Happy Birthday Miles Davis: Jamming With Prince

Miles Davis, the pioneering American trumpeter, was born 90 years ago today, on May 26, 1926 in Alton, Illinois. An iconoclast in the world of jazz music, throughout his illustrious career Davis explored new methods of approaching writing, recording and performing within the idiom he helped popularize across the globe. In remembrance of Miles, here’s a look back to New Year’s Eve 1987 when he joined another late great musician on stage, sitting-in with fellow innovator Prince at Paisley Park.

During Prince’s private NYE show on December 31, 1987 at his Paisley Park complex outside of Minneapolis, The Purple One welcomed Davis to the stage to sit-in for a portion of the 30-minute encore rendition of “It’s Gonna Be A Beautiful Night” from the Sign ‘O’ the Times album issued earlier that year. With Prince bouncing around stage and playing the role of conductor, Davis slide on stage for a few minutes to add trumpet to the jam before exiting mid-song.