Press Release Kind of Blue: Celebrating the Music of Miles Davis
featuring Ravi Coltrane, Ambrose Akinmusire, UM alum Veronica Swift with Shelly Berg and the Henry Mancini Institute Orchestra - November 7
KIND OF BLUE: CELEBRATING THE MUSIC OF MILES DAVIS
Featuring Ravi Coltrane, Ambrose Akinmusire and Veronica Swift with Shelly Berg and the Frost School of Music's Henry Mancini Institute Orchestra and its resident conductor, Scott Flavin
November 7, 2025 at 8 p.m.
Tickets: $53 - $153*
Knight Concert Hall
Miami, FL – October 3, 2025 – The Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts of Miami-Dade County (@arshtcenter) is proud to present KIND OF BLUE: CELEBRATING THE MUSIC OF MILES DAVIS. This one-night-only centennial concert kicks off the 2025-26 season of Jazz Roots at the Arsht and celebrates the unparalleled and beloved legacy of Miles Davis, featuring music from his renowned catalog. The evening will be hosted by Jazz Roots Artistic Adviser and Frost School of Music Dean SHELLY BERG and features the talents of trumpeter AMBROSE AKINMUSIRE (@ambroseire) and saxophonist RAVI COLTRANE (@ravicoltranemusic), both Grammy nominees. Joining them on stage is acclaimed vocalist and FROST SCHOOL OF MUSIC alumna, VERONICA SWIFT (veronicaswift.com,) along with the FROST SCHOOL OF MUSIC’S HENRY MANCINI INSTITUTE ORCHESTRA (@frostschoolum).
PHOTOS AND BROLL AVAILABLE HERE.
Tickets to Kind of Blue: Celebrating the Music of Miles Davis are $53-$153* and may be purchased now at ArshtCenter.org or at the Arsht box office by calling (305) 949-6722.
For guests with accessibility needs, the Arsht provides accessible seating and complimentary assistive listening devices for all performances, along with sign language interpretation, open captioning, and audio description at select shows to ensure an inclusive experience for all guests.
Kind of Blue: Celebrating the Music of Miles Davis is part of the 2025-26 Jazz Roots series and is made possible with generous support from Baldwin Richardson Foods, Steinway & Sons and Alan & Diane Lieberman. WLRN and WDNA are media sponsors.
Jazz Roots Sound Check
A part of the Jazz Roots series from its inception in 2008, Jazz Roots Sound Check welcomes high school students from Miami-Dade County Public Schools to the Knight Concert Hall for free sound checks, lectures and, on occasion, opportunities to perform with headline artists from the Adrienne Arsht Center’s Jazz Roots concert series.
Jazz Roots Sound Check is presented by Baldwin Richardson Foods and made possible in part by Hazel Rosen, Melanie & Martin Kirschner and Melvin Kirk.
"The Frost School of Music is proud to join the Jazz Roots series to bring to life the music of Miles Davis, one of the greatest and most creative artists in jazz,” said Shelly Berg. “Miles constantly redefined the music and moved it forward. He has been an inspiration to me and countless other jazz artists. We look forward to capturing his spirit and making this an unforgettable evening for the audience at the Adrienne Arsht Center.”
2026 marks 100 years since the birth of Miles Davis, one of the greatest innovators in jazz history. This concert celebrates his unparalleled and beloved legacy including Sketches of Spain, Tutu and the advent of jazz rock, The Birth of the Cool, and the most famous jazz album of all time, Kind of Blue. Trumpeter Ambrose Akinmusire and saxophonist Ravi Coltrane will pay tribute to the magical pairing of Miles Davis and John Coltrane, alongside vocalist Veronica Swift and the Frost School of Music’s Henry Mancini Institute Orchestra.
About the Artists
Ravi Coltrane is a critically acclaimed, Grammy-nominated saxophonist, bandleader and composer. Coltrane has released six albums as a bandleader and has collaborated on a number of others. Born in Long Island, he is the second son of John Coltrane and Alice Coltrane. He was raised in Los Angeles, where his family moved after his father’s death in 1967. Coltrane produced and played on his mother’s powerful 2004 album Translinear Light. He lives in Brooklyn, and maintains a fast-paced touring, recording, composing and performance schedule. He leads the effort to restore the John Coltrane Home in Long Island and presides over important reissues of his parents’ recordings.
Described by NPR Music as “one of the most acclaimed jazz artists of his generation, a trumpeter of deep expressive resources and a composer of kaleidoscopic vision,” Ambrose Akinmusire has made a home at the crossroads of different musical forms and languages, from post-bop to avant-garde jazz, contemporary chamber music, hip-hop and singer-songwriter aesthetics. The Oakland, California native and Blue Note recording artist aspires to create richly textured emotional landscapes that tell the stories of the community, record the time and change the standard. While committed to the lineage of Black invention and innovation, he is able to honor tradition without being stifled by it. A graduate of Manhattan School of Music and the University of Southern California’s Thornton School of Music, Akinmusire lives in Berkeley, California. In 2023, he was named artistic director of the Herbie Hancock Institute.
Veronica Swift first gained international attention in 2015, when she won second place in the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz International Vocals Competition. Four years later, Mack Avenue Records released her acclaimed album Confessions when she was only 25 years old. She demonstrated her flair for conceptual song cycles on her follow-up album, This Bitter Earth, which not only gave glimpses of her rock influences but thematically touched upon some of the harder truths of being a woman, particularly when it comes to domestic abuse. Swift is more than a jazz singer, exploring French and Italian opera, European classical music, bossa nova, blues, industrial rock, funk and vaudeville. Swift’s expansive artistic voice remains intact regardless of genre.
Shelly Berg is a Steinway piano artist and five-time Grammy-nominated arranger, orchestrator and producer. His newest album, Alegría, was recorded with bassist Carlitos Del Puerto and Dafnis Prieto and released July 2024 on ArtistShare. It is described as “buoyant joy” by JazzViews.net and “an instant jazz piano trio classic” by Modern Drummer. Berg’s original song “At Last” was nominated for a 2025 Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Composition.
An award-winning educator with over 40 years of leadership in higher education, Berg is Dean and Patricia L. Frost Professor of Music at the Frost School of Music at the University of Miami. He has appeared as a performer and lecturer throughout the United States as well as in Canada, China, Mexico, Europe, Israel, Japan, Romania and Venezuela.
Scott Flavin is professor of violin and conducting at the Frost School of Music. He enjoys an incredibly versatile career as a conductor, violinist, composer, writer and pedagogue. As a conductor, he holds several important positions, including resident conductor of The Henry Mancini Institute Orchestra. He is conducting artist faculty at the Eastern Music Festival and founding conductor of the Camerata Orchestra in Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands. He has conducted at various festivals, on Jazz and the Philharmonic for PBS and for a wide variety of notable artists, from Joseph Silverstein to the Beach Boys.
*All programs, artists, ticket prices, availability, dates and times are subject to change without notice. Tickets shown include taxes and fees. Visit arshtcenter.org for up-to-date information.
The Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts of Miami-Dade County is made possible by the public support of the Miami-Dade County Mayor and the Board of County Commissioners, the Miami-Dade County Department of Cultural Affairs and the Cultural Affairs Council, the Miami-Dade County Tourist Development Council and the City of Miami Omni Community Redevelopment Agency, and the state of Florida through the Division of Arts and Culture and the National Endowment for the Arts. The Adrienne Arsht Center also receives generous support from individuals, corporations and local, state and national foundations.
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About the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts of Miami-Dade County
Since opening in 2006 in the heart of downtown, the Arsht proudly serves as the cultural pulse of Miami – the heart of magical live arts experiences that spark the imagination and connect people to one another. Whether on our stages or in your neighborhood, the Arsht is alive year-round with international artists, innovative programming from resident companies and local arts partners, free community events that reflect Miami’s unique identity and more than 100 culturally diverse and impactful learning experiences for 80,000 children every year.
The Arsht, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, has been recognized as a leader in the Miami’s cultural transformation, producing more than 400 annual events that generate 11,500 local jobs and $125 million in economic impact. The Arsht is home to a robust series of touring Broadway musicals, star-studded jazz and classical music concerts curated for South Florida, an award-winning Miami-based theater program and numerous historic and televised events. Free annual Arsht events, such as Gospel Fest Miami, Art + Mind Day, Heritage Fest and our LGBTQ+ Pride celebration bring together people from all corners of our community. For more information, visit ArshtCenter.org.
MEDIA CONTACTS
Alexandra Medina
786-468-2234
Suzette Espinosa Fuentes
786-468-2221