Customer Reviews

Tutu

5 star:		(19)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

In 1985, Miles Davis' thirty year association with Columbia Records came to an end and the jazz legend, who managed to reinvent jazz a dozen times over managed to reinvent the price value of jazz recording contracts when he signed with Warner Brothers. What Davis unfortunately didn't seem to do was read past the bottom line and his royalties for songwriting would lie with Warner Brothers, not with him. As a result, Davis refused to compose anything on his own and instead brought his former bass player Marcus Miller to compose for him. Miller wrote compositions for Davis and set up a framework in which the trumpeter could solo. The first album resulting from this collaboration, "Tutu", proves to be one of the great records of Davis' career, and like "Sketches of Spain" before it, provides a powerful launching pad for Davis and coaxes out of him one of his best performances.

Musically, the album is guaranteed to alienate Davis fans everywhere-- while he'd abandoned acoustic instruments as the only way to go in the '60s, this album was an embracing of synthesizers, drum machines, and electric instruments, even moreso than his previous records were. Miller performed all the electric and acoustic instruments (including bass guitar, electric guitar, at least some live drums, soprano sax, bass clarinet and synthesizers) with additional contributions in synth programming from Ron Miles and Adam Holzman and one track ("Backyard Ritual") where George Duke assumes the framing role. The album does sound (particularly in the drum tracks) a bit dated, but this in no way gets in the way of enjoying the album anymore than acoustic basses get in the way of enjoying Davis' '50s work-- in fact, it all adds to the ambience. Most importantly is that Davis, who sometimes seemed a bit unengaged with his own music on his later recordings, is full of fire and passion-- blows powerfully in a number of different moods, be it passion and fir ("Tutu"), a deep romanticism and yearning ("Portia"), funky explosiveness ("Splatch") or bouncey ecstacy ("Perfect Way").

For the purists who claim it's not jazz if it has electric instruments, programmed beats, or synthesizers-- skip this, you'll find nothing to like and nothing I say will convince you otherwise, even though this album is one of the best of its form. For those who question bringing in Miller to frame Davis and would make the statement this is a Marcus Miller record thinly veiled as a Miles Davis album-- remember that Gil Evans set up the same kind of framings for Davis, and no one views "Miles Ahead" or "Sketches of Spain" (or for that matter "The Birth of the Cool" where Davis only cowrote one piece) as anything other than a Miles Davis album. The fact is, this album is one of the best of its generation, and time and again, Davis proved he was capable of shaking the jazz world apart. And I suspect it's no coincidence that in his absence, a regressionist viewpoint has taken hold in commercial jazz. "Tutu" is a relic of a time when artists were not afraid to try something new. Highly recommended.

I got into Miles through this album and have since collected most of his albums. Tutu for me is the outstanding track. Whoever heard a drum machine swing like this before? Much credit has to be given to Marcus Miller for what he has created here. As the credit notes say, "Miles Davis - Trumpet all other instruments Marcus Miller except indicated". You could call this a Miller album. I don't think there is a weak track here. Even George Duke's Backyard Ritual is a treat. Portia the ballad is fantastic. Just listen to the outro, it is an inspired piece of composing. Listen to the chords on this album and if you can, work them out. It'll change they way you think about harmonies and chord progressions. Perfect Way is an interesting choice. It's a cover of Scritti Politti's tune. To date still my favourite electric Miles album. A must for any lover of fusion or funk. If I was stranded on a desert island with my Discman, this album would be with me. 5 stars

This first release for Warner Bros. was supposed to be a collaboration with Prince. Instead, it was a reuniting with Marcus Miller for this outstanding tribute to Archbishop Desmund Tutu which captured a 1987 Grammy Award.

Miles had previously taken part in Artists United Against Apartheid and this CD finds him putting his complete artistic signature in the criticism of the institutionalized white racism in South Africa.

The majority of the compositions, arrangements, production and instruments were provided by Miller. George Duke wrote, arranged, co-produced and played on Backyard Ritual. Programmed synthesizers - from Jason Miles - samples and drum loops are the studio tools that dominate the mix.

The last track, Full Nelson, is a Miller composition named for Nelson Mandela. The title track sets the stage for arguably the strongest work by Miles in the 1980s. There is not a weak cut as the studio is used to its full potential to merge technology with the trumpet; which hadn't been done since the 1970s funk classic, On The Corner.

Miles had left Columbia Records for a variety of artistic issues and one major personal situation. The breaking point was when a company executive contacted Miles and asked him to call Columbia artist Wynton Marsalis and wish him a happy birthday. Miles and Marsalis had a contentious relationship due to harsh comments Marsalis had previously directed at Miles.

Unlike many of his critics within the industry, Miles refused to fall back on an antiquated style and simply crank out generic music. Tutu and the subsequent concerts demonstrated that Miles continued to look ahead and refused to wait for others to catch up.

In 1986 when this album was released it was absolutely ground breaking and stunning - not only as a Miles Davis album, but in every way! It achieved what most people never thought music "made by machines" (which is inprecise to describe "Tutu" anyway!) would ever be able to do, which is to sound organic and "swing" while retaining the inherent strengths of the "machines" itself. Or rather - Marcus Miller achieved this with his collaborators by manipulating the instruments they had at their disposal at the time. They also achieved giving the world a fresh sound to get excited by, something we had not heard before - and people responded very excitedly all over the world, the album was a huge success!

Miles was the master painter that makes it all come together and gives it the touch of magic. His beautiful sound and solos are all over this album, he is clearly excited and that's all you need to know, because there was but one Miles Davis ever walking this planet!

The fact is that in 1986 Miles was again way ahead of the trend, and of the brain capacities of Wynton Marsalis and Stanley Crouch, and to this day 20 years later it stands out as a fresh and hardly dated piece of music, and as one of Miles classics which is about the highest praise you can bestow on a piece of music!

For any in-depth exploration of this album and this period of Miles, I can thoroughly recommend the excellent new book by George Cole entitled: The Last Miles : The Music of Miles Davis, 1980-1991 (Jazz Perspectives). The book is an excellent read, and contains loads of great quotes from Miles himself, as well as many of his sidemen and other collaborators from these years.

True this is mostly producer/bassists Marcus Miller's work,
true a cover of Scritti Politi's "Perfect Way" may seem suspect
but I'll tell even FUSION snobs where to get off about "Tutu"-it's one of Miles's funkiest albums and a highpoint in his catolog!The tital track,"Splatch" and the deeply grooving
"Full Nelson" pretty much exemplify the rest of what is to be found here-synthesizers,drum machines,deep bass licks and as always Miles's own distinctive playing that makes "Tutu" a pretty
magical work of art and not a crass commercial ploy.Now if only
the work Miles and Prince did together during this time could
be released.???????

What more can I say. Miles has once again outdone himself. I just bought this cd and can't seem to stop playing the damn thing. Miles to me is the consumate artist and this collaboration with Mr Miller is nothing short of brilliant. To be honest I have become as big Marcus Miller fan as I am a Miles Davis fan. Marcus brings to this piece just that right texture of funk and soul in a fusion that will make this work a memorable one. Miles' trumpet renditions exonerates the wizardy and majestry that is Miles. George Duke's contribution must not be denied especially on Backyard Ritual. As an up and coming jazz enthusiast i believe this to be one to add to the young jazz listeners collection.

This album has been quite underestimated by Miles fans. When I first heard it, I didn't like it either. It also sounds dated... the synths and the drum programming makes it sound very "80's" indeed. But if you think about Miles' approach to playing the music which was currently a trend, it all makes sense. In the late 60's, Miles started incorporating sounds and flavours of Rock into his music, and in my opinion, made some of the best Rock albums of that time (call it Rock fusion if you want, I like it more than normal Rock). Then came the 70's, and he incorporated funk, and made more great records. But the 80's wasn't the best decade for music. Even though Tutu sounds dated today, it is just a matter of having a little empathy when listening, placing yourself in 1986. It sounds great for the time, and it's not a timeless album, but it sounds great today.

It took me a while to come round to late-era Miles Davis, but after buying the excellent Live Around The World, I felt `ready' for Tutu. People here seem to be making the mistake of trying to find what they like of the Kind of Blue-Miles in these later works, when they are best approached with a more open mind.
While, for me, the On The Corner / Live Evil Miles is the period I most enjoy, I still found Tutu a satisfying experience. Though the backing is very much 'of the period', Miles's trumpet playing has much more in common with his playing in the late 1950s than of the work he'd done in the 1970s. His playing often sounds tired on the album, yet this balances well against the heavily synthesized backing tracks, adding a much-needed organic counter-balance.
The mistake is to see this as any sort of jazz album: it's not. This is essentially a pop album, with the trumpet filling the role of a vocalist. The inclusion of Scritti Poltti's Perfect Way makes this very obvious.

This albulm won 4 Grammies! It is one of my favorite albulms of all time! You need this in your collection! Most of it was written by Marcus Miller who does the Bass tracks, Omar Hakim on drums, and Robben Ford on Guitar. It shows Miles progression into "popular" music soft and subtle, pierced with Miles stinging horn. One track, "portia" is so beautiful, its the perfect music to make love too!

This album by a great master was panned by the critics but it is a masterpiece. On it, Davis shows he can use his trumpet to paint in a different style and this is his Picasso, his modern art work.

And perhaps this is why the critics at the time didn't value this work appropriately. They were used to Davis using softer brush strokes to paint impressionistic pictures in their mind and didn't know what to make of the electric guitar and synthesizer that pushed him into a new genre.

Listening to some of the tracks, you can see the paint splat against the canvas and Davis working fevorishly but deliberately like a musical Jackson Pollack.

I highly suggest they and you listen again and this time with open ears.