A hundred years of Miles Davis in Sofia on November 16 - Jason Miles, Randy Brecker and Gene Lake in Hall 3 of the NDK

A hundred years since the birth of Miles Davis will be marked in Sofia on November 16, 2026, in Hall 3 of the NDK. The concert "100 Miles for Miles Davis" is organised by the American pianist and producer Jason Miles, a Grammy winner, and on stage with him will be trumpeter Randy Brecker and drummer Gene Lake.

Miles Davis was born in 1926 in Illinois and remains one of the towering figures of twentieth-century jazz, with nine Grammy awards. He stands behind two separate turning points in the genre. First he perfected and imposed modal jazz, then he fused jazz with rock and electronic rhythms, something no other musician of his generation did with the same consequences. The 1959 album "Kind of Blue" is among the best-selling jazz records in history.

Jason Miles was not chosen for this programme by accident. He was a long-time close friend and collaborator of Davis, and the idea for the concert was born precisely around the centenary. He also released a tribute album with the same title, but the pieces on it are not reworkings of Davis themes. They are Miles's own compositions, conceived to catch the energy of Davis's work and the atmosphere of their time working together. That is a different kind of tribute from one that merely repeats the familiar melodies.

Randy Brecker is a trumpeter whose career spans decade after decade of American jazz and fusion, and Gene Lake is a drummer whose name the jazz audience knows from the sessions. The two of them handle the part that takes the audience back to the years when Davis played live.

Hall 3 of the NDK is a chamber room inside Bulgaria's largest congress centre, a favourable setting for a jazz programme. Tickets are sold through festteam.bg. Sofia is about four hours by car from Skopje, and a centenary comes once.