Tribute to Jazz Trumpeter Miles Davis is Monday in Downtown St. Louis

Delano Redmond, director of the East St. Louis High School Miles To Go Jazztet, never saw jazz trumpeter Miles Davis perform, but the legendary, trend-setting musician had an impact on him.

Redmond, who has been the director of the music program for seven years, was a trumpet student at Lincoln High School, Davis’s alma-mater, when Davis passed away on Sept. 28, 1991.

“It was my sophomore year of high school when he died, and I was just being introduced to jazz at that time,” Redmond said. “I was in the Lincoln High School Jazz Band under Ron Carter. I remember the memorial service in our high school auditorium.”

Two decades later, Redmond and the Jazztet will be part of another memorial to Davis during the Miles Davis Festival, which will be held 7-9:30 p.m. Monday, Sept. 19, at BB’s Jazz, Blues and Soups, a nightclub at 700 South Broadway in downtown St. Louis. The evening will offer performances from the extensive Miles Davis catalog featuring the Jazztet and professional musicians Anthony Wiggins, who plays trumpet, saxophonist Willie Akins and pianist Adaron Jackson.

“They are basically going to sit in with the band,” Redmond said. “So it’ll be my group, with the guest artists.”

Everyone will get a chance to pay tribute to Davis.

“We’ll be, for lack of a better word, tag teaming the horn players in and out,” Redmond said. “What I plan to do is, since we have a trumpet player sitting in, we would have the two trumpet players play a tune together, have the two saxophone players play a tune together, have Adaron Jackson, the piano player, play a trio tune with the bassist and the drummer. For three tunes, we’ll just highlight those particular instruments. And then for a couple tunes, highlight the professional musicians themselves, and for a few tunes, highlight just the student musicians themselves. We’ll try to have a pretty diverse show. We’ll try to keep the show interesting, and with a decent flow.”

The students are actively involved in selecting the program.

“I try to give the kids some leeway on what they want to play,” Redmond said. “I try to have some student ownership over what they play.”

It all comes down to an appreciation of the artistry of Miles Dewey Davis III.

“Everything about Miles Davis was 100 percent unique,” Redmond said. “When you hear a trumpet player play, you automatically know it’s either Miles or somebody else.”

Jazz, particularly for today’s students, is an acquired taste.

“The kids, when I meet them, all they know is R&B and hip-hop,” Redmond said. “I teach them, and I lead them to, jazz music, with the exception of a handful of them, who were already exposed to jazz before they met me. You know, 95 percent of the students were not exposed to jazz before they got to me.”

Redmond gives the music a positive spin to get the ball rolling.

“I only put good stuff before ‘em,” he said. “I’m a spokesperson and a salesman for the music. I sell the music as if it’s the greatest thing ever. That’s part of the gig. So my students take to it – they take to it well. It’s a process. The kids don’t just love the music when they walk through the door, but they do by the time they leave.”

Their outlook on life changes as a result of being in the music program, Redmond said.

“In order to be a great jazz musician, you have to be very, very disciplined,” he said. “You have to sacrifice a lot. You have to be really in tune with yourself as a person, as a learner.”

Although jazz is complicated, the students take to it.

“The kids can do anything if you take the time to show them how,” Redmond said.

A few of Redmond’s former students are now music majors in college.

One, alto sax player Kendrick Smith, is a freelance musician in St. Louis.

“He’s an up-and-comer,” Redmond said. “We’ll probably hear a lot about him in the future. He’s a very hard-working guy.”

Hard work and talent set Miles Davis apart. He left East St. Louis at age 18, heading to New York. In the Big Apple, he soon hooked up with jazz luminaries Charlie “Bird” Parker and Dizzy Gillespie. Davis was an avid student, and soon began forging his own legend. Over the next several decades he became known as a jazz innovator and the top jazz trumpeter of his era.

Redmond learned about Davis from other musicians, personal research and family members like his great uncle, Eugene Redmond.

“From what I understand, ... (Davis) was the Michael Jordan of his time,” Redmond said. “You know, like the trend-setter. Like, from what I understand, folks would wait for his album covers to come out to see how he dressed to see how to dress. When he played a song, it became a standard. ‘Autumn Leaves’ is a standard because Miles Davis touched. When he played in a certain way, that became the way to play.”

Tickets for the performance are $10, with half the proceeds benefitting the music program at East St. Louis High School. For more information, call 314-436-5222 or see the festival Web site.

Getting there from Wentzville

Take Interstate 64 east to exit 40B for 6th Street, turn left onto Gratiot Street, then left on South 4th Street. Take the first left onto Cerre Street, then the next left on South Broadway. The club is on the left.