If you like thumping bass guitar you're gonna love this record! Especially if you have a decent system to play it back on. Literally, the earth-rumbling low end will make your windows rattle. Mine did. You'll feel it in your chest, too, and on top of all that there's some really cool beats and even some rapping going on. But nothing is overdone. Not a single note or utterance is unnecessary
It's a great record. And a great-sounding record, too.
Released in June, 2018, on Blue Note Records, Laid Back was nominated for Best Contemporary Instrumental Album and features collaborations with Trombone Shorty, Jonathan Butler, Take 6, Selah Sue, Kirk Whalum & Alex Han. It's a fun record and it makes me want to pick up the bass guitar and learn how to play it.
There aren't too many bassists who can do that to me. Miller, Bootsy Collins …
This album is genre-defying and comes three years after Miller’s last album, Afrodeezia, which The New York Times called “vibrant and expressive … music that frames his playing beautifully.” Miller called Afrodeezia a musical voyage through his history. "I followed the journey of my ancestors by collaborating with musicians along the African Slave route," he said. "Musicians from West Africa, North Africa, South America and the Caribbean. With Laid Black, I decided to bring the music right up to the present, using elements from what’s happening in urban music today. So you’ll hear hip-hop, trap, soul, funk, R&B and jazz on this album. The music is calm but also powerful and funky, drawing on the black musical experience. Laid Black.”
It's laid back for sure, but it is extremely well recorded and produced and the music enveloped me as it came out of the speakers. The vinyl is flat and quiet, and I would imagine the grooves are deep. They'd have to be to contain the lower end of this record!
There's even a version of Que Sera Sera that has to be the best interpretation I've ever heard.
Anyone who has ever listened to Miller’s music knows how special it is. It's powerful and pushes boundaries. His career has been a constant evolution and this is its the latest incarnation. He is a two-time Grammy winner, and he won Holland’s Edison Award for Lifetime Achievement In Jazz (in 2013) as well as France’s Victoire du Jazz (in 2010). (2010).
Miller was born into a musical New York family (jazz pianist Wynton Kelly is a cousin), and his distinctive sound can be heard on a the excellent Bill Withers’ hit, Just The Two Of Us, Luther Vandross’ Never Too Much, Aretha Franklin’s Jump To It, Snoop Dogg’s GZ and Hustlas and Jay-Z’s Can’t Knock the Hustle. He also appeared on Beyoncé’s All Night, and has contributed to recordings or performances with many other exceptional artists including Chaka Khan, Herbie Hancock, Eric Clapton, Aretha Franklin, George Benson, Elton John and Bryan Ferry.
Miller's songwriting and production collaboration with Vandross lasted 15-years and resulted in 13 consecutive platinum albums, seven of which he produced. He has also partnered with David Sanborn, Roberta Flack, Al Jarreau, George Benson, Herbie Hancock, and Wayne Shorter. But his most notable collaboration - the biggest ring he ever kissed - was perhaps the time he spent recording and touring as a member of Miles Davis’ band. He was only in his 20s then, but Davis wasn't put off by Miller's youth and his young protege helped him compose, produce and arrange the ground-breaking album Tutu, which won two Grammys and is considered one of the definitive late-period Miles Davis albums.
Miller has an extensive list of film and television credits as well, including the Oscar-nominated film Marshall, in 2017, that starred the recently deceased Chadwick Boseman in the role of a young Thurgood Marshall. Miller also composed the soundtracks to Everybody Hates Chris and Boomerang, a film that starred Eddie Murphy and Halle Berry. In addition, he is credited with writing Da Butt, the song that inspired the national dance craze from Spike Lee’s 1988 cult classic School Daze.
Miller also keeps busy hosting two weekly radio shows - Miller Time With Marcus Miller on SiriusXM and Transatlantic Jazz With Marcus Miller in the UK on Jazz FM.
In addition, he somehow finds time to host jazz cruises and continues to tour extensively.
Michelle Mercer, of DownBeat, wrote, "There’s no judging an album by its cover. But the cover of Marcus Miller’s Laid Black is a litmus test. The title’s pun, the image of a shirtless Miller gazing with soulful directness and the musician’s reputation itself will divide most listeners into believers and doubters before they’ve even heard the first bass slap."
Dan Bilawski of JazzTimes stated, "In liberally mixing aspects of R&B, trap, funk, and hip-hop with jazz, Miller manages to play up their commonalities while leveraging the originality and accessibility of each."
Marcus Miller is an amazing talent and this record is a stunning work of art. If you've never heard his music before, this LP is a great way to discover it.
No doubt about it. This record is …
If you like thumping bass guitar you're gonna love this record! Especially if you have a decent system to play it back on. Literally, the earth-rumbling low end will make your windows rattle. Mine did. You'll feel it in your chest, too, and on top of all that there's some really cool beats and even some rapping going on. But nothing is overdone. Not a single note or utterance is unnecessary
It's a great record. And a great-sounding record, too.
Released in June, 2018, on Blue Note Records, Laid Back was nominated for Best Contemporary Instrumental Album and features collaborations with Trombone Shorty, Jonathan Butler, Take 6, Selah Sue, Kirk Whalum & Alex Han. It's a fun record and it makes me want to pick up the bass guitar and learn how to play it.
There aren't too many bassists who can do that to me. Miller, Bootsy Collins …
This album is genre-defying and comes three years after Miller’s last album, Afrodeezia, which The New York Times called “vibrant and expressive … music that frames his playing beautifully.” Miller called Afrodeezia a musical voyage through his history. "I followed the journey of my ancestors by collaborating with musicians along the African Slave route," he said. "Musicians from West Africa, North Africa, South America and the Caribbean. With Laid Black, I decided to bring the music right up to the present, using elements from what’s happening in urban music today. So you’ll hear hip-hop, trap, soul, funk, R&B and jazz on this album. The music is calm but also powerful and funky, drawing on the black musical experience. Laid Black.”
It's laid back for sure, but it is extremely well recorded and produced and the music enveloped me as it came out of the speakers. The vinyl is flat and quiet, and I would imagine the grooves are deep. They'd have to be to contain the lower end of this record!
There's even a version of Que Sera Sera that has to be the best interpretation I've ever heard.
Anyone who has ever listened to Miller’s music knows how special it is. It's powerful and pushes boundaries. His career has been a constant evolution and this is its the latest incarnation. He is a two-time Grammy winner, and he won Holland’s Edison Award for Lifetime Achievement In Jazz (in 2013) as well as France’s Victoire du Jazz (in 2010). (2010).
Miller was born into a musical New York family (jazz pianist Wynton Kelly is a cousin), and his distinctive sound can be heard on a the excellent Bill Withers’ hit, Just The Two Of Us, Luther Vandross’ Never Too Much, Aretha Franklin’s Jump To It, Snoop Dogg’s GZ and Hustlas and Jay-Z’s Can’t Knock the Hustle. He also appeared on Beyoncé’s All Night, and has contributed to recordings or performances with many other exceptional artists including Chaka Khan, Herbie Hancock, Eric Clapton, Aretha Franklin, George Benson, Elton John and Bryan Ferry.
Miller's songwriting and production collaboration with Vandross lasted 15-years and resulted in 13 consecutive platinum albums, seven of which he produced. He has also partnered with David Sanborn, Roberta Flack, Al Jarreau, George Benson, Herbie Hancock, and Wayne Shorter. But his most notable collaboration - the biggest ring he ever kissed - was perhaps the time he spent recording and touring as a member of Miles Davis’ band. He was only in his 20s then, but Davis wasn't put off by Miller's youth and his young protege helped him compose, produce and arrange the ground-breaking album Tutu, which won two Grammys and is considered one of the definitive late-period Miles Davis albums.
Miller has an extensive list of film and television credits as well, including the Oscar-nominated film Marshall, in 2017, that starred the recently deceased Chadwick Boseman in the role of a young Thurgood Marshall. Miller also composed the soundtracks to Everybody Hates Chris and Boomerang, a film that starred Eddie Murphy and Halle Berry. In addition, he is credited with writing Da Butt, the song that inspired the national dance craze from Spike Lee’s 1988 cult classic School Daze.
Miller also keeps busy hosting two weekly radio shows - Miller Time With Marcus Miller on SiriusXM and Transatlantic Jazz With Marcus Miller in the UK on Jazz FM.
In addition, he somehow finds time to host jazz cruises and continues to tour extensively.
Michelle Mercer, of DownBeat, wrote, "There’s no judging an album by its cover. But the cover of Marcus Miller’s Laid Black is a litmus test. The title’s pun, the image of a shirtless Miller gazing with soulful directness and the musician’s reputation itself will divide most listeners into believers and doubters before they’ve even heard the first bass slap."
Dan Bilawski of JazzTimes stated, "In liberally mixing aspects of R&B, trap, funk, and hip-hop with jazz, Miller manages to play up their commonalities while leveraging the originality and accessibility of each."
Marcus Miller is an amazing talent and this record is a stunning work of art. If you've never heard his music before, this LP is a great way to discover it.
No doubt about it. This record is …
BONUS TRACK
I didn't even know I had this record in my collection. I was going through the jazz section one day and found it and, intrigued, pulled it off the shelf and plopped it onto the turntable. I cranked the volume up and sat back.
I don't often forget to log a new acquisition into the collection database, but I guess it happens. But how did I not know I had this?
Anyway, it was one of those Maxell tape moments where the guy is sitting in a chair in front of a speaker and his hair is getting blown back by the music coming out of the speakers.
That's really what this record is like if you put it on and turn it up. Honestly, this LP could be used as a defibrillator.
I sort of remember buying it.
Miller spent approximately 15 years performing as a session musician previous to embarking on his own solo career, contributing bass slaps and licks on more than 500 albums by artists such as Michael Jackson, Frank Sinatra, Elton John, Dr. John, Mariah Carey, LL Cool J, Bill Withers, Beyonce, Herbie Hancock, McCoy Tyner, Donald Fagen, Wayne Shorter, George Benson and Eric Clapton, among others.
He was even a member of the Saturday Night Live band for a couple of years in the 80s and co-wrote Aretha Franklin's Jump To It with Luther Vandross.
As a composer, Miller co-wrote and produced several songs on Miles Davis' album, Tutu. His contribution to that recording helped find Davis find a new sound at a time when he was looking for one.
Quite a career, and he's only 61-years-old.
I didn't even know I had this record in my collection. I was going through the jazz section one day and found it and, intrigued, pulled it off the shelf and plopped it onto the turntable. I cranked the volume up and sat back.
I don't often forget to log a new acquisition into the collection database, but I guess it happens. But how did I not know I had this?
Anyway, it was one of those Maxell tape moments where the guy is sitting in a chair in front of a speaker and his hair is getting blown back by the music coming out of the speakers.
That's really what this record is like if you put it on and turn it up. Honestly, this LP could be used as a defibrillator.
I sort of remember buying it.
Miller spent approximately 15 years performing as a session musician previous to embarking on his own solo career, contributing bass slaps and licks on more than 500 albums by artists such as Michael Jackson, Frank Sinatra, Elton John, Dr. John, Mariah Carey, LL Cool J, Bill Withers, Beyonce, Herbie Hancock, McCoy Tyner, Donald Fagen, Wayne Shorter, George Benson and Eric Clapton, among others.
He was even a member of the Saturday Night Live band for a couple of years in the 80s and co-wrote Aretha Franklin's Jump To It with Luther Vandross.
As a composer, Miller co-wrote and produced several songs on Miles Davis' album, Tutu. His contribution to that recording helped find Davis find a new sound at a time when he was looking for one.
Quite a career, and he's only 61-years-old.
