Tutu - Miles Davis | Jazzbo Notes

Jan

24

Tutu - Miles Davis

≡ Category: 1980s, Don't Bother, Jazz Funk, Reviews |
≅ Written by: Michael Kydonieus

DON’T BOTHER

Rating:

Tutu (on the Columbia label) barely counts as a Miles Davis album. More accurately, it’s a Marcus Miller date, with Davis being the principle soloist. Most of the instruments are played by Marcus Miller. All but one of the arrangements are by Marcus Miller. Six out of eight of the tunes were written by Miller. Davis co-authored only one. I mean, who’s kidding who? Nice photographs of Davis on the cover, though.

The urban grooves being pushed by Marcus Miller were stale back in 1986. Now they’re positively moldy. The synthesizer programming has that synthetic plastic quality so beloved back in the 80s. Yeccchh. The tunes themselves are full of weak root motion, noodling and melodies you’ll forget between choruses. To be fair, George Duke composes and arranges one tune, Backyard Ritual, which is every bit as forgettable as the rest of the album.

The funny thing is, Miles actually sounds good. The lines he’s playing wouldn’t be out of place on one of his 50s dates.

By this point in Davis’ career, he was performing perhaps the most surprising move of all of his career: coasting and selling out. What the hell, he earned it.