QOBUZ LIVE & RHINO PRESENT: MERCI, MILES!: A DISCUSSION CELEBRATING THE MUSIC OF MILES DAVIS FROM HIS FINAL TOUR 1991
On Thursday, September 23 at 2 PM ET / 11 AM PT, Qobuz Live, Qobuz’ weekly livestream series, and Rhino Records will present a panel discussion on the recently released recording of Miles Davis, called Merci, Miles! Live at Vienne, from his final tour in France, on July 1, 1991. Celebrating one of the more overlooked chapters of his legendary career, Merci Miles! Live at Vienne was released this past June from Rhino thirty years after its recording to widespread critical acclaim, and is on sale now. The album features Miles still in top form only three months before his death, drawing on pop and funk music of the day (two originals written for him by Prince!) and leading a youthful, high-powered band.
The panel will focus on Miles’s stellar career, his relationship with France, and the exciting, vital music he was still delivering in the last year of his life. It will include sidemen from that band (keyboardist Deron Johnson and bassist Richard Patterson), current bandleader/drummer of Miles Electric Band and Miles’ nephew Vince Wilburn Jr., and French music historians/producers Vincent Bessieres and Florence Joelle. Jazz author Ashley Kahn will moderate. Listen to Merci Miles! Live at Vienne, on Qobuz, the music lovers’ Hi-Res streaming and download platform, HERE.
This in-depth conversation will be streamed live across multiple channels, including Facebook Live, YouTube, and LinkedIn, and be available afterward for on-demand viewing. RSVP on Facebook.
The discussion will cover how Miles’ journey of musical exploration was still alive and vital in ’91, as well as his lifelong love for France (only days after this concert, Davis received the Legion of Honor award from French culture minister Jack Lang, the highest honor possible in France). The livestream will also incorporate video excerpts from this special concert so viewers can experience it firsthand.
“This Qobuz Live discussion offers a rare opportunity to closely examine a treasure of a performance that helps shine a light on the last chapter of the Miles Davis story,” says Kahn. “That it will include musicians who were on stage that night, and play video excerpts, means we’ll be able to recreate the flavor and spirit of that special evening. Miles was a musical force and an African American icon of strength and authentic expression; this concert shows he still had much to share before he left us.”
“The 1991 Vienne concert can be regarded as a vital and emotional farewell—a final valentine—from Miles to the country that first welcomed him for the free-thinking, creative spirit he was,” writes Kahn in the liner notes to Merci, Miles! He adds that when Miles passed away that September: “In France, he received a hero’s sendoff, his death covered in depth by national and local news outlets alike. ‘Le roi du jazz…’ the newscasters called him. ‘Le roi est mort.’” Stream and download Merci Miles! Live at Vienne on in Hi-Res on Qobuz
Stream and download Merci Miles! Live at Vienne on in Hi-Res on Qobuz
