miles davis tutu

Miles Davis - Aura: Classic or Dud?

(Mind you, I haven't played Aura much since then.)

The production is pretty dated - I have flashbacks to pegged pants, poseur-goth haircuts, and unnatural shades of acid green - but the record holds up. Even the 'Perfect Way' pop song cover is okay. I lived by a public pool at the time so I associate this record with lazy summer afternoons and chlorine.

Another poster had said that the '80s production with this record was just a 'product of its time' thing that you had to overlook, a la Bitches Brew. But to me Bitches Brew sounds nothing like anything (except musique concrete) that happened in the '60s.

I would have to say that it's not one of my fave Miles records in that it doesn't seem ... committed; it's edging on wallpaper music that doesn't demand attention. If I were in a Gap changing room, I could hear this record.

Aura is the most interesting Miles record for me from the '80s as it's borrowing from the Gil Evans playbook, with really weird and dissonant arrangements. I remember being really impressed with it when it came out.

I love tutu, can anyone recommend some good 80's jazz albums in the same vein. Smooth with electronic instruments. I've david sanborn's a change of style, what you got ?

Anu was right. ...

i love this record, i need to repitch it for ********

its actually insane how little music there actually is that *does* sound like this. It feels like a really unique sound w/in the period. Its crazy its not been super imitated but i guess jazz was shifting so trad & the sound of that era was "dated" for so long...but its insane to think of it that way now imo

ie:

Those big drums are pretty hard to take, but Miles plays really sweet on it.

― sympathizer (sympathizer), Sunday, August 28, 2005 6:47 AM (fifteen years ago) bookmarkflaglink

the big drums rule!

To what extent was this record regarded (at the time) not as jazz, but electronic music with jazz improvisation on top? Would a similar project today be classified in the same way?

Herb Alpert's 1987 Keep Your Eye On Me has some similarities, leaning more toward Jam/Lewis.

I wrote about 80s Miles for Stereogum this month. More about You're Under Arrest than Tutu, but Tutu is a masterpiece, to my ear. Here's part of what I said there:

Since his death, the music he made in his final decade has been treated as a footnote, and I think it has everything to do with marketing. These records are not jazz records. Period. They’re electric funk records, and damn good ones. And the jazz business needs Miles Davis to be its standard bearer. So do jazz critics, many of whom were deeply wounded by his change of direction because it flew in the face of the idea they hold most dear, which is that jazz is innately superior to all other forms of music, especially those that outsell it by a factor of ten. It’s a shame that an entire decade of vital, creative work can be shoved aside just because it presents an inconvenient narrative, and doesn’t help sell the latest repackaging of Kind Of Blue.

The 80s Miles doesn't have the hip cachet of the 70s stuff either.

Decades ago I remember flipping through a jazz discography whose Miles entry ended with Filles de Kilimanjaro. There was a footnote, something like: "Miles Davis ceased to make jazz records in 1969; if he ever returns to jazz, I shall review those albums."

v much into the “perfect way” cover on this, don’t know the rest much

Idk why this is “not jazz” lol

My favs are: title track, backyard ritual, don’t lose your mind

Splatch is pretty fun for being so boldly … of its time. It’s so of its time it doesn’t really sound like anything else

I may like amandla more than tutu as a further maturation of this style

Miles actually wanted to call this album “perfect way” originally after that song

Obviously it's Miles's least amazing decade, but some of those 80s records are great, including Tutu and You're Under Arrest. YUA is prominently displayed in Prince's bathroom in Under the Cherry Moon, which is all the recommendation I need.

@butalsofuckyou your book on electric Miles is great.

although i'm not really into tutu, i will nevertheless highly recommend paul tingen's book on electric miles, which covers his 80s period with deep respect and understanding. i used to be one of those "BUT FUCK MILES IN THE 80S" people, but after reading that book, i actually went back and listened to everything with the newly gained insights and i've changed my thought on that period pretty radically. it's not my favorite era or anything (and i still don't like you're under arrest or decoy), but i've come around on a lot of that stuff after reading that book.

80s stuff has a lot more hip cachet than it used to, probably in a similar place now the 70s stuff was a couple of decades ago. all the things that certain types of peoplr would once have considered obviously bad/embarrassing about it (gated drums, orchestra hits, other pop/r&b/smooth jazz trappings, cyndi lauper) would be fetishised now by them or their equivalents

I used to hear “he was good until the 80s” and I assume people used to say the same about the 60s or 70s, now i come across a fair bit of “he was always good” sentiment (maybe excluding doo-bop - idk if that one has or will ever have many defenders)

Oh yeah I've heard the Tingen book is really good. Thanks for the recommendation.

Not into Doo-Bop. Aura is another great one though.

always thought we want miles should be considered nearly as cool as agharta. don’t really think it is

even a lot of ppl who liked 70s miles used to draw a v strict line between “good fusion” which was that & a handful of other mostly-related stuff, and “bad fusion” which was basically everything else including 80s miles. fusion backpackerism - i used to think like this too, it was bullshit, a lot of the “bad” stuff turned out to be very good, including the miles & other late-career electronic stuff from older jazz musicians that still tends to be written off by critics. the book sounds v good btw

Aura is another great one though.

― three of the doctor's valuable bats are now dead (broom air), Saturday, July 24, 2021 9:03 AM

i know this isn't really the topic for campaigning non-tutu stuff, but good god DAMN aura is fantastic! i have genuinely loved that album from the very first time i heard it. it's so weird and oddly beautiful. definitely one of the most distinct things miles ever did.

Yea aura is good. That was actually recorded before tutu and amandla and from what I understand is the reason why he left Columbia — its non release for several years

I don’t think the orchestra hit / gated drum thing is just about hip cachet tho yes it is more on trend now. Again there just isn’t other music that sounds like this. You can listen to Marcus miller’s solo albums (which people at the time claimed was clearly the “real” driving force, like miles was just noodling on top of them) and they sound nothing alike. There’s an itch this stuff scratches that you simply can’t get elsewhere. To me that’s more than just like, oh hipsters love orchestra hits

What did you guys think of rubber band? The stuff that wasn’t tremendously altered (which was lame) sounded pretty cool to me. I think the sound on tutu/amandla era feels a bit more subtle / sophisticated

What do lovers of this Miles era think of the Ornette Coleman albums of the era, like Virgin Beauty and Tone Dialing?

virgin beauty is sick

What do lovers of this Miles era think of the Ornette Coleman albums of the era, like Virgin Beauty and Tone Dialing?

I'm not a big fan, but even 70s Prime Time does little for me, except for Of Human Feelings, which rules.

i did not like the rubberband material at all. i only listened to it once, but i remember thinking "yeah, there's a good reason some stuff doesn't get released."

I thought Rubberband was about half good, but I have to admit I haven't listened to it since it came out.

Makes a great wall poster:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tone_Dialing#/media/File:Tone_Dialing_(album).jpg

Tone Dialing, that is.

Idk I think the unaltered stuff is pretty cool

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5WfYZM0NhgA

i also love amandla

I scared my neighbors with this one:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jq8pVreJ_7E