Listen: Miles Davis Tribute At The Odeum Saturday

EAST GREENWICH, RI—Doug Woolverton's excited to return to the Greenwich Odeum, he said in a telephone interview Tuesday. He brought his Miles Davis tribute show there two or three years ago. It was a success, and ever since Woolverton, who plays trumpet, and the Odeum have been trying to fix a date for an encore.

"I do 250 or 260 shows a year," he said, but he finally came up with a date that worked for the Odeum. The show's on for Saturday, Sept. 16 at 8 p.m. Tickets are $25 and up.

"It will be a performance where the funky grooves will make it hard to stay seated," he predicted. Here's the rest of the band.

Rusty Scott- B3/piano
Johny Key- keyboards
Joe Davis Jr.- drums
Lenny Stallworth- bass
Jeff Lockhart- guitar

And Shari Puorto is the special guest vocalist.

"I will be performing Davis's hits from 1970-1990," he said.

Woolverton studied trumpet at Northern State University in Aberdeen, South Dakota. He went there for a trumpet teacher, Dr. Grant Manhart. And he did like Aberdeen, he allowed. On the down side, there wasn't a lot of live music to take in and be inspired by, he said. In New York City, for example, students can go out every night and hear a performer. But the advantage was, he could go at his own pace. There was less competition in Aberdeen, but the quality of the music was comparable. He practiced eight to 12 hours every day and listened to the greats on his headphones. Miles Davis was one of his inspirations.

"I think he's at the top of American Jazz," Woolverton said. "He set the path and created styles of music." Woolverton appreciates his melodies, in particular.

"He was such a lyrical player," he said and described his sound as "really smooth, dark, velvety."

But he was surprised to learn a few years ago that youngsters had never heard of Miles Davis.

"I was doing a school clinic," he said, and he just asked for a show of hands. Who had heard of Miles Davis? Nobody in sixth grade had.

So. that gave Woolverton the impetus for a tribute show.

"I started in 2012," he said, and the goal is to keep Davis's name in the forefront of Jazz, he said.

Woolverton was born in Trenton and lived in New Jersey until he was in fourth grade. His parents moved to Minnesota, and he lived there until college.