In this concert the classic music of USA, jazz, meets Scandinavian contemporary music conceptions in improvised music. The scope of the project behind was about to deconstruct and re-construct Miles Davis’s music in the 21st century, seen in the light of the musical and theoretical works of George Russell. The point of departure is a meeting between the innovative jazz/electronic music Miles Davis performed around 1970, and 21st century musical practices. This underlying investigation aimed to enrich music performance curriculum and computer music research within the Academy of Music and Drama at the University of Gothenburg. This project may also function as a catalyst for future common activities between the researchers and musicians involved as well as at institutional level. The reason behind is that professor Neil Leonard at Berklee Collage of Music in Boston visited The Academy of Music and Drama as a so-called Fulbright Specialist, a very prestigious reward. In addition to arranging and performing in this concert, professor Neil Leonard also contributed as a lecturer, researcher and curriculum advisor at HSM. Among other tasks he also critiqued student performances, improvisations as well as performed himself with students and teachers/researchers. Professor Leonard’s work is uniquely suited for this initiative as he is an authority of the electronic works of Miles Davis and has collaborated closely with George Russell who greatly impacted Davis electronic work. Leonard also performed extensively with percussionist Badal Roy who is heard on five of Davis’ seminal electronic albums. Leonard will share his approaches to creating software tools that were used in collaborations with these musicians. He will also share strategies for teaching improvisation and electronic music that he developed for Berklee College of Music. The undertaken performance and research connects to focused themes at the HSM such as: improvisation that synthesizes innovations from both Europe and the United States; and the role of interactive software for improvisation and sound synthesis. Both topics is central to the institutions curriculum and our faculty/alumni have played a role Sweden’s contributions to jazz composition/improvisation and cutting edge music performance software. Leonard asserts that the pioneering theoretical work of George Russell, referring to, Davis was a major influence on his modal music of the 60s and 70s. This work also has strong links to the development of improvisation in Sweden of that era. Russell’s celebrated “Electronic Sonata for Souls Loved by Nature” and “Vertical Forms VI” were commissioned by the Swedish Radio and premiered by Swedish improvisers. His capstone work “It About Time” was commissioned by the Swedish Concert Bureau. Leonard will include an analysis of parts of Russell’s Swedish commissions in his lectures and show how this work informed Davis work of the same ear and how Leonard’s own music software, created under Russell’s supervision addresses innovations first presented in Russell’s Swedish Commissions. Professor Leonard’s residency engaged an international dialog that explored the innovative use of 21st century technologies to advance concert performance and curriculum that addresses this practice. During the concert a group of students, teachers, and free lancers performed three pieces: 1) He Loved him Madly, which is Miles Davis homage to Duke Ellington, who died shortly before the recording was made in 1973. The recording can be heard on Miles’s album Get Up With It from 1973. 2) A free duo improvisation with professor Per Anders Nilsson, modular synthesizer, and professor Neil Leonard on saxophone and electronics. The third piece was a composition by Leonard, Reverberations, performed by the whole group.