Celebrating the Miles Davis Centennial

The opening night of Montreux Jazz Festival Miami launches with a landmark tribute honoring Miles Davis at the Miami Beach Bandshell.

Taking place Wednesday, February 25, this special Miles Davis Centennial celebration marks a major expansion of the festival and its first-ever programming in Miami Beach. Presented in collaboration with the Miles Davis Estate, the evening anchors the global observance of Davis’s 100th birthday and reflects his legendary relationship with the original Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland, where he performed ten times between 1973 and 1991. His final appearance there was immortalized in the iconic recording Miles & Quincy: Live at Montreux.

The program brings together two defining eras of Davis’s musical legacy. The Miles Electric Band (M.E.B.), led by Davis’s nephew and longtime collaborator Vince Wilburn Jr., channels the experimental energy of his electric period, while the Kind of Blue Acoustic Band revisits music from Kind of Blue, widely regarded as one of the most influential and best-selling jazz albums of all time. Performed by musicians closely connected to Davis’s work, the evening offers a rare journey through both the acoustic and electric worlds that shaped his career.

As the festival’s opening night, the performance sets the tone for Montreux Jazz Festival Miami before the celebration continues later in the week at Regatta Harbour in Coconut Grove.