Miles Davis – Aura

Release Date: 1989
Recording Period: Jan 1985
Label: Columbia Records

Miles Davis, Trumpet
Palle Mikkelborg, Composer, Flugelhorn, Producer, Trumpet
John McLaughlin, Electric Guitar
Vince Wilburn, Jr., Drums
Marilyn Mazur, Percussion
Benny Rosenfeld, Flugelhorn, Trumpet
Palle Bolvig, Flugelhorn, Trumpet
Jens Winther, Flugelhorn, Trumpet
Jens Engel, Trombone
Ole Kurt Jensen, Bass Trombone
Perry Knudsen, Flugelhorn, Trumpet
Idrees Sulieman, Flugelhorn, Trumpet
Vincent Nilsson, Trombone
Ture Larsen, Trombone
Axel Windfeld, Bass Trombone, Tuba
Jesper Thilo, Flute, Reeds
Per Carsten, Flute, Reeds
Uffe Karskov, Flute, Reeds
Bent Jaedig, Flute, Reeds
Flemming Madsen, Flute, Reeds
Niels Eje, English Horn, Oboe
Bjarne Roupee, Electric Guitar
Lilian Thornquist, Harp
Thomas Clausen, Keyboards, Piano
Ole Koch-Hansen, Keyboards
Kenneth Knudsen, Keyboards
Bo Stief, Electric Bass
Niels-Henning Orsted Pedersen, Bass
Lennart Gruvstedt, Drums
Ethan Weisgaard, Percussion
Eva Hess-Thaysen, Vocals

32nd Annual GRAMMY Awards, Feb 21, 1990
Won Best Jazz Instrumental Performance, Soloist (On A Jazz Recording)
Won Best Jazz Instrumental Performance, Big Band

Aura is a concept album by Miles Davis, produced by Palle Mikkelborg. All compositions and arrangements are by Danish composer/trumpeter Palle Mikkelborg, who created the suite in tribute to Miles Davis when Davis received the Léonie Sonning Music Prize in December 1984, the year Decoy was released.

The main theme consists of 10 notes, yielded by the letters "M-I-L-E-S-D-A-V-I-S" (see "BACH motif", and Schoenberg hexachord "EsCHBEG"). It is introduced at the beginning over a sustained chord of these same notes. The following 9 movements of the suite represent the colours Mikkelborg sees in Miles's aura.

The music is scored for an extended jazz big band, and the core of the band is formed by the Danish Radio's Big Band, featuring Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen, Thomas Clausen and Marilyn Mazur. Notable international guests such as John McLaughlin and Davis' nephew Vince Wilburn are featured during the recordings. They took place in Copenhagen in 1985 at Davis' own initiative, as he had been very honored and satisfied with the suite. It was the first time Miles Davis recorded with a big band for over 20 years. Aura, however, is not a conventional big band jazz album. The music is perhaps best categorized as fusion jazz with a strong flavor of modern classical music, as many of the orchestral ages reveal Mikkelborg's inspiration from composers like Olivier Messiaen and Charles Ives.

Although the album was recorded at Easy Sound Studios in Copenhagen in 1985, contractual issues delayed its release until 1989. The album won a Grammy Award in 1990 for Best Jazz Instrumental Performance.