Doo Bop [Digipak] - Miles Davis > Reviews > A fitting farewell

Author's product rating:   

Originality	Definitely a cut above the rest
Lyrics	Thought-provoking
Quality and consistency of tracks	Flawless
Value for Money	Excellent

Advantages:	Just great music making throughout
Disadvantages:	There's not more of it

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

Back in the early 90's a friend gave me a tape of this album. I didn't really know anything about Miles Davis apart from the fact he was a jazz trumpeter.

I do remember listening to this a lot. Every night as i was winding down, going to bed.

I didn't know the name of the album or anything more about it. When my fascination with Miles' music began about three years ago I had forgotten all about it.

Then on Amazon I saw the title, "Doo bop" and immediately remembered who and what it was.

So I bought it. Once again, 15 years later, I listen to it all the time.

First, this is not Jazz. This is a hip hop, early hip hop, album. There are all the beats and sounds that you expect from this kind of music. Miles is simply left to blow over the tunes with a beautifully subtle tone. Not close recorded like alot of his jazz offerings, but with an ethereal, distant quality.

Easy Mo Bee produced this album after Miles said he wanted the sound of the streets he heard outside his open NY windows. Never been to NY so I can't say, but this is much more about outdoor, bustling streets than it is about smoky, underground clubs.

There is rap on here too. Not gangsta, not aggressive and with enough mellow harmonies to make it as musical as the trumpet and gentle keyboards. It breaks things up nicely for those not quite willing to go through an entire cd of only instrumental tracks.

Considering that Miles died during the making of this it's surprising that his playing is as focused and energised as it is. In fact a couple of tracks were completed after his death, the backing music being virtually built around his improvisations.

This is not crazy atonal virtuoso trumpet playing though. Not by any means. This is restrained and tasteful and if you, like me, know nothing about the trumpet, it doesn't really matter too much. It's just good music.

To do a track by track description of this album would be a little pointless. I never skip tracks and usually listen to it as a whole.

However, highlights do include: The wonderfully ambient trumpet intro to the first track "Mystery". It really sets the scene for the whole.

The nice, tight harmonies in the chorus of "The doo-bop song", blending out simply....Miles Davis. Easy Mo Bee was obviously a fan.

"High speed chase" has some great chromatic trumpet runs, much more focused and tighter than a lot of the more atmospheric stuff on display here. A nice change of pace.

"Blow" which starts with a breathles answerphone message has one of those grooves that Prince used to do so well. Laid back and very, very funky. The fact that, at the time this CD was recorded, Miles and Prince were going to collaborate on a project, makes Miles' death all the more untimely. The rap on this tune really is infectious and I'm not a great rap fan either. The words go with the music, both in message and feel.

"Duke Booty" is one of those relaxing mid tempo numbers that takes you away with it. This is a boat languishing in azure waters and even a rap doesn't break the spell.

The whole thing is consistently good. Nice, bright and clear production with unfussy arrangements. Usually pioneering work sounds dated pretty quickly but, with the exception of bass synth sounds on "Sonja", this is still vibrant and very current sounding.

It's 17 years old now. 17 years since the man died and whilst i can imagine the purists were not happy about this collection, I think it's a worthy conclusion to an extraordinary career.

Forget all the labels and everything you think you might know about Miles Davis. If you want music to transport you without too much of a challenge, the kind of thing you'd be happy to make your morning coffee to or relax last thing at night, this cd will not challenge you or your tastes.

It is, quite simply, a great CD full of great tracks performed by one of the one most talented musicians the recording world has ever seen or heard.