Encore for a jazz legend

Metropolitan State University of Denver paid tribute to late, great trumpeter and cornetist Ron Miles with a Feb. 10 concert featuring the musicians who played with Miles on his 2020 Blue Note debut “Rainbow Sign.”

The album, influenced by the death of Miles’ father, explores metaphorical connections made by rainbows — “this idea of rainbows being a highway from heaven to earth,” as Miles put it.

Acclaimed guitarist Bill Frisell, pianist Jason Moran, bassist Thomas Morgan and drummer Brian Blade (pictured) took the stage at the King Performing Arts Center for a show that benefited the newly established Ron Miles Endowed Scholarship. The fund was created after Miles’ death in 2022 to support aspiring jazz musicians at MSU Denver, especially those who come from underserved communities.

“We knew that Ron wanted to create a scholarship,” said Peter Schimpf, Ph.D., chair of the University’s Department of Music, who noted the Grammy-nominated musician’s passion for mentoring students, whether they were experienced performers or beginners. “That was our first priority, to get one up and running in his name.

“Ron’s legacy is his humility in music and in teaching. It was remarkable that someone of his stature and playing around the world would give (students) all the same amount of time.”

The memorial concert was part of the three-day Mile High Jazz Festival, in which music students from high schools across the state gathered on the Auraria Campus to perform and take part in workshops. MSU Denver has hosted the festival, now in its 58th year, since 2019.

The Feb. 10 concert honoring Miles featured “top shelf” jazz, Schimpf said.

“Not only are the performers people who played with Ron; some are living legends of jazz,” he added. “And to have the concert feature Ron’s music in honor of Ron is amazing.”