Smoke Jazz Club Will Host Miles Davis Centennial Festival

Smoke Jazz Club will present a five-night Miles Davis Centennial Festival from May 27-31, 2026, featuring an acoustic quintet: trumpeter Eddie Henderson, alto saxophonist Gary Bartz, and drum legend Billy Hart. Joining the Quintet is pianist Kevin Hays and drummer Billy Hart.

Each also has personal connections to Miles: NEA Jazz Masters Bartz and Hart appeared, in the 1970s, on his groundbreaking albums Live-Evil and On the Corner, respectively, while Henderson often credits his remarkable career in music to advice and encouragement from Miles, a close friend of his parents. In fact, Davis stayed with the Hendersons in 1958 and took a young Eddie Henderson, still in high school, with him to the gig where he heard Miles' sextet with John Coltrane, Cannonball Adderley, Wynton Kelly, Paul Chambers, and Philly Joe Jones. It was a decisive moment for Henderson, and the rest is history.

This is a celebration of Miles's life, music and lasting impact, performed by musicians who knew him, learned from him, and carried his legacy forward.