In Celebration of Black History Month
the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts of Miami-Dade County and Larry Rosen present Jazz Roots – A Larry Rosen Jazz Series
February 25, 2011 at 8 p.m.
John S. and James L. Knight Concert Hall
Adrienne Arsht Center
1300 Biscayne Boulevard, Miami, FL 33132
Tickets $25 – $130
For tickets visit www.arshtcenter.org or call the box office at (305) 949-6722

Featuring
Miles Davis protégé and trumpet virtuoso Wallace Roney;
Renowned bassist/former Miles Davis Quintet member Ron Carter;
Legendary bass guitarist Marcus Miller and
Composer/co-producer of the historic, Grammy-winning Tutu;
Young trumpet star Christian Scott

The program will explore the two musical sides of Miles Davis’s work, and showcase one of the greatest pieces of music ever produced in Tutu Revisited, The Music of Miles Davis

Now celebrating its Fifth Anniversary Season, the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts of Miami-Dade County and Larry Rosen present Jazz Roots: A Larry Rosen Jazz Series – Celebrating Miles in commemoration of Black History Month in February. The program features an all-star lineup of jazz greats and former Miles Davis collaborators paying tribute to one of the greatest jazz innovators of our time, on February 25, 2011 at 8 p.m. in the John S. and James L. Knight Concert Hall of the Adrienne Arsht Center.

Jazz Roots: Celebrating Miles will showcase the two musical sides of this legendary artist’s work. The first half of the program features Miles Davis protégé and trumpeter extraordinaire Wallace Roney, with his sextet, featuring acclaimed bassist Ron Carter, one of the original members of the second great Miles Davis Quintet. This section of the program will focus on Davis’s acoustic period, featuring the music from his classic Columbia albums, Milestones, Round About Midnight, and leading up to what is arguably the most important jazz record in modern history, Kind of Blue. The second half of the concert highlights the electric side of Miles Davis with legendary musician, producer and bass guitarist Marcus Miller, bringing his highly anticipated show, Tutu Revisited, The Music of Miles Davis, giving an inside look into the making and artistry of one of the greatest pieces of music ever produced. Joining Miller onstage for the Tutu program is Grammy-nominated, young jazz lion Christian Scott.

“In honor of Black History Month this February, Jazz Roots: Celebrating Miles, will move beyond mainstream jazz territory to highlight the music of one of the most influential artistic visionaries in music whose lifework embodied all of the qualities that make jazz an enduring and vital art form,” said M. John Richard, president and CEO of the Adrienne Arsht Center. “We are thrilled to present many of the artists who worked with Davis in various capacities throughout his groundbreaking career, as we spotlight the music born out of the African-American experience,” added Richard.

Multi-Grammy Award-winning trumpeter and band leader Wallace Roney has earned the admiration and respect of his colleagues and elders since the age of 16. He has been an integral part of bands led by Tony Williams, Ornette Coleman, Art Blakey, Herbie Hancock, and Dizzy Gillespie, just to name a few. However, his most significant musical relationship was with the legendary Miles Davis. Roney was mentored by Davis after he heard him play at the trumpet legend’s gala birthday performance at Carnegie Hall. Their association was highlighted when Miles invited his protégé to share the stage with him in 1991. After Miles passed, Roney toured with Herbie Hancock, Ron Carter, Wayne Shorter, and Tony Williams in a world tribute to celebrate the iconic trumpeter’s legacy. Roney is the foremost proponent of the Miles Davis legacy and, in fact, Davis gave the trumpeter his blue horn that is his trademark.

Ron Carter is among the most original, prolific, and influential bassists in the history of jazz. With more than 2,500 albums to his credit, he has recorded with many jazz greats, such as Gil Evans, Dexter Gordon, and Bill Evans. From 1963 to 1968, Carter was a member of the classic and acclaimed Miles Davis Quintet, along with Herbie Hancock, Tony Williams, and Wayne Shorter. He earned a Grammy Award for Best Jazz Instrumental Group, with the Miles Davis Tribute Band, and another for “Call Sheet Blues,” an instrumental composition from the film ‘Round Midnight. Additional honors and awards include being named Jazz Bassist of the Year by DownBeat magazine, and Most Valuable Player, Acoustic Bass, by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences.

Marcus Miller is a multi-talented jazz musician, composer, producer, and perhaps best known for his proficiency on his main instrument, the bass guitar, having topped critics’ and readers’ polls for three decades. As a producer, writer, and player, he was the last primary collaborator of jazz legend Miles Davis, and is renowned for contributing the composition “Tutu” (in tribute to Bishop Desmond Tutu) to the canon of contemporary jazz music. He wrote “Tutu” for Miles Davis, which defined the trumpeter’s career in the late 1980s, and was also the title song of Davis’s album of the same name. As a producer, Miller has won many Grammy Awards for his work with Miles Davis, Luther Vandross and David Sanborn, among others. Prior to developing a prolific solo career, Miller spent more than a decade performing as a sideman or session musician, which earned him the Most Valuable Player Award three years in a row by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences.

Grammy-nominated, young jazz lion Christian Scott is considered one of the great innovators of his generation. This year, Scott won the most prestigious Dutch music prize, the Edison Award, for Best International Jazz Artist of 2010. He has been heralded by Jazz Times magazine as “the architect of a new commercially viable fusion” and “jazz’s young style God.” A native of New Orleans, the 27-year old trumpet star is the progenitor of the fabled “whisper technique” of playing the trumpet, and is garnering worldwide critical acclaim for his fifth studio album, Yesterday You Said Tomorrow, engineered by the renowned Rudy Van Gelder.