Review: BBC PROMS: MILES DAVIS CENTENARY, Royal Albert Hall
Proms does jazz with Davis, Gershwin, Weill and Rodrigo
American jazz trumpeter Ambrose Akinmusire joins the BBC Concert Orchestra and Miho Hazama for a celebration of jazz legend Miles Davis on the centenary of his birth.
The programme aims to represent the breadth and scope of Davis's arrangements, as well as presenting some of his influences. Playing in a quartet up front with Akinmusire are Harish Raghavan (bass), Kendrick Scott (drums) and Taylor Eigsti (piano). In acknowledgment of Davis and his long-time partnership with Gil Evans and his orchestrations, this programme is assembled for both quartet and orchestra.
Four selections from George Gershwin's Porgy and Bess — "Bess, You Is My Woman Now", "Gone, Gone, Gone", "Summertime" and "I Loves You, Porgy" — open the evening. Drawn from the 1935 American folk opera, they were given more jazz-tinged treatments on several albums in 1959, including the celebrated version by Louis Armstrong and Ella Fitzgerald and the arrangement by Davis and Gil Evans heard tonight.
With sweet trombone and pulsing bass, the melodies barely survive, but it is the invention and interpretation that matter. Lighting adds another layer of colour, particularly in the potent yellow wash accompanying "Summertime".
Hazama's arrangements of two Davis compositions, "Boplicity" from The Birth of the Cool (1957) and the much-celebrated "Blue in Green" from A Kind of Blue (1959), introduce a clash between orchestral textures and the quartet's pure jazz playing. The result is an intriguing battle of wills, though one that doesn't quite do justice to Davis's work.
The quartet comes into its own in the second piece, with bass and drums dancing against strings and woodwind. Devotees of the style ripple applause through the audience after each solo.
A selection from Manuel De Falla's El Amor Brujo (1924) follows, including two pieces not directly connected with Davis. He arranged "Will O'The Wisp" for Sketches of Spain in 1960, while "Dance of the Terror" and "Ritual Fire Dance" are better understood as influences than celebrations of his work. The latter are perhaps the best-known movements, having appeared frequently as stand-alone pieces on compilations.
Strong percussion and individual solo turns give the familiar music a mid-century gloss. The drums take on a personality of their own, the trumpet embraces the chaos, the bass provides steady support, and the piano becomes a bridge between the rebellion of the jazz club and the conventions of the classical arena.
Photo credit: Louise Penn
The second half opens with a take on Kurt Weill's "My Ship", from the 1941 musical Lady in the Dark. Gil Evans arranged it instrumentally for 1957's Miles Ahead, and Hazama has further orchestrated it here, making the orchestra less a partner than a challenge to the quartet's relaxed, stripped-back vibe. I found the result very effective and enjoyable.
"Miles Ahead" is followed by Eddie Barclay's "Once Upon A Summertime", the American version of the French song "La Valse des Lilas", literally "the waltz of the lilacs". The title seems apt: the music wraps us in a friendly hug. Evans and Davis arranged it for Quiet Nights (1963), and while I value the concert's mix of styles, I found myself longing for a moment with the quartet alone, free of the weight of the orchestration.
We were given that moment with "Henya", written by Akinmusire with Bill Frisell and Herlin Riley for their 2023 album Owl Song. Clearly inspired by Davis, it ripples with a modern take on his ideas and style.
The official programme concluded with Joaquin Rodrigo's En Aranjuez con tu amor, drawn from the Adagio of Concierto de Aranjuez (1939). Evans and Davis arranged it for the studio album Sketches of Spain, and it also appeared on the popular live album Miles Davis at Carnegie Hall, recorded in 1960.
This is a seminal piece, whether performed for guitar, brass band or orchestra. Some of Hazama's frills were effective; others felt intrusive. What a solo trombone, bass and jazz drummer can do with the piece is very different from what a concert orchestra can achieve, and I didn't feel the orchestration did justice to the original. I'd urge listeners to seek out Davis's live recording to appreciate his intention, and Evans's contribution with his 21-piece accompaniment.
In the end, the battle of wills between the jazzmen and the orchestra meant a little less Davis and a little more everything else.
Still, a familiar encore allowed the eye to fall on a prommer lost in his own reverie of appreciation as others moved to let him dance, a drink in one hand and a coat over his other arm, hat on head.
The BBC Proms continues at the Royal Albert Hall until 12 September
Header photo credit: Michael Wilson
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