SHOULD BE AN EXPERIENCE >>>

No single artist in the field of American music has been so pivotal a force for change and growth, no other such a willful authority of musical evolution, as Miles Davis. Among the most famous of jazz musicians, he's perhaps the closest thing the idiom has ever had to a "rock star" figure. The infamous Miles "attitude" is part of the reason Davis was considered a rock star. This attitude, which developed from the distrust and disdain he held toward the white men who ran the industry, also belied the beauty, elegance and grace of his music.

It is hard to miss the influence of this period of Davis' development on much of today's music; ambient music, trip hop, virtually any form employing cut-and-paste or collage methodology, even the most adventurous of rock forays, a la Radiohead's Kid A - all owe a huge debt to In A Silent Way and, of course, Bitches Brew.

The attitude most likely will not be center stage tonight when The Miles Davis Experience brings its multimedia experience to the Washington Center's stage. At least from the band. The Ambrose Akinmusire Quintet will perform the music of the legendary trumpeter and composer who invented cool. Trumpeter Akinmusire and his musicians will follow Miles' musical development in linear chronology, telling of the challenges and optimism in post-war America, civil rights struggle, historical milestones and the creative cauldron of new music that Miles pioneered and nurtured.

The aural experience will be augmented with era photos and film clips brought together by a beat poet-style narrator. It's a tour designed to introduce Davis to a younger audience and others who missed him the first time around.

[Washington Center, Friday, Oct. 28, 7:30 p.m., $18.50-$37, 512 Washington St. SW, Olympia, 360.753.8586]