Marathon of Miles in March

Beginning at noon and lasting until ’round midnight, the music of Miles Davis will be represented by over 150 performers at New York’s Symphony Space at its 31st annual Wall to Wall concert. The 12-hour concert, commemorating Davis’ 75th birthday, will touch on every era of Davis’ expansive career from his early bop, to his birth of the cool and modal jazz innovations, to his tender balladry through his radical fusion and funk experiments.

The concert will take place March 24 and is free. Tickets will not be sold and reservations will not be taken. Audience members can come and go throughout the day; those interested in attending must wait for space to become available at Symphony Space (2537 Broadway at 95th Street). The entire performance will be broadcast live on WBGO Jazz 88.3 FM and highlights will be broadcast nationally on the NPR program JazzSet with Branford Marsalis in May, in conjunction with Miles’ birthday.

The non-chronological program will be organized into six two-hour segments, with each segment capturing at least three distinct aspects of Miles diverse output. “Miles is often compared to Pablo Picasso for his lifelong dedication to stylistic evolution, and the extraordinarily broad impact of his work, not just on jazz, but on all the arts,” explains Wall to Wall curator Bill Bragin. “In that spirit, the day will take an almost ‘cubist’ approach, with this single day-long event giving audiences a chance to see multiple viewpoints of Miles at the same time.”

Previous Wall to Walls have honored such prominent composers as Kurt Weill, Frank Loesser, Johann Sebastian Bach and John Cage. This marks only the second event focusing on a jazz composer; Duke Ellington was featured in 1991.

Originally Published February 15, 2001