Under the Stars: Miles Davis centennial celebrations blow into the Bay - 48 hills

"Rubberband captures a series of recording sessions that took place during this period, when Miles moved from Columbia Records to Warner Bros. in the summer of 1985, reflecting the legend's Reagan era of shiny pop-funk. Still searching for the sound of the street, he chose to reinterpret a diverse range of contemporary styles-jazz, funk, rock, calypso, Latin, and soul-in his own way."

"It was a concrete choice by one of the most influential figures in 20th-century music to evolve with the culture, opting not to rehash "classics" but to create arrangements that reflect the " voodoo economics " of the era he was living in. Naturally, the man who repeatedly changed the course of jazz and commercial music refused to fade into the background."

During the mid-1980s, Miles Davis recorded sessions captured on Rubberband after moving from Columbia Records to Warner Bros. in summer 1985. The sessions reflected a Reagan-era pop-funk sheen as Davis reinterpreted contemporary jazz, funk, rock, calypso, Latin and soul influences while seeking the sound of the street. Rubberband, released in 2019, presents occasionally awkward, exploratory trial-and-error arrangements that aimed to resonate with modern sensibilities rather than revisit past classics. Davis consciously evolved with the culture to remain on the radio in the 1980s. Miles Davis' centennial will be observed in 2026 with events such as Miles Davis Century of Cool at SFJAZZ.

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