Montreux Jazz Festival 2026 London residency celebrates Miles Davis.

1 hour ago7 min read2 comments

The hallowed sounds of a muted trumpet are set to echo across the Thames next year, as the Montreux Jazz Festival plants its flag in London for a 2026 residency at the Southbank Centre, with the entire program orbiting the colossal legacy of Miles Davis. This isn't merely a series of concerts; it's a curated pilgrimage, a deep dive into the genre-bending universe of an artist who never stopped evolving, from the cool breezes of 'Birth of the Cool' to the electric fury of 'Bitches Brew'.The lineup itself reads like a carefully sequenced album, each act chosen to reflect a different facet of the Davis prism. Trumpeter Theo Croker, for instance, carries the torch directly, his own work steeped in the same spirit of innovation and fusion that defined Miles' later periods, while the soulful hip-hop cadences of Children of Zeus and the vibrant, contemporary jazz explorations of corto.alto demonstrate the vast and continuing influence of his rhythmic and harmonic daring. This transcontinental collaboration between Switzerland's most famous musical export and one of London's premier cultural institutions speaks volumes about the enduring, borderless power of jazz.It acknowledges that while Montreux has its own legendary history with Davis—his 1971 performance there is the stuff of bootleg legend—his spirit is a global citizen. The Southbank Centre, with its own rich history of hosting visionary artists, provides the perfect London stage for this celebration, a place where the avant-garde has always been welcome.One can imagine the programming meetings, not as dry logistical exercises, but as passionate debates among curators about how to capture the essence of a man who was, by turns, a bebopper, a modal pioneer, and a rock-influenced iconoclast. The shows promise to be more than tribute; they are a conversation across generations, an investigation into how Davis's fearless approach to creativity continues to inform and inspire musicians today.For attendees, it will be an opportunity to experience not just the music, but the *idea* of Miles—the relentless pursuit of the new, the quiet intensity, the sheer cool. In a world often content with repetition, this residency is a timely reminder of the power of one artist to forever change the soundscape, and London in 2026 will be all the richer for it.

#Montreux Jazz Festival

#Southbank Centre

#London

#Miles Davis

#Theo Croker

#Children of Zeus

#corto.alto

#featured

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