![]() ![]() We picked up soloists some of them were supposed to go on holiday or whatever. PM: We did! In Easy Sound and staff arranged it so that the band was there. SS: Did you actually do it on short notice like this? PM: He recorded some of it and listened to it and then he said ‘I’ll be there’. SS: So he had the concert and he had this little recorder and he had recorded some of it himself? He said ‘Can you make it in ten days or something like that? We will come.’ So he heard that and said ‘I want to record that’. I didn’t know that one night the telephone in ’84 and I would hear voice: ‘Hey! Palle!’ I thought it was a friend of mine, joking! But it was actually Miles saying ‘I want to record this’.įunnily enough, he had a little tape recorder with him, an old tape recorder, you know? Where he’s recording on cassette. ![]() Because that was what they asked me to do: ‘He should only play 5 minutes’. Scott Stroman: Would you say that Aura is about your feelings about Miles Davis? Bless you, Palle, for the love you bring through your music.Įxtract from interview transcription, taken 26 June 2023 He looked me in the eye, and said, surely meaning all of us, "because I did not have you". I asked him why, in spite of many requests, it had not happened since. To his delight and mine, we present it in its original concert form, designed for one special moment and not performed since - until now, which happens, coincidentally, to be the 40th anniversary of its composition. But, as Palle says, it is a different piece. The recording had been adapted, beautifully, by Miles and Palle for a home listening experience, in tracks. Through-composed but with clear sections ("colours"), it was not only subtly biographical but referenced previous winners of the prize Miles was to receive, and had long stretches of calm introspection. ![]() To our surprise we discovered that the Grammy Award-winning record was quite different than the original score, created for one special broadcast concert. His current health doesn't allow him to travel to be here, so I went to him.Īura is an ambitious undertaking, requiring a large group of musicians and integrating sounds from the period including tape, bespoke synthesizers, and electronic percussion, in addition to Palle's beloved oboe and harp. And Palle revealed himself to be a generous, modest, and kindred spirit while hosting me in Copenhagen over two life-enhancing days to discuss music, life, and Aura. After a 25-year attempt to make it happen, it finally has, thanks to Adam Williams' unearthing of its score in the Danish Radio library, Stuart Hall's remarkable achievement in extracting performing materials, and the dedication of all the young musicians on stage. Palle was someone I knew more from reputation than from listening, in retrospect a huge oversight on my part, but when I heard Aura I knew both that I wanted to bring it to life, live, and that I wanted to get to know its creator. I know of only one other, Gil Evans, who could do that. It is the voice of another musician, one who seems to know how to draw out the best in Miles in a large palate one who somehow, from a distance, shares his world. Of course, on first hearing, it is the unmistakable voice of Miles which catches the ear, but there is something about the setting, the larger piece, which stands it apart from any other Davis recording since the 1960s. I know of no other piece quite like Aura. Mikkelborg conceived the suite as an all-embracing live experience, a through-composed colour journey through the auras of Miles to be travelled together. This performance of Aura will be as close to the composer’s original vision as possible. The performance will begin with a pre-recorded audio track and excerpts from the documentary Days With Miles: The Making of Aura and a recent recorded conversation between Palle Mikkelborg and director Scott Stroman. In this concert performance, Guildhall Jazz Orchestra – under the direction of Scott Stroman and with special guest trumpet player Robbie Robson – return to the original orchestral score to present a fresh look at the material that was to become one of Miles’ finest works for the final decade of his life. It was described by Fred Kaplan of New York magazine as a “jolting synthesis of jazz, rock, and Messiaen-influenced classical music that lit up a future path lamentably unfollowed”. The work’s main theme consists of ten notes generated from the letters ‘M-I-L-E-S-D-A-V-I-S’, with each movement representing a different colour of Davis’ aura as seen by Mikkelborg. The ten movements encompass everything from blues to funk to reggae, and represent, in the broadest possible terms, what writer Herb Wong described as Miles’ “charismatic and nutritious aura”. Composed in tribute to Miles Davis in 1984, and the final album to be released during his lifetime, Aura saw Miles collaborate with Danish trumpeter Palle Mikkelborg to create a unique conceptual work. ![]()
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