When legendary Miles Davis passed away. The jazz industry was devastated. The whole world knew how much influence Miles brought to the Jazz Fusion music. Miles introduced the jazz fusion music in the 70's. In the beginning, big time jazz executives barely noticed Miles new fusion style and his music turned out to be too ambitious. After several false start, jazz fusion stumbles into the market and long playings records, cassettes would come out available in commercial record outlets in a couple of years later.
When Miles fusion started to revolve as a trend. Inevitably jazz fusion music became a standard format for young jazzers. People described It as a combination of rock music and clinging more into jazz. Jazz business started to explore and eventually got interested in it. Admiration to this popular fusion type of music became inspiring to every upcoming jazz artists. During the early 70's people started appreciating the new jazz fusion. Miles really knew where he was headed. By 1975, jazz fusion recording industry already had a market for it. After a decade, when it was closely towards the 80's, all major record labels and many big-name audio companies had totally accepted, educated, and cultivated a general appreciation of the medium of jazz fusion music.
When Miles started to invade the jazz fusion music industry. He personally hand-picked every personnel he wanted. Notably first few batch were, Joe Zawinul, John Mclaughlin, Tony Williams, Jack DeJohnette, Billy Cobham, Herbie Hancock, Chick Corea, Wayne Shorter, Dave Holland, Miroslav Vitous, then other group members followed. They were John Scofield, Mike Stern, Barney Finnerty, Marcus Miller and the list goes on. After a few years playing with Miles and everybody knew there was money in this music. His first batch of personnel started to branch out. Since Miles gave them the blessings and the authority to express their own version of jazz fusion. Since then, jazz fusion has become the ultimate standard jazz rock for everyone.
After several years of revolving Miles music, lots of jazz musicians gave so much respect for Miles. Up to this time, these people who got involved with Miles has always been paying a tribute and honor to the music of Miles Davis. Miles has given the jazz world the real meaning of what his music meant to be. We all miss you MILES DAVIS!
This 2O11 series of Jazz concerts in Europe entitled
"MILES DAVIS TRIBUTE BAND"
This review was taken from - http://frenchrivieratraveller.com/blog/jazz-a-juan-tribute-to-miles-davis/2011/07/18/
JAZZ A JUAN: TRIBUTE TO MILES DAVIS
July 18th, 2011 | Author: Jeanne
Friday the 15th at the famous Jazz a Juan jazz festival at Juan-les-Pins was devoted to commemorating jazz giant Miles Davis. The first band of this two-part evening was Bitches Brew Beyond led by trumpeter Wallace Roney. With sidemen Al Foster, Bernie Maupin, Antoine Roney and others, the group struggled to honor Miles Davis’ groundbreaking fusion album, Bitches Brew. For whatever reason, it didn’t work. The mysterious alchemy that makes jazz “swing” was entirely absent, leaving the audience disengaged and bored. It didn’t help that the group started about 1/2 hour late which meant a long wait for the music everyone came to hear: Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter and Marcus Miller in their “Tribute to Miles”.
Now that was jazz at its most transcendent, most spiritual. The intricate harmonies lay within a complex rhythmical structure that was both subtle and pulsing. Hancock, Shorter and Miller have nothing to prove on the technical front so we were spared flashy see-how-fast-I-can-play nonsense. Every note was a well-chosen stitch in the larger tapestry of sound. The effect was hypnotically beautiful. I fell into a kind of trance where nothing existed but the music weaving its magic. I wasn’t surprised when Miller (in excellent French) explained that they were expressing Miles’ dreams!
As always, the acoustics in the Jazz a Juan festival were impeccable, the crowd respectful and the serene, seaside setting fantastic.
This was taken from Social networking - FACEBOOK
Herbie Hancock-Wayne Shorter-Marcus Miller Tribute to Miles
by Marcus Miller on Tuesday, April 26, 2011 at 8:32am ·
HERBIE HANCOCK, WAYNE SHORTER and MARCUS MILLER - Unite to Salute Legendary Trumpeter in "TRIBUTE TO MILES" On the European Jazz Festival Circuit Summer 2011
Concerts Will Pay Homage
To Each Decade of Davis' Ever-Evolving Soundscape
As Well As Paving Paths For Further "Directions in Music"
Twenty years after his death, American musical genius Miles Davis is as omnipresent as ever. From museum-worthy reissues of his classic recordings such as Kind of Blue and Bitches Brew to sprawling traveling exhibits of his artifacts and memorabilia to concert homages in his name by the world's greatest musicians, Miles Davis has evolved into a brand that stands for music at its boldest, most forward thinking and timeless. Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter and Marcus Miller, three chameleonic and masterful legends whose life legacies are indelibly intertwined with Davis', are uniting this summer for a unique European tour called "Tribute to Miles" that will at once celebrate the music of Davis and, more importantly, his philosophy of constant evolution.
Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter and Marcus Miller's "Tribute to Miles" will play the internationally renowned European festivals Umbria, North Sea, Jazz a Vienne, Monteux, Jazz a Juan, Vitoia-Gasteiz and Jazz des Cinq in Marseilles, as well as a coveted performance at Paris' preeminent music hall, L'Olympia. They will be joined by rising star Sean Jones on trumpet and Sean Rickman, son of guitarist Phil Upchurch (who has worked with Steve Coleman, Meshell Ndegeocello, Dapp Theory, and his own band, Garaj Mahal) on drums.
After making his debut with trumpeter Donald Byrd and soon after signing to Blue Note
Records, Grammy and Academy Award-winning pianist/composer Herbie Hancock joined trumpeter Miles Davis in 1963 where he became part of one of the most celebrated quintets in all of jazz music along with drummer Tony Williams, bassist Ron Carter and, shortly after, saxophonist Wayne Shorter. Shorter joined Miles' band after making a major impression in drummer Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers quintet. During his tenure with Davis in the `60s, Shorter contributed several classic compositions to Davis' catalog and, indeed, the canon of jazz, including "Footprints," "Pinocchio," "Nefertiti" and "Fall" (recently utilized with poignancy in the Halle Berry film "Frankie & Alice"). In the `70s, Hancock and Shorter became leaders in their own right in the realm of electrified jazz-rock fusion: Hancock with his band The Headhunters and Shorter as co-founder of Weather Report (with another Davis alumnus keyboardist Joe Zawinul). While never remaining tethered to the past, they also had no issue with looking back at the great music they made with Davis, revisiting it under the name V.S.O.P. in the `70s and the Grammy-winning Miles Davis Tribute Band.in the `90s.
“The music and legacy of Miles Davis have left an indelible imprint on the history of Jazz and will continue to do so,” says Hancock, “Miles was a visionary, an innovator and, most importantly, the consummate artist and a true geniuus.”
Marcus Miller, producer of the tribute, first worked with Davis as an electric bassist on his 1981 comeback album for Columbia Records, The Man With The Horn. However, it was in 1986 that Marcus was promoted into the hallowed position of primary collaborator with Davis for his first album at Warner Bros. Records, Tutu. The title track became not only Davis' last classic recording, but also a universally recognized jazz standard.
"After wrapping 'Tutu Revisited' and seeing firsthand how passionately received Miles' music remains with the public, I realized how easy it would be for me to just stay under the Miles Davis umbrella forever...which I clearly cannot do. I began to think, 'If I could do one more thing, what would that be?' Out of utmost admiration, I decided to approach Wayne Shorter and Herbie Hancock. It's tricky paying homage to Miles...Wayne and Herbie are the perfect people to get into the spirit of Miles then move forward using the information that we got from him to challenge ourselves and make new statements."
“This tribute to Miles is a way of celebrating the combined efforts of all pioneers historically to present day," Shorter elucidates, "and to project a telescopic probe to portals of the future.”
Miller and Shorter first worked together when Miller produced Shorter’s 1995 Verve Records CD. High Life. A decade later, Miller worked with Herbie Hancock in the all-star septet Headhunters `05. Miller has also been a part of Hancock's Grammy-winning all-star recordings Possibilities and The Imagine Project, which won the 2011 Grammy’s for “Best Pop Collaboration With Vocals” (for the track “Imagine”) and “Best Improvised Jazz Solo” (on “A Change Is Gonna Come”). With Hancock and Shorter being close friends/associates for decades and Miller a coveted newer comrade, the chemistry between this triumvirate is potent for mind-blowing musical exploration of the highest order.
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