Delving into the creative chaos behind the making of Kind of Blue, the best-selling jazz album of all time, MILES. fuses live jazz and multi-rolling performance to explore the life and legacy of jazz icon Miles Davis. Accompanied by a live underscore from the UK’s leading jazz trumpeter Jay Phelps (Wynton Marsalis, Shabaka Hutchings, Amy Winehouse, Wizkid), actor Benjamin Akintuyosi—making his professional debut—portrays a host of characters including Davis, as the production moves fluidly through time, memory, and influence, capturing the sound, pressure, and innovation of an artist who redefined modern music. Created using Davis’s autobiography and never-before-heard recordings, the piece unfolds as a hypnotic, smoke-laced fever dream: an exploration of addiction, reinvention, and the explosive cost of genius.
Writer and director Oliver Kaderbhai said, "As a mixed-race theatre maker of Anglo-Indian descent, I am curious about identity - what drives people to do the things they do. We're interested in humanity under pressure. Miles was a complex man and we’re going to explore how he became the creative genius we know today - how did his race, his circumstances, his upbringing impact his choices? And would he have been a different Miles if he existed today?”
Oliver Kaderbhai is a writer, director and producer, and the founder of devising theatre company :DELIRIUM:. Directing credits include Clybourne Park (Park Theatre), Striking 12 (Union Theatre), Songs of Abdulkarim (59 Productions, Kuwait), One Minute (The Vaults), Peter Pan (co-directed, Chichester Festival Theatre), and Go To Your God Like A Soldier (Old Vic Tunnels). He has also worked as Associate or Assistant Director on major productions including Hamilton (UK tour), Jesus Christ Superstar and Running Wild (Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre). Oliver is proud to be the recipient of this year’s prestigious Meadows Award — an initiative launched by Summerhall Arts to support Artists of Colour. The Meadows Award offers a fully supported run at Summerhall during the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, providing vital opportunities for underrepresented artists and championing diversity, equality, and inclusion within the arts.
Jay Phelps is a London based trumpeter and DJ who has performed with some of the world’s top artists such as Wynton Marsalis, Shabaka Hutchings, Amy Winehouse and Wizkid. With an instantly recognisable warm and projecting trumpet tone, Phelps is a household name on the international Jazz scene with worldwide streams exceeding 500k. Canadian born Phelps has had a career spanning over 20 years and his charismatic energy has lead him to radio presenting for Jazz FM and Worldwide FM, as well as creating the Youtube documentary series Ear to the Ground. Jay has also created SoulEndvr, his own music casting agency for TV, Film and advertising (featured on Netflix, Amazon Prime, HBO and BBC). This summer Phelps released The Now, his seventh album as a leader with Apple Music subsidiary label Platoon.
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