MILES. Reimagines a Jazz Giant — Live Music, Genius, and the Chaos Behind Kind of Blue

MILES. is a groundbreaking fusion of live jazz and theatre that delves into the life, legend, and legacy of jazz icon Miles Davis. Created by the devising theatre company :DELIRIUM: and Lauren Reed Productions, the show combines hypnotic live music by acclaimed trumpeter Jay Phelps with a multi-rolling performance that captures the creative chaos behind Davis’s masterpiece Kind of Blue. Set against themes of addiction, reinvention, race, and genius, MILES. offers an immersive experience that reimagines the artist’s story through sound, memory, and innovation.

We caught up with Oliver Kaderbhai, the show’s writer and director, ahead of its world premiere at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

For those who haven’t yet heard about MILES., how would you describe the show in just one sentence?Featuring live music from his best-selling album Kind of Blue, MILES. charts Miles Davis's life as a black musician in pre-civil-rights America, heroin addiction and obsession with music and explores what it takes to be an artist in a world designed to hold you back.

What inspired you to fuse live jazz with theatre and rare archive recordings in telling Miles Davis’s story?Music has always been a central element of the theatre I’ve created. It was the career path I’d have chosen if I hadn’t found theatre first. I think it’s one of the most important tools that we can use to combine with storytelling and when it is live it elevates the experience even more. The characteristics of jazz make it a brilliant asset to the creation of new work because of its flexibility to improvise, use of call and response, the layers and textures and the typical instrumentation. Jay’s mastery of the trumpet and his understanding of Miles’s work, and the wider world of the jazz movement during the period in which the play is set, was invaluable and gave me perspective to figure out how to weave this music into the show as opposed to just layering it on top or behind the action.

The discovery of archive recordings from the Kind of Blue session were the main route into my thinking about what story we might tell and how we could approach it. It’s challenging to take on a character from history, particularly as we’ve chosen to focus on the first half of his life which features fewer recordings and interviews. However, that has allowed me some freedom to interpret and imagine the world he lived in. The black and white photos and video, the analogue recording techniques and the actual sound of the voices of the people involved in creating Kind of Blue generate a really rich atmospheric environment for us to use as a foundation to build this new play. 

The show explores some intense themes like addiction, reinvention, and race. How did you approach balancing these heavier topics with the music’s energy and the show's theatricality?

The important thing with the heavier themes was to make them as accurate as possible to Miles’s own descriptions which I found in books and interviews. I had to work out how to include those themes in a way which felt coherent to the play, and they’re important aspects of his life so needed to be included with honesty and care. On the other hand, Miles had a very dry sense of humour. He was a contrarian and it seemed to me that he liked to play cat and mouse with his interviewers, which gave me a route into a lighter side of his personality which I’ve tried to make an equal facet of his character. He was also extremely athletic and energetic, he had a keen interest in boxing, tap dancing and fast cars which combined with his insatiable determination to keep learning and developing his craft. That kind of energy is what I’ve tried to infuse into the show to give it a dynamism which stops it from being too heavily weighted by the darker themes. It’s a tricky balance to find within a 60 minute show. I’ve developed a multi-disciplinary aesthetic for my work and have a brilliant team of designers working across sound, lighting, video, set, props and costume so all those elements combined with the music make for a show which brims with energy. The first decision I made when writing the play was to make Jay’s character cynical about Miles’s success, rather than a fan - it gives us a conflict from the beginning.

What's your favourite Miles Davis track to listen to when you need a creative boost?

Previously I’d have said 'So What' because after one listen its stays in mind all day, but during the making of this show I’ve found myself listening to 'Blue in Green' whenever I’ve needed to block out the world and focus on the play. It’s about as close to perfect as you can get for this style of music. Both tracks are from the album, Kind of Blue which was the central inspiration for the show, however we do also feature some of Miles’s other work which gave me the opportunity to rediscover ‘Springsville' from his earlier album Miles Ahead which always provides a brilliant burst of energy into our rehearsal room.

What’s been the most surprising or challenging part of bringing this production to life for the Fringe?

Its the first time I’ve written something biographical and I found that to be very intimidating. I feel a huge sense of responsibility to tell Miles’s story honestly using all the resources I can find to do as much research as possible. That being said, it’s not a documentary, so there are some elements which I have invented in order to weave the story together. For me, it’s important not to make this a piece which is only appealing to Miles’s existing fans. I want it to be a compelling piece of theatre which tells an interesting and important story. As much as it hangs on a skeleton of Miles’s music, influences and experiences, it definitely draws upon my own experience of being an artist trying to put new work out into the world. It points to very contemporary discussions around ownership, authorship, remuneration, celebrity, technology, creativity and masculinity.

Finally — after seeing MILES., what do you hope audiences will take away about the man behind the music and the legacy he left?

I hope people will listen to the music again. Perhaps they will even choose to visit a jazz club or start listening to artists that they’ve not heard of before. Miles’s story is a tool to shed light on what it is to be an artist, a pursuit which in many ways is harder than ever. With my shows I’m always keen to try and present some ideas which the audience can make up their own minds about rather than leading them to a set conclusion. I know that different people will find different elements of the show resonate depending on their own lives. The central question is one which has been particularly prescient in recent years, is it possible to separate the man from the music? I’ve tried to make him human, for some that will be welcome, for others that’ll be harder to watch.

MILES. runs at Summerhall Arts, Tech Cube 0 from 31 July to 25 August (not 12), 18:00(19:00) Book your ticket at https://www.edfringe.com/tickets/whats-on/miles