Customer Reviews

Doo Bop

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

If you are a classic jazz aficionado this album is probably not for you, that is unless you've got an open mind. This album was way ahead of its time. Obviously a direct influence on Guru's Jazzamatazz series. The disc is an unbelievable blend of jazz, funk and hip hop. I suppose this album sort've reaches "cult favorite status". Toss this on at any occasion, whether it be in the car, at a party or at dinner, any decent fan of music will recognize the originality of this cd. I am 19. My Dad is turning 50 in a week. I'll say that we both groove to this disc equally hard.

A few weeks ago while trying to get a BBQ together for 350 that was running behind I suddenly heard that familiar horn playing on the Chef's stereo but it wasn't the usual Miles Davis I was into. After inquiring I realized it was Doo Bop and after listening to a few cuts felt my tension melt away. A few days ago I picked up the album myself and loved it even though I'm mostly a fan of Miles stuff from the 50's and 60's. It's a shame Miles passed away while making this because I feel he was really on to something espeacilly considering that he was planning on working with Prince soon. If anyone is considering looking for something different than what Miles usually had put out, pick up this album today.

Had Miles Davis lived to see this project through, it's possible that most or all of the Eazy Mo Bee-produced DOO-BOP cuts would have remained in the can, in favor of projects we can only speculate upon (he was set to work with Prince, John Bigham, and others). However, when Davis died the EMB sessions were prepared for release.

From what I've read, Miles picked from a selection of grooves concocted by hip-hop producer Eazy Mo Bee, and that Davis ignored EMB's mellower, keyboard-flavored demos in favor of the tracks with the slammin'est beats. As usual, Miles knew what he wanted, because his solos are consistently assertive and full of imaginative twists and turns. Has Davis ever played invigorating trumpet a greater percentage of an album's total running time than here? Drop any fears that because it is Miles' last album that we have to lower HIS or OUR standards to appreciate the improvisations.

The general consensus is that the album's achilles heel is the rapping, with relatively trite rhyme-play on the three non-instrumental cuts. Nonetheless, I think that if the Smithsonian were ever to update their jazz box and needed some hiphop-meets-bebop, BLOW--the most substantial of the three rap tracks--would be as good a selection as any. And isn't it ironic that the title cut was a posthumous hit single (probably Davis' first-ever)? Had he lived to tour about it, imagine Davis turning his back on audience shouts to hear THE DOO-BOP SONG played live (ala his not performing the radio faves THE MAN WITH THE HORN and SHOUT a decade earlier).

If you'd like to hear how jazz and hip-hop might converge, this album is recommended despite the fact that the accompiament could have had more of a creative edge. Everyone has their own idea of what rap/hip-hop artist Miles "should" have collaborated with...I would have liked to have heard Miles mix it up with Digital Underground.

Yes, this album is an outstanding one! My deep respect for the man with the horn for his last courageously experiment. Unfortunately the last time that Miles was able to went to another cool place of his music and therefore Doo-Bop is already a classic. Miles intelligent mix of jazz and hip-hop I never heard before and after. It's a shame that he had to go.

"Doo-Bop" is one of Miles's GREATEST!PERIOD!The beats are strong,Miles plays like his life depends on it...the compisitions are strong and the album JAMS!!It's one of the funkiest pieces of jazz-hop or hip-hop I've ever heard and it's GREAT to dance and listen to...

Being a young guy, and becoming interested in jazz in the late 90's, I'm very impressed with this album, as it combines electronic elements, jazz and rap (which I usuallt hate, by the way). There's a lot of Miles albums I don't care of, but this is one of the best I've ever heard of. What a way to leave the stage!

Miles does it again. Damn, this has great production from the great producer Easy Mo Bee, who has produced for the likes of Busta Rhymes, Kurupt, Tupac Shakur, LL Cool J, Notorious B.I.G., Buckshot(King of the Underground), and others. There are some sample loops, like something A Tribe Called Quest would do. Miles also has a few rappers on here. J.R., A.B. Money, and Easy Mo Bee. The raps are interesting, but none of the rappers on here are as skilled as the ones who are popular today. If Miles had Kamal "Q-Tip" Fareed of A Tribe Called Quest on here, well, let's just say Tupac would be the most jealous man on Earth.

This was Miles' last CD, which was finished up shortly after his death. It's him playing horn riffs over the grooves & rhythm sample loops of a hip-hop DJ called Ezy Mo Bee (no other musicians appear on this disc). It's a great disc! Worth it just for the tracks "Blow", and "Chocolate Chip", though all the tracks have merit. Jazz purists are probably cringing, but if you like it hip-hop funky, you'll love it. One of my favorite "final phase" Miles CDs. As usual, Miles points the way once again!! Way to go Miles, love you always.

"Doo Bop," the final studio album by Miles Davis, is a pretty weird listening experience. Davis was a free-minded musician who challenged the otherwise strict norms of jazz by fusing it with rock and funk on many of his 1970s releases, so it'd seem inevitable that he would experiment with hip hop rhythms as he does on this album. But what we get is not a disc that pushes buttons as brazenly as "On the Corner" or delivers spine-tingling chills like "Live-Evil." Instead, we sadly find Davis (in otherwise good form) caught in a bad brew of generic drum samples, dated production, and clumsy rhymes. The CD sounds rather impersonal; as if Davis and the rest of the musicians recorded their bits in separate studios. But Miles himself is hardly to blame for this mess. The fault lies mainly on collaborator Eazy Mo Bee, whose contribution to this album does Davis no justice. One track on "Doo Bop" does work: the opener "Mystery," a seductive groove of downtempo heaven that really brings out the best in Miles's trumpeting. But the rest of the disc collapses like a house of cards. Younger crowds may dig it, but more diehard and older fans will instantly notice the secondhand feel of the material. Still, all legends are allowed at least one subpar album, and for Miles Davis, "Doo Bop" is it.

Back in the late nineties I was absorbed in the electronic music/rave scene collecting every genre from drum and bass, trip-hop, house and techno. Sometime in early 2000 I came across this album in Amazon and it was one of my first wish lists adds. The idea of the great Miles Davis producing a hip hop album perfectly fit my sensibilities. I imaged it fit someone between Portishead and Goldie, with some Mark Farina mixed in. I never did purchase the album back then but I never forgot it either.

Lately, due in part to my expanding SACD library, I've had a much more focused view on the classical jazz works. While diving through the crates I came across this infamous cover. I had to pick it up.

So, first off this album is Miles vamping off some fairly ordinary, occasionally cheesy, passable hip hop production. There is a little rap, or rather MC'ing, but nothing that is overly distracting although it isn't good either. But that is mostly beside the point, as is much of this album. It's pleasant to listen to for sure. Certainly not nearly as rewarding as his classic pieces, but an enjoyable diversion during late night drives, etc. However, the importance of this album will always be that it was his last project, and this last project did hint at the next, and probably appropriate, direction Miles was taking.

I can't help thinking, as I'm sure a lot of you do, what if Miles had a chance to record with like minded musicians such as The Roots. I can't imagine these last sessions demonstrated his perfected hip hop expression, but just maybe with the right collaborator.... We'll never know. So we are left with this. An imperfect album that none the less, entertains. It's got a groove, it's a got a great soloist. It's got a place in my Miles collection.