Archival "Sessions" showcases Miles Davis' genius (Reuters)

And given his proclivity to hurdle boundaries throughout his career, he could well be championed as the greatest jazz artist of all time, even though he endured derision for his rock fusion experimentation.

Today, the trumpeter/bandleader, inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2006, remains heralded as a sonic seeker who was far ahead of the curve. Witness the five-track remix project "Evolution of the Groove," released August 21 on Columbia/Legacy, where Davis' music has been updated to resonate with beat-craving young audiences. The album was produced by guitarist/remixer Pat Thrall and features guest appearances by Carlos Santana and rapper Nas.

"Miles touches everyone," says drummer Vince Wilburn Jr., Davis' nephew and the album's co-executive producer. "It's eerie but it's also magical how his music reaches out to people. When I played with him, it was uncanny how he took the music to new places. Miles had a thirst for moving ahead. Today, we're still trying to catch up."

Hot on the heels of this project comes what Legacy claims will be the last edition of its successful boxed-set series of Davis' Columbia recordings: the six-CD "The Complete On the Corner Sessions," encompassing recordings from 1972 to 1974 and featuring more than two hours of previously unreleased music.

REMIX VISIONARY

The set, encased in a limited-edition metal spine, is scheduled for September 25 release. It covers Davis' most daring — and controversial — period, where he melded funk, rock, avant-garde electronics and Indian music. The centerpiece, "On the Corner," the electrifying album of edits, loops and overdubs, was essentially ignored when it came out, in large part because Columbia didn't promote it — or didn't know how. Today it's seen as a precursor to the remix movement.

Liner-note writer Paul Buckmaster believes the material has "stood the rigorous test of time … and sounds even more fresh and new today … Musicians from generations yet to come will be traveling in these regions (that) Miles Davis discovered."

Co-producer Bob Belden says, "Miles planted all the seeds. He covered all the bases. During this period Miles was hanging out, enjoying crossover, inviting people to the studio to audition, then just rolling the tape. He wasn't worried about melody. He was jamming over rhythms."

Legacy's nine boxed sets have been a successful artistic and commercial franchise. Inaugurated in 1996 with "Miles Davis & Gil Evans: The Complete Columbia Studio Recordings," the projects have covered several periods of Davis' shape-shifting career, including complete sessions with the '60s quintet and John Coltrane. The biggest-selling set, according to Nielsen SoundScan, has been "The Complete Bitches Brew Sessions" (31,000 metallic boxes, plus 8,000 booklike versions), followed by "The Complete In a Silent Way Sessions" (22,000 metallic, 3,000 books).

Meanwhile, the telling of the Davis odyssey appears to be primed for film. Actor Don Cheadle reportedly plans to star in and direct a biopic, while a film probing the depths of Davis' music in his latter days may soon be in the works.

"Considering that the Ray Charles film and now a musical emerged shortly after his death, it is unbelievable to me that a figure of such historical flare and importance as Miles would not have a film that documents all that he was," says keyboardist Robert Irving III, a mainstay of Davis' final bands in the late '80s and early '90s. "A whole new generation of young people are just now becoming aware of Miles' iconic historical status as a musical innovator."