Miles Davis - Tutu (2011 Warner Deluxe Edition)
Genre: Jazz, Fusion, Trumpet | Label: Warner Jazz | 2CD | MP3 320 kbps | 285 MB
This package contains the original, studio-concocted Miles Davis set that Miller mostly composed. There's also a previously unreleased gig from that year's Nice Jazz festival, delivered by a powerful octet including the late Bob Berg on tenor sax. As liner-note writer Ashley Kahn points out, I made an about-turn over this music in the 80s, from first doubting it as bland funk to reconsidering it as late-flowering Miles, creativity galvanised by Miller's input. But more importantly, Kahn's fine essay offers insights into Miller's assessment that producing finished studio tracks for Miles to blow on didn't work: you had to leave them as rougher sonic sketches and let his improvising bring them to life.
The original Tutu is essential for admirers of the trumpeter's late work who don't already own it, but the live show includes some anonymous non-Tutu material and too much down-the-line rock-blues guitar from Robben Ford, and despite robust tenor-blowing from Berg and an affecting (and startlingly early-jazzy) trumpet solo on New Blues, this isn't the kind of live Miles show that makes you wish you'd been there - unlike much of the music on his 1973-91 Montreux festival box set.
Personnel: Miles Davis (trumpet); Marcus Miller (various instruments, bass, programming); George Duke (various instruments); Michael Urbaniak (electric violin); Adam Holzman (synthesizer, programming); Bernard Wright (synthesizer); Omar Hakim (drums, percussion); Steve Reid, Paulinho Da Costa (percussion); Jason Miles (programming).

Track List:

CD 1
Tutu Remastered Album
01. Tutu
02. Tomaas
03. Portia
04. Splatch
05. Backyard Ritual
06. Perfect Way
07. Don