In celebration of the centennial of MILES DAVIS’ birth, this ELECTRIC MILES concert sees GRAMMY Award nominee, 2x National Jazz Award winner, and Jay-Z, Kanye West & Missy Elliot alumni BROWNMAN ALI take Niagara region audiences on a chronological journey through Miles Davis’ electric period, tracing his groundbreaking output from 1969 through to his final explorations bridging jazz and hip-hop. Described as “one of Canada’s greatest interpreters of Miles Davis’ music” by the Hamilton Spectator, this trumpet-playing iconoclast brings a deeply authentic and high-energy tribute to this pivotal era of the jazz art form.
Legendary as a kind of line in the sand challenging jazz fans during the ascendance of electric, psychedelic rock, “In a Silent Way” (Columbia Records, 1969) hinted at the repetitive polyrhythms Davis would employ throughout the early ’70s. Glistening against his new group’s strange admixture of musical moods, Miles would stay on this “electric” path right into the ’80’s, continually exploring these textures with newer and younger generations of musicians such as Marcus Miller and John Scofield. Miles’ entire electric era partook generously of electric piano, synthesizer, and bass tonal colourings previously explored in acoustic settings, but this last era of Miles’ career is now in the history books as clearly Electric-Jazz: part ambient color exploration, part groove- inflected energy and vibe, and part outright maverick creativity.
Brownman Ali and an all-star cast of Canada’s top-tier performers will take audiences through a whirlwind cavalcade of hand-picked selections spanning Miles’ entire electric era — from ’69 to ’91 — discussing each tune, and its place in Miles’ pantheon of work as he performs them. Part engaging performance, part masterclass in Miles — you won’t want to miss this!
:: BROWNMAN ALI – electric trumpet (GRAMMY nominee)
:: NICK MACLEAN – keyboards (JUNO nominee)
:: SAM DICKINSON – guitar (Russ Macklem)
:: JORDAN PELUNSKY – 6-string electric bass (20-year-old bass phenom)
:: ADAM MANSFIELD – drums (Brownman Electryc Trio)
ABOUT BROWNMAN ALI
Trinidadian-born, NYC-trained, and hailed by Village Voice as “Canada’s preeminent Jazz trumpeter,” Brownman Ali is a multi-award-winning innovator in Canadian jazz. A protégé of Grammy-winning Randy Brecker, he leads seven ensembles, including the internationally acclaimed Miles Davis-inspired BROWNMAN ELECTRYC TRIO and award-winning CRUZAO Latin-jazz quintet.
Founder of Browntasauras Records, his label’s Electryc Trio release Juggernaut reached #3 on the iTunes USA jazz charts. A prolific studio musician with over 300 CD appearances, he has performed and recorded across genres with artists from Guru’s Jazzmatazz and Mos Def to Quincy Jones, Paul Simon, and Wayne Shorter.
Widely recognized as one of Canada’s most unique and provocative improvising trumpeters, Brownman has earned multiple JUNO Awards, National Jazz Awards, a CBC Galaxie Rising Star award, SOCAN Composer’s Award, Montreal Jazz Fest’s Grand Prix du Jazz, and numerous other honors, including recognition from the Trinidad & Tobago Consulate General and inclusion in Who’s Who in Black Canada.