Two trumpeters offer contrasting tributes to Miles Davis legacy

Miles Davis turned 100 this year in memory, and the Vancouver International Jazz Festival is marking the occasion with two major tribute concerts that showcase vastly different approaches to the trumpeter's towering legacy.

Ron Di Lauro, a Montreal-based trumpeter and music educator, leads Kind of Blue: Tribute to Miles Davis at the BlueShore Financial Centre for the Performing Arts on Sunday, June 22. The program focuses on Davis's late 1950s work, especially his 1959 masterpiece *Kind of Blue* — the best-selling jazz LP of all time, still vital 67 years after its release.

Di Lauro readily acknowledges the central paradox of any Miles tribute: the man himself resisted imitation. "What I want to do is be as respectful as I can to Miles, even though he would probably say, 'Don't play like me. Play like you,'" Di Lauro said in a phone interview. "He used to give shit to trumpet players for doing that. He told that to Wynton [Marsalis]: 'Stop trying to play like me. Play like you.'"

Yet Di Lauro recognizes why that's nearly impossible. "But the thing is, his playing is so inspiring that you're kind of afraid to drift from what he did. It was so particular—the way he just touched the notes, and his sense of rhythm—and so inspiring that it's become my way of playing."

The Montreal show features an all-star cast of Québécois musicians and functions as a masterclass in why *Kind of Blue* endures.

Keyon Harrold offers a different entry point. The acclaimed trumpeter and guests perform Foreverland and Songs for Miles at the Vancouver Playhouse on Sunday, June 30. Harrold's approach emphasizes contemporary reinterpretation rather than archival recreation.

Both performances run as part of the Vancouver International Jazz Festival's 41st edition, which opens June 19 and runs through July 5. The festival features over 175 concerts, 30 free shows, and 43 pay-what-you-can performances across multiple venues.