Kei Akagi

Miles Davis – Montreux Jazz Festival (1989) captures the legendary trumpeter's electric-era performance at the Casino de Montreux on July 21, 1989, as part of the annual Montreux Jazz Festival. The set brought together a tight band featuring Rick Margitza (tenor sax), Kei Akagi (keyboards), Adam Holzman (keyboards), Joe "Foley" McCreary and Benny Rietveld (basses), Ricky Wellman (drums), and Monyungo Jackson (percussion), with a guest appearance by Chaka Khan on "Human Nature". Nestled in the electric fusion phase of his career, the performance weaves together introspective originals like "Intruder," "New Blues," "Perfect Way," "Hannibal," and "Tutu," with emotive reinterpretations of pop repertoire.

Ulysses Jenkins charts the history of jazz—what he calls “the first true American art form"—from its beginnings in New Orleans and the American South to the classic work of Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington and through the major innovations of Ornette Coleman, Sun Ra, and Miles Davis. Also included are clips of Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X, explicitly linking the development of jazz to the Civil Rights Movement. Motion-capture animated figures are seen dancing, superimposed, over the archival footage of the musicians. Wearing colorful costumes, they perform Jenkins’ original choreography. The dancers exert a powerful influence over the historical documentation as their movements extend across the decades and, finally, into the future.