Tutu (album)
Tutu | ||||
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Studio album by | ||||
Released | September 1986[1] | |||
Recorded | February 6 – March 25, 1986 | |||
Studio |
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Genre | ||||
Length | 42:05 | |||
Warner Bros. | ||||
Producer | ||||
Miles Davis chronology | ||||
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Audio sample | ||||
"Tutu" |
Tutu is an album by
Background
Originally some tracks were planned as a collaboration with
As indicated in the notes accompanying the album, Tutu was produced by Tommy LiPuma and Marcus Miller, with the exception of "Backyard Ritual", which was co-produced by Duke and LiPuma.
The cover was designed by
Reception and legacy
Tutu divided critics and listeners when it was released in 1986.[18] Like Davis's pivotal 1970 album Bitches Brew, Paul Tingen wrote, Tutu became one of the "defining jazz albums" of its decade and attracted a young, new audience while alienating many other jazz listeners because of its heavy reliance on the drum machine and synthesizers. A number of critics felt the music was ingratiatingly elegant, designed for casual listening, and largely a work by Miller.[19] In The New York Times that year, Robert Palmer said it "already sounds curiously dated" and unambitious, featuring synthesizers that "have glutinous textures so overly familiar from the mainstream of late-1970s pop jazz" and electronic rhythms lacking the innovation of contemporary hip hop records.[4]
Others believed the album gave a musical setting for Davis's improvisations to thrive in, comparable to his orchestral recordings with Gil Evans from the late 1950s and early 1960s.[19] The Village Voice critic Robert Christgau deemed it a marginal success but also Davis's "best in a decade". He contended that while Davis's 1970s fusion recordings for Columbia Records were purely improvised jazz-rock, Tutu sounded "more like pop-funk Sketches of Spain, with the starperson's trumpet glancing smartly off an up-to-date panoply of catchy little tunes, beats, and rhythm effects".[17] Jazz musician and writer Mike Zwerin was more enthusiastic, hailing it as "the best jazz record of the decade".[19]
In a retrospective piece, Christgau later wrote that with "shlock" like Tutu and Amandla, Davis was taking advantage of the fusion movement he helped develop while showing "gratifying groove and class".[20] In J. D. Considine's opinion, the album's compositions and improvisations endured well with the passage of time, even though its electronically processed and enigmatic music turned off jazz purists.[21] Writing for Something Else! in 2006, S. Victor Aaron said the best song from Tutu may have been Davis's own composition "Tomaas": "With a reggae beat married to repetitive single note underpinned by some very nifty bass work by Miller, Miles and Miller (also on soprano sax) trade fours and eights in a rare opportunity for Miles to stretch out. Overall, though, the trumpet playing is subdued, probably more constrained by production than declining abilities. Rarely does the mute come off his horn."[22] Reviewing the album for Jazzwise in 2011, Davis' biographer George Cole said, "Tutu was a product of the 80s, a decade where music was often in danger of becoming subservient to technology. But while much of the music from this era is now long forgotten; Tutu continues to thrive; artists such as George Benson, Al Jarreau and Cassandra Wilson have recorded cover versions of the title track."[23]
Between May and August 2010, Miller performed on the "Tutu Revisited" concert tour with a band comprising
Track listing
All tracks composed by Marcus Miller except where indicated:
- "Tutu" – 5:15
- "Tomaas" – 5:38 (Davis, Marcus Miller)
- "Portia" – 6:18
- "Splatch" – 4:46
- "Backyard Ritual" – 4:49 (George Duke)
- "Perfect Way" – 4:35 (David Gamson, Green Gartside)
- "Don't Lose Your Mind" – 5:49
- "Full Nelson" – 5:06
Deluxe edition
Disc two (Live from Nice Festival, France, July 1986)
- "Opening Medley": 'Theme from Jack Johnson', 'Speak', 'That's What Happened' – 15:14
- "New Blues" – 5:20
- "The Maze" – 10:15
- "Human Nature" – 9:04
- "Portia" – 7:54
- "Splatch" – 17:10
- "Time After Time" (Cyndi Lauper, Rob Hyman) – 7:22
- "Carnival" – 4:20
Personnel
Musicians
- Miles Davis – trumpet
- Marcus Miller – all other instruments (1-4, 6, 7, 8), additional synthesizer programming, bass guitar (5)
- Jason Miles – synthesizer programming
- Adam Holzman – additional synthesizer programming, synthesizer solo (4)
- Bernard Wright – additional synthesizers (2, 7)
- George Duke – all other instruments (5)
- Omar Hakim – drums (2), percussion (2)
- Paulinho da Costa – percussion (1, 3, 4, 5)
- Steve Reid – additional percussion (4)
- Michał Urbaniak – electric violin (7)
Production
- Tommy LiPuma – executive producer, producer
- Marcus Miller – producer (1-4, 6, 7, 8), musical arrangements (1-4, 6, 7, 8)
- George Duke – producer (5), musical arrangements (5)
- Eric Calvi – engineer (1-4, 6, 7, 8), mixing (2, 6, 7, 8)
- Peter Doell – engineer (1-4, 6, 7, 8)
- Bill Schnee – mixing (1, 3, 4)
- Erik Zobler – engineer (5), mixing (5)
- Maureen Thompson – assistant engineer (1, 3, 4)
- Eddie Garcia – assistant engineer (2, 6, 7, 8)
- Doug Sax – mastering at The Mastering Lab (Hollywood, California)
- Larry Fishman – production assistant
- Irving Penn – photography
- Eiko Ishioka – art direction
- Susan Welt – design
Charts
Chart (1986) | Peak position |
---|---|
Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)[25] | 46 |
Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan)[26] | 33 |
Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[27] | 27 |
UK Albums (OCC)[28] | 74 |
US Billboard 200[29] | 141 |
Certifications and sales
Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
---|---|---|
France ( SNEP)[30]
|
Gold | 100,000* |
* Sales figures based on certification alone. |
References
- ^ "BBC - Music - Review of Miles Davis - Tutu".
- ISBN 0203484274. Retrieved June 26, 2013.
...Miles Davis's last pop-jazz albums for Warners Bros. (Tutu [1986], and Amandla [1987]).
- ^ Freeman, Phil (2014). "Miles Davis Albums From Worst to Best". Stereogum. Retrieved May 22, 2016.
- ^ a b Palmer, Robert (October 1, 1986). "The Pop Life; In 'Tutu,' Miles Davis Goes Fully Electronic". The New York Times. Retrieved May 22, 2016.
- Warner Jazz. 2011. 8122797687.)
{{cite AV media notes}}
: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link - ^ "29th Annual GRAMMY Awards". GRAMMY.com. 2017-11-28. Retrieved 2020-03-02.
- ^ "Past Winners Search | GRAMMY.com". grammy.com. Retrieved 2 June 2013.
- ^ Yanow, Scott (2011). "Tutu - Miles Davis | AllMusic". allmusic.com. Retrieved 8 August 2011.
- ISBN 978-0857125958.
- ^ Fordham, John (May 19, 2011). "Miles Davis – Tutu: Deluxe Edition – review". The Guardian. Retrieved June 26, 2013.
- ^ Nicholson, Stuart (October 9, 2015). "Miles Davis – Tutu Deluxe Edition". Jazzwise. Retrieved May 22, 2016.
- ISBN 0825672538.
- ^ Reid, Graham (June 4, 2011). "Album review: Miles Davis, Tutu: Special Edition". The New Zealand Herald. Retrieved June 26, 2013.
- ^ Cook & Morton 1992, p. 273.
- ^ Waring, Charles (June 2011). "Tutu Revisited". Record Collector (389): 97. Retrieved June 26, 2013.
- ^ Considine et al. 2004, p. 215.
- ^ a b Christgau, Robert (October 28, 1986). "Consumer Guide". The Village Voice. Retrieved June 26, 2013.
- ^ "Miles Davis – Tutu". Jazzwise. May 2011. Retrieved May 22, 2016.
- ^ a b c Tingen, Paul (March 2002). "Miles Davis: Miles on Target". JazzTimes. Retrieved May 22, 2016.
- ^ Christgau 1990, p. 463.
- ^ Considine et al. 2004, p. 219.
- ^ S. Victor Aaron (2015-06-21). "Miles Davis - Tutu (1986) | Something Else!". Somethingelsereviews.com. Retrieved 2015-06-25.
- ^ "Jazzwise".
- ^ "Jazz Columns: Marcus Miller Revisits Music of Tutu on Tour - By Lee Mergner — Jazz Articles". Jazztimes.com. Retrieved 2015-06-25.
- ^ "Dutchcharts.nl – Miles Davis – Tutu" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved April 26, 2021.
- ^ "Swedishcharts.com – Miles Davis – Tutu". Hung Medien. Retrieved April 26, 2021.
- ^ "Swisscharts.com – Miles Davis – Tutu". Hung Medien. Retrieved April 26, 2021.
- ^ "Official Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved April 26, 2021.
- ^ "Miles Davis Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard. Retrieved April 26, 2021.
- ^ "French album certifications – Miles Davis – Tutu" (in French). InfoDisc. Retrieved November 18, 2021. Select MILES DAVIS and click OK.
Bibliography
- ISBN 067973015X.
- ISBN 0-7432-0169-8.
- ISBN 0140153640.
Further reading
- Cole, George (2007). "15. Tutu". The Last Miles: The Music of Miles Davis, 1980–1991. ISBN 978-0472032600.