Doug Woolverton Pays Tribute To Miles Davis In Newport

When it comes to influence and mastering improvisation, few come close to the legendary jazz artist Miles Davis. His landmark albums Kind Of Blue and Bitches Brew always come up in jazz conversations and his legacy flows through countless genres and eras of modern music. As part of Bridgefest happening in Newport from July 25-28, Newport native and musician Doug Woolverton will pay tribute to Davis’ legendary 1958 performance at the Newport Jazz Festival at the Jane Pickens Theater & Event Center on the 28th. It promises to be a one-of-a-kind night with one of the best musicians in The Ocean State doing his rendition of some of Davis’ best work.

Ahead of the spectacular evening, Woolverton and I had a chat about Miles’ influence on him as a musician, playing with arrangements while being free with the solos, being as versatile as possible, keeping busy and what his goals for the rest of 2016 are.

Rob Duguay: What made you want to start this Miles Davis tribute project?

Doug Woolverton: I’m a trumpet player so from being a young kid and hearing Miles Davis’ music I became very influenced by him. I remember when my father, who’s also a musician, would do woodworking and one time he was playing a tune off of the Kind Of Blue record and I went over to my father and said ,”Oh! That sounds cool!” I was so little, I’m talking like 4 or 5 years old, but I knew at that time that I wanted to play that instrument and at such a young age I could relate to Miles’ melody, his phrasing and stuff. It was a huge inspiration as I got older to study the trumpet, go to college to learn more about it and eventually become a professional trumpet player. I dug into his music and very much realized how much he did for music with different styles and creating styles, he always had that really great sound, but he also wasn’t afraid to leave out notes for parts of his solos. Being a trumpet player I always wanted to be a part of his career and the music that he was producing.

RD: It’s always great to pay tribute to influential artists and it sounds like Davis had a big influence on you.

DW: Huge. There’s another story, too. I was playing this festival and a 10-year-old girl there asked me who my favorite songwriter was. I said, “Miles Davis” and she asked, “Who’s that?” Then I started to think to myself that if the younger generation doesn’t know who one of my favorite trumpet players is, then I need to do my part to keep Miles’ name alive through the younger generation. That’s where I kind of came up with the idea to do a tribute to Miles so all ages could come to my shows. I could talk about Miles and what he did and then you could hear the evolution of what he did for music while going through this musical journey, and all ages could hear the music that Miles Davis was doing through the sound of my trumpet.

RD: When you play Miles Davis’ songs, do you go note for note or do you put your own spin on it? Jazz is very improvisational and Miles never played a song of his the same way twice.

DW: Yes and no. When I perform the Kind Of Blue album it is literally the exact arrangements as he performs on the record. When it comes time for Miles’ solo or Bill Evans’ solo or Coltrane’s solo, that’s when the band and I are all ourselves. When you hear me playing a solo it’s Doug Woolverton and not me trying to exactly transcribe Miles’ solo. My shows aren’t for me to be Miles, it lets your ears hear his arrangements and great arranging, but also hear what he was doing for the music of that time period. I also want people to hear what I sound like when I’m soloing. I will quote different parts of Miles’ solos that I obviously have listened to a lot and I want to pay respect to Miles. A lot of what you’re hearing is exact arrangements with each solo coming from a member of the band who is playing it in their own style, but making the same sound.

RD: You play in Roomful Of Blues and The Ravers, which are a reggae act. You’ve also done a bunch of collaborations with artists, for example with A Troop Of Echoes on their last EP The Longest Year On Record. When it comes to doing other projects outside of jazz, do you prepare differently? Are you very methodical when it comes to taking on new projects or do you find yourself making a lot more adjustments?

DW: Essentially my concept is in a nutshell from a phone call I got around seven or eight years ago from a guy named Rashawn Ross. If you’re not familiar with Rashawn Ross, he’s the trumpet player for The Dave Matthews Band. He calls me up because my teacher told Chris Ponti and Chris then told Rashawn so I get this call from one of my other favorite trumpet players. We had this great conversation and I asked him about how he got to where he is today and he said basically that he never limited himself to just playing jazz music or just playing blues music. He always wanted to be marketable and he didn’t want to sound like a jazz player playing blues music or a jazz player playing a funk gig or a jazz player playing a reggae gig.

He wanted to be marketable and hirable to be a guy who shows up to a funk gig and sounds like he’s been listening to funk music all his life. When he shows up to a jazz gig he sounds like he’s been listening to jazz music all his life. That really hit me when I practice and I practice every single day, that’s kind of been my motto all along and I didn’t realize it until he said it, and it’s so true. If I get called to do any type of gig I want to sound like the style of music that I’m playing. It is difficult because you got to remember songs like what I do with Roomful or what I do with my own band The Groove Merchants or the Miles Davis show.

It’s all different stuff, but I guess what I want to accomplish is when the audience is listening to any style of music that I’m playing I want them to basically say, “Yeah, that guy sounds like the art.” I’m not playing correctly, I’m playing the style. As far as preparation goes I have to listen to all styles of music so I can quote stuff from the likes of Sly & The Family Stone and D’Angelo.

RD: A lot of contemporary jazz artists put their own spin on jazz while also doing collaborations, like Robert Glasper playing music with hip-hop artists on his acclaimed album Black Radio. You have all of this under-the-radar stuff happening in jazz; it’s becoming strangely versatile and all of these musicians are putting their hands in a lot of different pots. What are your thoughts on all this?

DW: Jazz is really tough nowadays because with what the population is listening to, jazz isn’t on the top. As a jazz musician you have to get really creative when it comes to any outlook of that style of music. It’s like you said — when a jazz artist is making music with a hip-hop artist, there’s a lot of collaboration. With the Miles Davis show that I perform, I’ve put a lot of thought and effort into the stage production. When people show up to the Jane Pickens Theater on Thursday, they’re going to see that I’ve thought about the moving lights, the banner in the backdrop, the ambience of the room, the way the color structure is and the how the whole show is going to run. It’s my spin on keeping jazz music interesting to the younger generation. With jazz today there’s a whole lot of talent, and how do you keep it different and have people wanting to listen to it? Let’s have Chris Botti record a song with Aerosmith and Sting. That’s a way to kind of keep jazz listeners loving jazz music. For me I love hearing collaborations. With my show, which is going to be entirely jazz music, I can still put a contemporary spin on it with the way the whole set up is going to be. I think jazz these days is doing great and like the music, it’s improvisational with creativity. The motto with jazz is staying creative to keep the audience interested. I’m digging all the new artists, there’s so much talent.

RD: After the show on the 28th, what do you have planned next? Do you plan on doing any more Miles Davis tributes?

DW: There’s a lot of interest in the Miles Davis show. As far as my schedule is, I’m very busy between Roomful Of Blues, Beginnings: A Tribute To Chicago and my own band The Groove Merchants. To be able to put the Miles show, which is a huge production and has a lot that goes into it, in different rooms is a big goal for sure. As far as after the show, I have a couple of gigs coming up with Roomful Of Blues. I’m going to do the legendary Rhythm & Blues Cruise down in Puerto Rico with them and I’m really looking forward to that. I’m going to Switzerland to do a bunch of gigs and just try to keep working. I’m going to be recording a record during the end of October into November with a band full of all-stars. My main goal after the show is to keep writing original music and put out my very first solo album. That’s what I’m truly going to be focusing on in regard to my own personal career.

Check out the event page for Doug Woolverton Presents: Miles Davis at Newport – 1958: facebook.com/events/1077162752354763; Doug Woolverton’s Website: dougwoolverton.com