The iconic American trumpet player and composer Miles Davis, who passed away in 1991, would have turned one hundred years old this year, and Belgium is preparing a series of tributes to honour his legacy in the coming months.
A central figure in 20th-century jazz, Davis is widely recognised as one of the most influential musicians in the history of improvised music.
Throughout his career, he played a key role in the evolution of several jazz styles, from post-war bebop to cool jazz, hard bop, and modal jazz, before paving the way for electric experimentation in the late 1960s and 1970s.
Known for his distinctive trumpet sound, Davis also stood out as a bandleader, nurturing generations of musicians such as Herbie Hancock and Wayne Shorter, who later became legends themselves.
His groundbreaking albums include ‘Kind of Blue’ (1959), which remains a landmark in jazz history, and ‘Bitches Brew’ (1969), a defining moment in jazz-rock fusion. Davis embraced constant artistic transformation, famously stating in a 1985 interview that he preferred to move on from his previous works.
Belgium played a significant role in his live performances. Starting in the mid-1950s, Davis frequently performed in the country. On 4 November 1956, he held two concerts — one in Antwerp and another at Brussels’ Palais des Beaux-Arts. Records from the Hot Club of Belgium confirm these events.
He returned often, including a December 1957 concert in Brussels and an October 1967 performance at Antwerp’s Koningin Elisabethzaal during a European tour with his ‘Second Great Quintet’. The latter was later featured on the compilation ‘Live in Europe 1967: The Bootleg Series Vol. 1’.
A poster held at the Royal Library of Belgium documents his appearance in Liège on 8 November 1969 during the ‘First International Jazz Event in Liège’. It is a further testament to the artist’s connection with Belgium’s jazz scene.
In the 1970s and 1980s, Davis performed multiple concerts in Brussels, including at the Palais des Beaux-Arts in 1971, the Salle Henry Le Bœuf in 1982, Forest National in 1985, and the Cirque Royal in 1986. He is also said to have played at L'Archiduc in Brussels, a famous Art Deco jazz bar.
Belgian public radio and television captured some of these performances, cementing Davis’s legacy among Belgian jazz enthusiasts.
This file picture dated 26 October 1971 is a sight of the concert at Nieuwpoort of the American Jazz musician and composer Miles Davis. Credit: Belga
So what's planned?
Now, approaching the centenary of his birth, Belgium is preparing to celebrate Miles Davis’s legacy on stage once again.
On 1 May 2026, the Brussels Jazz Orchestra will collaborate with American trumpet player Ambrose Akinmusire at Bozar for a programme inspired by Davis’s oeuvre.
Later that spring, the project ‘We Want Miles’ will energise the Brussels Jazz Festival before continuing in Liège in late May. The sextet involved will also perform a free concert at the Tournai Jazz Festival on 28 June.
In July, Gent Jazz will honour Davis with several performances, featuring artists such as Terence Blanchard and Ravi Coltrane. Marcus Miller, a former collaborator of Davis, will also lead a tribute concert.
These events emphasise the enduring influence of Miles Davis on contemporary musicians, even a century after his birth.
Miles Davis passed away on 28 September 1991 in Santa Monica, California, at the age of 65.
Over a nearly five-decade-long career, which included a hiatus in the 1970s and a comeback in the 1980s, he received numerous accolades, including a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 1990.
