Tutu (album)

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Tutu
Studio album by Miles Davis

Publication
(s)

1986

Label (s) Warner Brother

Format (s)

CD, LP

Genre (s)

Fusion , funk

Title (number)

8th

running time

42:05

occupation
  • George Duke - all instruments except percussion, bass and trumpet on Backyard Ritual

production

Marcus Miller , Tommy LiPuma

Studio (s)

January 6, 1986 to March 25, 1986

chronology
You're Under Arrest
(1985)
Tutu Siesta
(1987)

Tutu is a jazz album by American trumpeter Miles Davis that was released in 1986 on Warner Bros. Records. Miles Davis received a Grammy for his solo performance , Eiko Ishioka , who designed the cover photographed by Irving Penn , received a Grammy for her work as art director . The title of the album was chosen by Miles in honor of Desmond Tutu , who also became the first black Anglican Archbishop of Cape Town , South Africa in 1986 . It became one of Davis' best-selling albums alongside Kind of Blue .

Emergence

Tutu was Miles Davis' first album after ending more than 30 years of working with CBS . Miles worked with bass player Marcus Miller , among others . Miller, who had already worked as a sideman and arranger for Davis in his career, wrote six pieces on the album, one of them in cooperation with Davis, the other two by George Duke and Scritti Politti . He also produced the album with Tommy LiPuma , who brought Davis to Warner.

Prince originally directed a song called Can I Play with U? for the album Tutu , but Prince's then saxophonist Eric Leeds said in 2016: “There were people in the Miles Davis camp who were very interested in just having a Prince song as a kind of seal of approval . Miles played the trumpet. As high as the coolness factor of being on a Miles Davis record would have been, the song just wasn't good enough and was never released. "

Tutu's music is based on the sound of the 1980s with lots of R&B and funk elements. The piece Full Nelson refers to the South African politician Nelson Mandela and is also a reference to an earlier Davis composition, Half Nelson , which was named after the bebop jazz bassist Nelson Boyd .

reception

Tutu has received inconsistent ratings from contemporary jazz critics. Robert Christgau awarded a B + and wrote:

“I cried fraud at first, and if you have no use for catchy little anythings you'll agree, but I changed my mind. Marcus Miller acquits himself in the Gil Evans role, George Duke gets off a nice lick, and Scritti Politti provides a snappier cover than Cyndi Lauper. "

“I screamed fraud at first, and if you have no use for small, catchy arbitrariness, you will agree, but I've changed my mind. Marcus Miller proves himself in the Gil Evans role, George Duke takes off with nice licks and Scritti Politti offers a faster cover than Cyndi Lauper . "

Scott Yanow gave two and a half out of five stars on Allmusic and wrote:

"Certainly the results are not all that spontaneous, but Davis is in top form and some of the selections (most notably the title cut) are quite memorable."

"Sure, the results aren't quite as spontaneous, but Davis is in great shape and some of the pieces (especially the title track) are very memorable."

Meanwhile, Mike Zwerin said : “There is absolutely no doubt that Tutu is the best Miles Davis album of this decade. This is the music for the movie of our lives. ”British music critic Charles Shaar Murray gave the album five stars and said that, with the exception of the albums We Want Miles and You're Under Arrest, there may not have been a better album since Davis' comeback . “Maybe he doesn't make albums like he did in the 1950s. But nobody made an album like this. Except Miles Davis. "

The keyboardist Kei Akagi , who played with Davis from 1989 and then taught music at the University of Los Angeles, has impressively pointed out that this music has influenced a whole generation of younger musicians, “for whom tutu has the same meaning as So What . "

Rolling Stone magazine voted the album at number 96 in its 2013 list of The 100 Best Jazz Albums .

Track list

All compositions by Marcus Miller unless otherwise noted

  1. Tutu - 5:15
  2. Tomaas - 5:38 (Davis, Marcus Miller)
  3. Portia - 6:18
  4. Splatch - 4:46
  5. Backyard Ritual - 4:49 (George Duke)
  6. Perfect Way - 4:35 ( David Gamson , Green Gartside )
  7. Don't Lose Your Mind - 5:49
  8. Full Nelson - 5:06

literature

Individual evidence

  1. a b c Album review: Miles Davis, Tutu: Special Edition, at nzherald.co.nz. Retrieved November 16, 2013 .
  2. Azhar (2016), p. 45
  3. ^ Robert Christgau, Tutu. Retrieved November 16, 2013 .
  4. ^ Review of Tutu by Scott Yanow, at allmusic.com. Retrieved November 16, 2013 .
  5. ^ A b c George Cole The Last Miles: The Music of Miles Davis, 1980-1991 University of Michigan Press 2007, p. 166
  6. Rolling Stone: The 100 Best Jazz Albums . Retrieved November 16, 2016.