Photo credit ; BBC / Andy Paradise

Miles Davis Centenary
BBC Proms, Royal Albert Hall
20 June 2026

Ambrose Akinmusire - trumpet
Taylor Eigsti -  piano
Harish Raghaven -  bass
Kendrick Scott -  drums
BBC Concert Orchestra, conductor Miho Hazama

The BBC Proms celebration of Miles Davis’ centenary unsurprisingly focused on his orchestral phase when he collaborated with Canadian pianist, composer arranger Gil Evans in recording five albums (Birth of the Cool, Miles Ahead, Sketches of Spain, Porgy and Bess, and Quiet Nights).

Conductor Miho Hazama had arranged/orchestrated a selection from that body of work, and a track from Davis’ most famous album Kind of Blue for the large forces of the BBC Concert Orchestra with a full string section, and a quartet of American jazz musicians led by star trumpeter Ambrose Akinmusire, a combination of forces larger than used by, or available to, Davis and Evans.

On the face of it Akinmusire was well qualified for a Miles Davis tribute. “ I knew Wayne Shorter and I’ve played with Ron Carter so my connections with Miles run deep” ( interviewed by David Kettle, Proms programme for the concert). However, he made a rather tentative start in the opening number Gershwin’s ‘Bess, You is my Woman Now’, the first of four numbers from Porgy and Bess. The next one was Evans’ hard driving ‘Gone’ with drummer Kendrick Scott to the fore and the orchestration emphasising hard bop.

Gershwin’s ‘Summertime’ then made its predictable appearance. The laid back version with the auditorium bathed in yellow light, was pleasant but unremarkable ( I would have liked Hazama to select a lesser known number from the album).The last Porgy and Bess number, ’ I want to stay here /I loves you Porgy’ was more interesting with Hazama’s background instrumentation pitched just right, a delightfully nimble cameo from pianist Taylor Eigsti, a great choice as late replacement for Sam Harris, and with Akinmusire now well into his playing, and with a sustained burst of high notes creating a sensual and ambiguous end.

Hazara’s variations on ‘Boplicity’ from ‘Birth of the Cool’, unfortunately eroded the sharpness of the original, and the rather lounge music feel wasn’t offset by the insertion of a quote from the James Bond theme. Nor did the orchestration do much for ‘Blue in Green’, the track in the programme from ‘Kind of Blue’. Akinmusire’s trumpet did strike an appropriately mournful tone though, and there was another fine piano solo

The first half did end on a high note however with a well orchestrated and dramatic medley from Manuel de Falla’s ballet ‘El Amor de Brujo’. Evans incorporated ‘Will of the Wisp’ from that score into the Sketches of Spain album , and Hazara cleverly bookended it with two more pieces from de Falla’s ballet.

The crisp paso doble opening of ’ Dance of Terror’ gave way to Akinmusire playing high register stop - go single notes that conveyed rising terror. Castanets ushered in and were the bedrock for ‘‘Will of the Wisp’ with the orchestra playing a repeated figure over which Akinmusire probed until displaced by a chorus of trombones bending a minor key phrase, again on repeat. Hazama’s decision to insert quotes from ‘Milestones ’ into de Falla’s ‘Ritual Fire Dance’ proved justified, the Miles Davis classic gelled well with the de Falla piece. The fire flickered into life with a Spanish / Arabic orchestral introduction that gave way to an adroit piano solo followed by stabs of trumpet, and a burst of drums from the excellent Scott. Then the orchestra came into its own building towards the tumultuous final crescendo.

The second half began with ‘My Ship’ from ‘Miles Ahead’, a tune that was lifted from the Broadway musical ‘Lady in the Dark’ composed by Kurt Weill. The initial orchestral swell carried a hint of the dark side, but there was a strange passage of cartoon-like music which jarred. However the arrangement did give space for the excellent quartet to stretch out.

The title track from ‘Miles Ahead’ was rather over orchestrated with the orchestra and the quartet competing for space. The balance between the two was much better though in the elegantly mournful ’ Once Upon A Summertime’ , an arrangement of a French tune co-written by Michel Legrand and the one number in tonight’s set from ‘Quiet Nights’.

The orchestra was then stood down, leaving the quartet to play a spell binding 21st century slow ballad version of ‘Henya’, an Akinmusire composition from the album ‘Owl Song’. Akinmusire’s phrasing and his technique soaring from low to high in an instant, were superb as was the textural inventiveness of Scott on drums.

Then it was onto the centre piece of ‘Sketches of Spain’, the adagio from Rodrigo’s guitar ‘Concierto de Aranjuez’. Here again the orchestration was good, with Akimusire’s trumpet weaving in and out of the orchestral sound, orchestral passages that were gripping and not overbearing, and a noble diminuendo ending.

That brought the official part of the concert to an end. But the crescendo of appreciation from the sold out Albert Hall demanded and got an encore, Ahmad Jamal’s ‘New Rumba’ from ‘Milestones’ that swung and was laced with humorous interplay both within the orchestra and between it and the quartet. It was a joyous way to celebrate Miles Davis.

The quartet were brilliant, not just Ambrose Akinmusire who showed in bursts why he is regarded as one of the leading trumpeters of his generation, but all four. The bold idea of putting them alongside a large orchestra in the Albert Hall to celebrate Miles is praiseworthy in itself, and while it did not succeed in every number it did come off more than often enough to make for a very enjoyable night out.

The concert is available on BBC Sounds for 30 days after the last night of the Proms i.e. the end of September. https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m003029j

Also it is available on the BBC iPlayer
https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m0030g28/bbc-proms-2026-miles-davis-a-celebration-at-the-proms

Ambrose Akinmusire Quartet is at Kings Place, 15th November, 2026 as part of the EFG London Jazz Festival

Set List;

Bess, you is my woman now
Gone
Summertime
I want to be here (I loves you Porgy)
Little Variations on Boplicity
Blue in Green
El Amor Brujo Medley
Dance of the Terror
Will O’ The Wisp
Ritual Fire Dance

(Interval)

My Ship,
Miles Ahead
Once Upon a Summertime (La Valse des lilas),
Henya,
Adagio from Concierto de Aranjuez-
(Encore)
New Rumba

COLIN MAY

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