Tatum Greenblatt<\/a>, the Juilliard jazz faculty member who will conduct the performance, discussed why Davis remains such a giant in the world of jazz. \u201cHe serves as the archetype of what jazz is in the eyes of a lot of people,\u201d Greenblatt explains. \u201cHe not only worked in but also defined so many sub-genres of jazz in his lifetime. He always pushed the music forward\u2014he was at the forefront of jazz\u2019s evolution.\u201d<\/p>\nDavis was a restless artist who never was pigeonholed as a purveyor of one type of music. Born in Alton, Illinois, and raised in nearby East St. Louis, Davis went to New York in 1944, earning a scholarship to Juilliard. Although he left school the following year, he began immersing himself in the New York music scene, and soon he was performing with bebop founder Charlie Parker. \u201cMiles starts right at the forefront of the modern jazz movement, and everything he does helps define what modern jazz is considered to be at that time,\u201d Greenblatt says. \u201cHe really is the figurehead for the unrelenting progression through his music.”<\/p>\n
Since Davis went through so many stylistic changes\u2014including cool jazz, post-bop, and electric jazz, along with\u00a0his finding inspiration in funk and rock, and even Spanish and African music, to create a brand new typeof jazz fusion\u2014he alienated some fans while inspiring so many others.\u201c He was always at the vanguard of what was new, but not just for newness\u2019 sake,\u201d Greenblatt notes. \u201cHis move into the electronic realm was controversial, but he wanted to create music that was accessible to younger people who liked rock\u2019n\u2019roll. He never shied away from that as an artist.”<\/p>\n
That multifaceted creativity will be on display in the April 4 concert. \u201cWhat we\u2019re trying to do is represent an overview of the phases of his career, have some sort of progression through his development as an artist\u2014but putting together a comprehensive overview is difficult,\u201d Greenblatt admits. The flexibility of the jazz student ensemble will be a great help, since Davis wrote music for big bands as well as smaller groups of players. \u201cWe\u2019ll have more than just the big band\u2014we\u2019ll have different sizes and combinations of instruments, including the smaller groups,\u201d Greenblatt continues. \u201cHis\u00a0album with Gil Evans, The Birth of the Cool, included an influential nine-piece band that was very unique, very modern.\u201d<\/p>\n
Greenblatt is also looking forward to collaborating with Juilliard students who are classical, not jazz, musicians. \u201cSome of Davis\u2019 most popular records from the 1950s were recorded with Gil Evans writing for a studio orchestra\u2014a jazz big band that expanded even further to include more players and instruments,\u201d he says. “The music from those collaborations is so beautiful, and we\u2019re planning to expand our orchestra onstage to include Juilliard classical musicians when we perform it.\u201d<\/p>\n
As a fellow Juilliard alum and trumpet player, Greenblatt humbly acknowledges Davis\u2019 impact. \u201cI don\u2019t think there\u2019s a jazz trumpet player who hasn\u2019t been influenced by Miles,\u201d he says. \u201cWhat made him so unique is that he bucked the trend of playing so many notes in the bebop era and then went on to establish a new style of simplicity and minimalism. He\u2019s in everybody\u2019s pantheon of the greats.\u201d<\/p>\n
Although Davis\u2019 influence has only grown since his death at age 65 in 1991, what would the master think of this centenary concert honoring his legacy? \u201cSome colleagues and I have been joking about whether he would approve of this retrospective,\u201d Greenblatt responds. \u201cIt\u2019s because he never wanted to look back\u2014he always pushed forward.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"One of the most innovative musicians of the 20th century, Miles Davis contributed to the art of jazz…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":172349,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[75,84,83,9,24,63],"class_list":["post-172348","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-manhattan","tag-manhattan","tag-manhattan-headlines","tag-manhattan-news","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/172348","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=172348"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/172348\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/172349"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=172348"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=172348"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=172348"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}