When Miles Davis turned in his Italian suits for Sly Stone-inspired garb and started using electric piano, guitar and Fender Bass in his bands, he turned over the world of jazz. In a Silent Way, Bitches Brew, A Tribute to Jack Johnson and On the Corner fused the best of funk beats, jazz harmony and avant-garde abandon in a way that has seldom been matched.
A new eight piece band, “Listen to This,” is named for the working title for the album that became Bitches Brew. Most of its members were drawn into jazz as teenagers by the groundbreaking work of Miles and his sidemen – Herbie, Chick, Wayne, Zawinul, McLaughlin – when that music was brand new. At the distance of – gulp – a half century, they revisit this music and play it with the delight of teenagers and the skill of veterans.
Jerome Deupree (drums; Morphine) is the ringleader, aided and abetted by Dave Bryant (keys; Ornette Coleman), Russ Gershon (soprano sax, flute, organ; Either/Orchestra, Lookie Lookie), Bryan Murphy (trumpet), Rick McLaughlin (bass, Either/Orchestra), J Johnson (guitar, Parlour Bells), Rick Barry (percussion, Bim Skala Bim, Swampanova) and Todd Brunel (bass clarinet)
Early electric Miles music never gets old, and you’ll never hear it played live the way it’s played by Listen to This.
$15 advance $20 door