Written by Jason Miles has earned the right to make this record. Not many people can say they were in the room when Miles Davis was reinventing himself for the late 1980s — but Miles was, contributing keyboard programming and arrangements to TuTu, Music from Siesta, and Amandla. This tribute, released on what would have been Davis’s 100th birthday, is therefore something more than a fan’s homage. It is a deeply personal reflection from someone who was genuinely part of that story.
I’ve been following Jason’s work for many years, and caught him live at Jazzahead a few years back — so when this album landed, I was curious to hear what the move to Lisbon had done to his music. As far as I’m aware, this is his first full album since relocating from upstate New York to Portugal in 2022, and it arrives with something to prove — not to critics, but to the idea that a bold life change can genuinely feed the music. On that count, 100 Miles for Miles Davis delivers.
The album inhabits the same musical world as the Davis projects Miles worked on — that fusion of electronic textures, groove, and melodic intelligence that defined Davis’s final decade — while maintaining its own voice throughout. This is not pastiche. The production aesthetic is unmistakably contemporary, and the ensemble playing has a warmth and looseness that keeps things feeling alive rather than reverential.
The opening title track sets the tone confidently, with Randy Brecker on trumpet and Ada Rovatti Brecker on tenor sax forming a superb frontline. Rovatti Brecker returns on the second track, “The Girl With The Purple Hair,” this time on alto, and her contribution across both pieces is one of the album’s consistent pleasures — her phrasing has real authority without ever dominating the ensemble. “Collateral Damage,” co-written with Russell Gunn, who also plays trumpet and keyboards, is another strong moment; Gunn brings a slightly harder edge that suits the track well, and Ronnie Drayton’s guitar adds texture throughout.
Miles Davis with Jason Miles
“Malibu Midnight Blue” shifts the mood noticeably, and deliberately so. With James Genus on bass and the incomparable Vinnie Colaiuta on drums, the track has a different centre of gravity — more East Coast in feel. Jeff Coffin’s soprano saxophone sits perfectly in the mix. It is a track that reminds you how much of Jasons music is about the rhythm section as much as the frontline.
“Jeanne Moreau” is, for me, the highlight of the set. It has a late-night quality that feels genuinely cinematic — Patches Stewart on trumpet and Jay Rodriguez on tenor sax are both excellent, and the ensemble interplay has a looseness that feels like real time spent together in the room, even though this was most likly not the case and recorded remotly. “Samba Para Miles” brings in Romero Lubambo on both electric and acoustic guitar alongside the percussionist Cyro Baptista, and the Brazilian inflection sits naturally within the album’s broader palette.
The album closes with two versions of “Miles to Miles” — a solo piano rendition on Steinway, and a 1994 bonus track featuring a fuller band arrangement with Dean Brown and Bill Washer on guitars. Both are well-played, but I’ll be honest: they sit somewhat apart from the rest of the album in feel and sound, and I suspect some listeners will find them a slight detour from what has come before. In an age of streaming, where track sequence and album length are choices rather than constraints, one wonders whether the set might have ended more decisively with “Jeanne Moreau.”
Produced, arranged, and conceived entirely by Jason Miles, 100 Miles for Miles Davis is a record made by someone with both the history and the craft to carry it off. I enjoyed this album a great deal, highly recomended.
Track Listing:
1. 100 Miles | 2. The Girl With The Purple Hair | 3. Collateral Damage | 4. Malibu Midnight Blue | 5. Samba Para Miles | 6. Jeanne Moreau | 7. Miles to Miles | 8. Miles to Miles (1994 Bonus Track)
Line-Up:
Jason Miles – Keyboards | Randy Brecker – Trumpet | Ada Rovatti Brecker – Tenor Sax, Alto Sax | Russell Gunn – Trumpet, Keyboards | Jeff Coffin – Soprano Sax | Patches Stewart – Trumpet | Jay Rodriguez – Tenor Sax | Romero Lubambo – Electric & Acoustic Guitar | Kat Dyson – Guitar | Ronnie Drayton – Guitar | Tiago Oliveira – Guitar | Dean Brown – Guitar | Bill Washer – Guitar | Yami Aloelela – Bass | James Genus – Bass | Adam Dorn – Bass | Vinnie Colaiuta – Drums | Vicky Marques – Drums | Leroy Williams Jr – Drums | Adrian Harpham – Drums | Gene Lake – Drums | Cyro Baptista – Percussion | Deodato DaSilva – Drums | Jim Pugh – Trombone
Release Date: 1 May 2026
Format: CD | Streaming
Label: Self Release
Last modified: May 7, 2026
