JAZZ REVIEW : DAVIS MAKES IT A NIGHT TO REMEMBER

It was Miles Davis night at the Greek Theatre on Thursday--a special occasion under any circumstances. But Davis made it even better than that.

Visibly stronger than he has been since a variety of physical ailments cut into his public performances a decade or so ago, Davis roved the stage with the feral intensity of a restless shaman. Urging, demanding and teasing his musicians, he dominated the performance with a presence that would have been rare even in his salad years of the ‘50s and ‘60s. Several times during the evening he astonished and delighted his audience by descending the stage steps and playing his electronically amplified horn in a series of little personal solos.

Davis’ restless experimenting with various kinds of jazz-rock, jazz-fusion, etc., has resulted in a style perfectly tailored to his epigrammatic soloing. Every piece was a canvas of abstract sound--synthesizer swoops, multilevel rhythms, brightly accented interjections from the other lead players. Anchoring this Jackson Pollock-like swirl of color and energy was a series of episodic, riff-like rhythms, many of them rock-derived, some not so simple as they seemed. And all of it served as a background for the Davis trumpet.

He improvised four choruses of blues that left out more than most players put in; he worked the same exquisite kind of transformation of Cyndi Lauper’s “Time After Time” that he once worked on songs like “Bye, Bye Blackbird.” And, unlike many recent performances, he was the centerpiece of every number, fully willing to engage and involve the audience.

Make no mistake about it, this was a Miles Davis night, plain and simple. And it was a Miles Davis night to remember.

The Crusaders opened the show with their guaranteed 100% pure brand of jazz funk. Only pianist Joe Sample and saxophonist Wilton Felder remain of the group’s original members. But the Crusaders’ music always has been energized by solid rhythmic riffing, and bassist Brad Bobo, drummer Perry Wilson and guitarist David C. Walker were easily up to the task of cooking with the proper amount of grease.