COMPOSERS: Marcus Miller
LABELS: Dreyfus Jazz
WORKS: Tales
PERFORMER: Marcus Miller (el b, b cl); Bernard Wright (kbd); Michael Stewart (t); Kenny Garrett (as); Poogie Bell (d)
CATALOGUE NO: FDM 365712
Bassist/composer Marcus Miller is the thinking person’s jazz funker. His music has all the elemental ingredients – woofer-testing low frequencies, metronomic drums and gangsterish solos – but it oozes sophistication and imagination too.
On Tales, former collaborator Miles Davis speaks across the studio ether; Billie Holiday’s ghost is summoned by the leader’s sensitive bass clarinet reading of ‘Strange Fruit’. Super-slick production and clever sound programming balance Miller’s discombobulating bass guitar licks with shimmering solo set pieces from Stewart and Garrett. Essential for fusion connoisseurs. Garry Booth