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 Slammin it !!! Nov 12, 2008
I decided to get this cd with mixed emotions : hope and fear.
Hope because of the undeniable quality of Marcus Miller, as a musician, as a producer, as a showman on stage, and because of incredible releases such as The Sun Don't Lie andTales, which are two marvelous collections of tracks.
Fear because of the general trend of music, the contagious effect of "smooth jazz" which is more than ever a middle of the road "I wanna be played on background music FM station" (and thus have to be very conventional), and Marcus Miller himself with two releases, M², and Silver Rain that were going south, south-south.
Well, I love Miller !!! Many years ago, I kept on telling my friends and acquaintances that my three favourite bass players were Stanley Clarke (when he was aggressive enough), Mark King (Level 42), and Marcus Miller. The first two are practically silent now, Marcus Miller has this masterpiece out ! As the title of the review suggests it, we have Marcus hitting hard on his instrument ("Higher ground", or the funky "Milky way", "Pluck" and "Ooh", and the fast paced "What is hip"), with enough diversity of rhythms and styles to satisfy his longtime fans and new followers. "Cause I want you " is a beautiful melody, where Marcus shows his virtuosity and shades almost completely the singers.
As to the traditional cover versions, as mentioned by another reviewer, "Free" is just all right, not great (but yet again, who can reach the level of quality of Deniece Williams in her album This Is Niecy, produced by the great Maurice White ? Not even Chante Moore, although she came close with A Love Supreme. "Higher Ground" is good enough because played with energy and it doesn't slaughter the original Stevie Wonder version. By the way Gregoire Maret does an acceptable play on harmonica on this one (non initiated people could almost be fooled into thinking it is Stevie Wonder himself playing). And "Jean Pierre", from Miles Davis, is marvelous.
I don't care too much for "When I fall in love", although Marcus shows a complete control of the clavinet, like he already did in his album TALES (see above).
Al in all, a superb release, with practically no time out during this 71 minutes journey (you get your money's worth) from one of my favourite players. Thanks Marcus, YOU are HIP, and keep slammin the bass !
Oh, and if you like Marcus, go to listen Level 42 and Mark King !
Awesome!!!! Nov 11, 2008
Marcus is the real deal. Very hard hitting bass and also smooth and mellow. Great CD
5 of 5 found the following review helpful:
Funky ! M.M. is a natural born bassman ! Oct 30, 2008
Even though a virtuoso musician, he always manages to produce musical music whilst also amazing you with his skills - something that many of his contemporaries fail to achieve.
On this album - which is the new Concord Jazz release of the 2007 Album "Free" (the only difference is the added spoken word version of Robin Thicke's 2007 hit Lost Without You from Evolution of Robin Thicke) - Marcus Miller is joined by Poogie Bell on drums, Michael 'Patches Stewart' on trumpet, Paul Jackson jr. on guitar, David Sanborn and Tom Scott on saxes, Bobby Sparks II on keys, while he plays almost everything else.
Corinne Bailey Rae and Lalah Hathaway lend a hand on vocals.
This is a killer front line, but the slim bassman in the flat-brim porkpie hat is at the beating heart of everything.
Ex-Miles Davis collaborator, the bass master and production guru is the eternal muso's muso.
Marcus Miller is considered one of, if not the best contemporary bass players, having played with countless big name acts such as Miles Davis, David Sanborn, Luther Vandross just to name a few and also has a successful solo career.
Working with artists representing a wide variety of genres is a major theme on this latest work.
Yet his solo albums have been a mixed bag of sophisticated arrangements and slap solos, with occasionally questionable covers.
"Marcus" finds him striving for the raw funk of his Miles days, delivering great stripped down versions of Stevie Wonder's "Higher Ground" and Tower Of Power's "What Is Hip?".
Corinne Bailey Rae crops up on Denise Williams' 1976 classic "Free" and she sounds good, but not great.
Miller plays it pretty straight on this rendition that holds close musically to Williams' original (see This Is Niecy). The main difference is Miller's bass playing, in which he employs his signature thumping and plucking funky style. The version also includes some definite jazz influenced improvising by Miller, as well as a saxophone solo.
You may like "Blast", a thumb-punched gem and his version of the electric-Miles classic, "Jean-Pierre". "I had the honour to work with Miles Davis long ago when I was 21 years of age and I finally figured out how to play this sucker." Marcus says.
There's an interesting version of "When I Fall In Love", a bass-clarinet ballad : it showes his versatility, but he's principally a born bassman and he does it as a funky fretless thing. Elsewhere it's lots of very tight, precise slap that really shows off his amazing phrasing - very cleanly exectuted lines - with a few eastern and asian flavours creeping into the mix.
Overall it's very good but a little different from what he's done before.
It's pretty darn funky. More in the funk vein than most of his more recent jazzy albums and at times it gets some great R&B as well.
His playing sounds amazing - and the killer cover this time around is his version of Tower Of Power's "What Is Hip", which, instead of finger picking, he slaps all the way, with a pocket so tight it hurts.
So if you like your jazz with plenty of life-affirming soul, dont hesitate.
You will enjoy it.
Free
Thunder
Palmystery
The Toys of Men
Great, upbeat cd! Jul 09, 2008
I bought this cd because I kept hearing Corinne Bailey Rae sing Free on my local jazz station and loved it! I discovered her and Marcus Miller while trying to find this song. I like them both alot, now! This cd is really great! Very upbeat and gets me going, and would be great at a party!
julrobs
Marcus - AWESOME ! Jun 08, 2008
The whole album is incredible. Marcus Miller has beaten his own high standards. You do not have to be a bass player to listen to this CD over and over - but if you are a bass player, you won't take it out of your music player ever !
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