UK jazz musicians (Quentin Collins, Ross Stanley, Joel Barford and Andrew Cleyndert) performing music from across Davis’s extraordinary career.

Film:

MILES DAVIS: BIRTH OF THE COOL (15)

A visionary, innovator and originator who defied categorization and embodied the word cool: this is a foray into the life and career of musical and cultural icon Miles Davis.

Using words from Davis’s autobiography, this film offers an incisive insight into our understanding of the legendary musician. Newly released archival material, alongside interviews with pre-eminent historians and personal friends like Quincy Jones, illustrate a man of intensity and devotion to his craft. Despite the indignities of America during the time of segregation, nothing was going to stop Davis from realising his dream: to create a new form of musical expression. Davis’s influences are felt to this day and this special documentary will make you want to feel the way Miles sounds.

USA 2019 Stanley Nelson 115m

Followed by

LIVE JAZZ GIG:

Our jazz quartet will cover the different phases of Miles's repertoire including: ballads (e.g. ‘If I were a Bell’, ‘Stella by Starlight’), ‘Milestones’, ‘Kinda Blue’, Gil Evans arrangements of Roderigo's ‘Concierto de Aranjuez’ and ‘Porgy and Bess’, ‘Lift to the Scaffold’ (film), Jean-Pierre and the electronic ‘Bitches Brew’.

Trumpeter Quentin Collins is one of the UK’s premier jazz musicians, with an international career spanning jazz, pop, and film music. His collaborators include Prince, Gregory Porter, Alicia Keys, Mark Ronson, and Jeff Beck.

Pianist and organist Ross Stanley combines formidable classical training with exceptional jazz versatility. His credits include Tom Jones, Michael Bublé, Paloma Faith, Simply Red, and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.

Drummer Joel Barford returns to the Festival following his appearance in the Ronnie Scott’s celebration a couple of years ago. Widely admired for his propulsive groove, sensitivity and dynamic range, his extensive credits include Jim Mullen, Dave Douglas, Rumer, Omar and the Ronnie Scott’s Jazz Orchestra.

Curating the music for this celebration is bassist Andrew Cleyndert, long regarded as one of the UK’s leading jazz bassists. Over a 45-year career he has become renowned for his impeccable time, deep harmonic understanding, and commanding presence both as a sideman and bandleader.

Tickets £24

Thu 20 Aug 19:00

Film - 19:00

Interval with bar – 21:00

Live Jazz Gig – 21:30 (80m approx)