The Only Time Prince & Miles Davis Jammed Together Onstage: Watch the New Year’s Eve, 1987 Concert

The genre of internet memes far too ahead of time depicts the leaving public figure who didn’t know each other in life in heaven with embrace, high five and awfully serious exchanges. These sentimental vignettes are almost too easy for parody, a kitschy version of the “what if” game.

If John Lennon formed a band with Eric Clapton, as Lennon himself once proposed? Or what if the Jimi Hendrix/Miles Davis collaboration was off, as Hendrix imagined the year before his death? Rather than just fantasy baseball, this exercise allows us to speculate on how musicians who influenced each other evolve if they are given the opportunity to jam indefinitely.

When it comes to Miles, few people have not been affected by the greatest jazz influences. Prince Rogers Nelson knew this well. Prince, the son of a jazz pianist, grew up with Miles’ music. He “had been drawn to the world of rock, pop and R&B.” I write pianist Ron DorottosPrince said, “It appears he saw jazz as a way of expressing himself in a broader way than he could with more commercial styles.”

Prince was very interested in exploring jazz and certain forms of Davis in the 80s, and formed a band anonymously. Madhouse (In fact, he and horn player Eric Lees) released two albums of fusion instrumentals. The impact went both ways. “Miles believes Prince has the potential to become another Duke Ellington, and he modeled his 1980s music in a 1980s style.” Tutu It stands out as an example. What if Did the two musicians work together? Can you imagine it?

They weren’t to our knowledge, but Prince’s vault was vast, but they didn’t conspire on the album, but they created one studio track together.Can I play with you?And the two master composers and musicians were packed together on stage once at Paisley Park on the Great Ve date of 1987. The concert was a benefit to the Minnesota Union, the Homeless, and the Minnesota Union, for the last performance by Prince. Signature of the era Stage show. At the end of the concert, Davis steps onto the stage and seeks a “icy cold look.” got it Note. “As a companion to the release of the Deluxe Edition” of the album, “The Late Icon’s Estate abandoned the set for more than two hours.”

Watch the concert at the top (trust me, don’t skip ahead to see Davis at 1:43:50). Just above, you can see an hour-long “pre-show” being taped with Mayardolph, the Emmy-winning comedian and her daughter. Minnie Riperton. Other guests include longtime sidemen and collaborators of his jazz project, Eric Lees. “If you’re here, you’re as cool as me,” joking Rudolph. Or maybe you won’t. Imagine Rudolph and her guests fill you, and Prince and Davis will make heavenly jazz funk forever, beyond that, between the high fives.

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