Il celebre album di Miles Davis Tutu, pubblicato nel 1986, che prende il nome dall'Arcivescovo sudafricano Desmond Tutu, fu un punto di svolta nella carriera del trombettista. Il materiale riccamente arrangiato di questo album e del suo seguito Amandla servirono a ridefinire il sound di Davis per l'atto finale di una lunga carriera di crescita e di trasformazione. Prodotto dal bassista Marcus Miller, che era stato un membro della band di Miles quando questi venne fuori dal ritiro degli anni '80, Tutu fu ampiamente riconosciuto come uno dei grandi dischi jazz contemporanei degli anni '80 con un suono potente e una musica che sfida le categorizzazioni.
Lo stesso Miller sta per avviare un tour con il quale rivisiterà la musica di questo strardinario album. Il tour toccherà anche l'Italia nel mese di luglio, con tre tappe rispettivamente a Perugia (per Umbria Jazz) l'11, a Fano il 25 ed a Teano il 27. Miller sarà accompagnato da una formazione composta da Christian Scott - tromba, Alex Han - sassofono, Federico Gonzalez Pena - tastiere e Louis Cato - batteria.
Il sito della rivista JazzTimes ha recentemente pubblicato una bella intervista al grande bassista.
Ecco un estratto dell'intervista:
On Tutu, I hear your sound as much as I hear Miles, but the record was a collaboration and it involved lots of other people. Can you separate out what you did or is that impossible?
I can actually hear my thing because I really had started to come into my own, composition-wise especially. I remember Miles telling me, “Hey, you’re in that period, recognize it and write as much as you can, because they come and go.” He said the same thing to Wayne [Shorter] way back. I definitely hear the things I discovered harmonically that seemed to work well for Miles, for his vibe and spirit. That’s what I’m trying to do when I’m producing or writing for somebody—to find where their spirit is at and do something appropriate for them.
The record certainly has had legs and gets used for all sorts of things. Several years ago, I heard it in a play in San Francisco, where it was used as a motif to introduce a dramatic confrontation between Asian-American actors from two different generations.
I really like that it was in a story about intergenerational relationships because for me that’s what Tutu was. It was me and Miles and all his history, how was he functioning in the modern world, which was the ’80s at that time. To me, it was about Miles carrying his history forward to the ‘80s and to the streets of New York in that environment. So it’s nice that somebody maybe subconsciously picked up on that.
As big a record as it was, I’m not sure I’ve heard its influence directly on other albums. It’s as if it’s just too singular to even emulate. Have you heard any things out there that make you go, “Hey, I recognize that sound…”?
Yes, I heard a million of them, but more in contemporary jazz where you’d hear muted trumpet and ethereal chords. I heard that a lot. Most of the time it wasn’t quite it. Then in smooth jazz, they did their version of it too.
You didn’t mind though, right?
No, to me, that’s a compliment. It was beautiful. Now the hard part was when people would send me their demos, saying, “Can you help me get a record deal?” But the music [on the demo] was a version of that. I was like, dude, this exists already. You’ve got to find something new to say, which is really hard.
Is it the one record that you’re most proud of?
Yes, it definitely feels special. It was my first time sitting shoulder to shoulder with Miles and working on music that I had written for him. I had been in his band for a couple years, but this was a completely different kind of relationship and a lot of responsibility. When it was released, it was the first time for a lot of people hearing that sound, which is very familiar now, but it was a different thing at the time. You can’t recreate your first time, so, yes, this one does stand out for me.
Did you have any hesitation in doing a tribute or a revisited project? You know more than anyone that Miles wasn’t much for that sort of thing, looking backward.
They were having this huge Miles Davis exhibit in Paris in a museum. It was gorgeous. It was very well done. And they asked me at the end of the exhibit run, if I would be interested in performing Tutu in its entirety. I thought, “I’m not sure I’m excited about that and I don’t think Miles would be excited about that.” But initially when Miles passed, I didn’t feel that the attention paid to his passing was great enough. Me, being in France a lot, I saw how he was treated so much bigger over there. But America’s different. Over time, that changed some, but I wanted to do something myself for Miles. And I was thinking, “What can I do?” I thought, “You know what would be nice is if I got all these young musicians who were barely even born when Tutu came out and have them attack this sucker and change it and create something new with it.” That would be a way that Miles would be into it and would get me excited as well....
Per leggere il resto dell'intervista clicca qui.
Ecco il video di Full Nelson, ripreso Live at Billboard in Giappone il 15.9.2009
Lo stesso Miller sta per avviare un tour con il quale rivisiterà la musica di questo strardinario album. Il tour toccherà anche l'Italia nel mese di luglio, con tre tappe rispettivamente a Perugia (per Umbria Jazz) l'11, a Fano il 25 ed a Teano il 27. Miller sarà accompagnato da una formazione composta da Christian Scott - tromba, Alex Han - sassofono, Federico Gonzalez Pena - tastiere e Louis Cato - batteria.
Il sito della rivista JazzTimes ha recentemente pubblicato una bella intervista al grande bassista.
Ecco un estratto dell'intervista:
On Tutu, I hear your sound as much as I hear Miles, but the record was a collaboration and it involved lots of other people. Can you separate out what you did or is that impossible?
I can actually hear my thing because I really had started to come into my own, composition-wise especially. I remember Miles telling me, “Hey, you’re in that period, recognize it and write as much as you can, because they come and go.” He said the same thing to Wayne [Shorter] way back. I definitely hear the things I discovered harmonically that seemed to work well for Miles, for his vibe and spirit. That’s what I’m trying to do when I’m producing or writing for somebody—to find where their spirit is at and do something appropriate for them.
The record certainly has had legs and gets used for all sorts of things. Several years ago, I heard it in a play in San Francisco, where it was used as a motif to introduce a dramatic confrontation between Asian-American actors from two different generations.
I really like that it was in a story about intergenerational relationships because for me that’s what Tutu was. It was me and Miles and all his history, how was he functioning in the modern world, which was the ’80s at that time. To me, it was about Miles carrying his history forward to the ‘80s and to the streets of New York in that environment. So it’s nice that somebody maybe subconsciously picked up on that.
As big a record as it was, I’m not sure I’ve heard its influence directly on other albums. It’s as if it’s just too singular to even emulate. Have you heard any things out there that make you go, “Hey, I recognize that sound…”?
Yes, I heard a million of them, but more in contemporary jazz where you’d hear muted trumpet and ethereal chords. I heard that a lot. Most of the time it wasn’t quite it. Then in smooth jazz, they did their version of it too.
You didn’t mind though, right?
No, to me, that’s a compliment. It was beautiful. Now the hard part was when people would send me their demos, saying, “Can you help me get a record deal?” But the music [on the demo] was a version of that. I was like, dude, this exists already. You’ve got to find something new to say, which is really hard.
Is it the one record that you’re most proud of?
Yes, it definitely feels special. It was my first time sitting shoulder to shoulder with Miles and working on music that I had written for him. I had been in his band for a couple years, but this was a completely different kind of relationship and a lot of responsibility. When it was released, it was the first time for a lot of people hearing that sound, which is very familiar now, but it was a different thing at the time. You can’t recreate your first time, so, yes, this one does stand out for me.
Did you have any hesitation in doing a tribute or a revisited project? You know more than anyone that Miles wasn’t much for that sort of thing, looking backward.
They were having this huge Miles Davis exhibit in Paris in a museum. It was gorgeous. It was very well done. And they asked me at the end of the exhibit run, if I would be interested in performing Tutu in its entirety. I thought, “I’m not sure I’m excited about that and I don’t think Miles would be excited about that.” But initially when Miles passed, I didn’t feel that the attention paid to his passing was great enough. Me, being in France a lot, I saw how he was treated so much bigger over there. But America’s different. Over time, that changed some, but I wanted to do something myself for Miles. And I was thinking, “What can I do?” I thought, “You know what would be nice is if I got all these young musicians who were barely even born when Tutu came out and have them attack this sucker and change it and create something new with it.” That would be a way that Miles would be into it and would get me excited as well....
Per leggere il resto dell'intervista clicca qui.
Ecco il video di Full Nelson, ripreso Live at Billboard in Giappone il 15.9.2009
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