Doo-Bop recorded at Unique Recording Studios, Manhattan, early to mid-1991 for parts with Miles, late 1991 for additional recordings original issue: Warner Bros. 26938-1 (LP), 9 26938-2 (CD) and 9 26938-4 (cassette), June/July 1992 Executive Producer: Gordon Meltzer; Producers: Easy Mo Bee, Matt Pierson 12" single: "The Doo-Bop Song"/"Chocolate Chip" | 12" single: "Blow"/"Fantasy" From The Last Miles by George Cole: "As Miles entered what would be the final year of his life, he was busy making plans for his next album. Miles' plans were ambitious and he was keen to work with a wide range of musical collaborators and explore a variety of musical genres. Indeed, Miles' creative juices were flowing so strongly that he envisioned his new record as being a double album. Prince had sent him a selection of tracks, several of which were destined for the new album. John Bigham, a young black guitarist whom Miles had met in 1987 (and who briefly joined Miles' band as a percussionist in late 1989) was also preparing material. And if Miles had lived longer, his long-time and close musical collaborator Marcus Miller might also have contributed to the new album. But Miles' most radical – and controversial – decision was to record a series of hip-hop tunes. "Gordon Meltzer says "It bothered him [Miles] none of it [Tutu, Siesta and Amandla] got played on the radio. He wanted the kids to play his records. He would ask everyone around him 'Why isn't my stuff on the radio?' and you'd have to say 'Well Miles, when you make songs that are twelve minutes long and nobody's doing remixes, they're not going to get on the radio.' I remember sitting in his apartment one day in summer and Miles – who hated air conditioning – had the windows open, even though it was like 150 degrees with 110% humidity. And he hears kids walking down the street carrying radios and there were lots of tunes that were on Russell [Simmons]'s label, a lot of hip-hop stuff and nothing of his. He wanted his stuff to be out there and he wanted to record it in full takes, instead of this coaching phrase-by-phrase way." "Miles asked Simmons to recommend some hip-hop producers he could work with and Simmons delegated the task to Francesca Spero, who ran RPM. "On one of the tapes Miles had said 'I want number 2, 3, 4, 5, and 7' and when we looked at the label it was like 'Oh sh!t, Mo Bee produced like every one of these tracks.' So we hooked him up," says Spero. Easy Mo Bee was a young and relatively unknown rapper/producer when Miles called for him. Miles with Easy Mo Bee (PC Michael Benabib) From The Last Miles by George Cole (continued): "[Recording/mixing engineer D'Anthony Johnson said the studio] was set up like a live performance room: "We treated Miles' horn like it would be a vocal and so we had a basic vocal set-up. We treated it like it was Chaka Khan singing and let Miles do his thing." "Mo Bee says much of the music was was composed before they arrived at Unique. "Believe it or not, I came with a bunch of tracks that were already created and Miles said yea to some and nay to others. "The Doo-Bop Song" was an instrumental and he liked it straight away. "Mystery" was another. "Sonya" was already created before he accepted it." "Spero says Miles and Mo Bee became very close during the recording sessions. "The chemistry was really with Miles and Mo Bee. I would go by the studio and they were just doing their thing. Mo Bee would lay down the beats. There wouldn't be a tremendous amount of overdubs on it and Miles would go into the vocal booth with the horn and play it like a vocal. He was riding the beat like an MC would. He would pull the melody out of the beat and just created it with the horn. It felt so very freestyle [improvised]. It didn't feel like anyone was sitting down and writing these compositions. Mo was playing the beat and Miles was feeling it and he was just spitting out on the trumpet what he felt melodically." "Mo Bee says he learned a lot from playing with Miles. "One thing I learned is that you don't have to always be perfect. Some of your imperfect qualities can become standout features. And the way he would just throw off notes, like on "High Speed Chase," he got some notes up there that are so abstract." "Meltzer describes how much Miles enjoyed doing the sessions: "The thing that Miles loved is that he would listen to the tape once or twice and then say 'Okay, I'm ready.' And then he'd have the headphones on and he'd have the horn and he'd blow the track all the way through. Then we'd play it back and listen and a couple of times he said 'That's it' and a couple of times he said 'Do it again.' But nothing was mixed. There was no mixing out of two takes. The whole tune was blown in one take and that's how he wanted it and he was very happy. That's how Doo-Bop got built and then came the mixing and the fixing and the sweetening." Miles at Montreux, July 1991 (PC Herman Leonard) From The Last Miles by George Cole (continued): "Not long after Miles finished playing the last gig of his US tour, at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles on August 25, he was hospitalized. Miles' condition deteriorated and he had a stroke before falling into a coma. He died a few weeks later on September 28, 1991. Miles' death sent shock waves around the world and those who had only recently seen Miles were extremely shocked. "He was still very beautiful and looked very healthy. I was surprised when he passed away," says Spero. Miles' death hit Mo Bee especially hard because he felt they were on the verge of a long and fruitful musical partnership: "I was so sad because I thought it would probably have evolved into more albums, more songs and just touring with him would have exposed me to so much more of the jazz world." Miles is made a Knight in the French Legion Of Honor, Paris, July 16, 1991 From The Last Miles by George Cole (continued): "Doo-Bop was released in 1992, almost a year after Miles' death. The album cover featured a picture of Miles taken by photographer Annie Leibovitz, who shot Miles against the backdrop of two large, brightly-colored cushions and a couple of his paintings. "There are many parallels between Doo-Bop and On The Corner, which was released twenty years earlier. In both cases, Miles wanted to reach the same audience. "It was with On The Corner... that I really made an effort to get my music over to young black people," said Miles. Both Gordon Meltzer's sleeve notes for Doo-Bop and Columbia Record's press advertisements for On The Corner talked about Miles being influenced by the sound of the street, and the two albums were based around repetitive grooves over which Miles played. Last, but not least, the two albums sparked much controversy and criticism. Writer Paul Tingen's assessment that the tunes on Doo-Bop were "mostly bubblegum teenage music" summed up the view of a number of critics. "That album fell under the heaviest criticism," says Mo Bee. "The jazz purists and reviewers – some of them tore it to pieces. I fell under a lot of heavy hip-hop criticism too." Any artist who tries to fuse two disparate art forms always faces the danger of falling between two stools and being neither one thing nor the other. Miles had faced the same issue when he had fused jazz with rock and with funk. "Disliking a piece of music is one thing, but some critics of Doo-Bop have a more fundamental objection to the album, namely that, like oil and water, jazz and hip-hop do not mix. Music critic Stuart Nicholson makes a strong case against the fusion of the two: "Ultimately, jazz and hip-hop can never be anything more than an uncomfortable liaison between man and machine. [The jazz musician's role is] that of an occasional participant, with a solo here, a solo there, or an obbligato, ingredients of decoration rather than an integral part of the music's overall construction." "Doo-Bop has its flaws, but that is no surprise given the circumstances under which it was made. Miles was sick, he was at the start of new musical explorations and he never managed to achieve all his music ambitions. But there are enough magical musical moments from Miles on Doo-Bop to more than justify its release. Doo-Bop reminds us of the essence of the man. Miles always wanted to develop as a musician, and despite his monumental past achievements he never lost his innate musical curiosity or his capacity for change. He never stopped challenging either himself or his fans or his critics. For Miles Davis, music was a lifelong journey, with no final destination. He never ran out of ideas; he just ran out of time in which to realize them. – Ron Frankl
I just listened to this for the first time. I had shied away because of all the critiques, but I don't hate it. Miles's playing is never less than good throughout. The production is of its time, but I kind of like it. However, Easy Mo Bee is a terrible rapper and his rhymes, most of which are about Miles, are corny as hell.
There was never really enough to get your teeth into on Doo-Bop. The sampling and rapping were all just a bit polite and unimaginative. High Speed Chase is pretty good though, Sonya could almost have fit onto one of the earlier studio LP's, and Duke Booty is for me the best thing on here - a really nice groove and thoroughly enjoyable playing.
At the time, Easy Mo Bee had produced albums for Big Daddy Kane and a couple guys who later were part of the Wu-Tang Clan. Later, he'd work with Biggie and 2Pac, most notably, and he remixed Horace Silver's "The Sophisticated Hippie" for The New Groove: The Blue Note Remix Project - Volume 1 (a favorite CD of mine at the time). But he never was a rapper, and I have no idea why he didn't just hire a real rapper for Miles. That is the glaring weak point on the album. I like to think about what Miles might have done if he'd lived through the '90s and worked with people like A Tribe Called Quest, Tricky, or Tortoise. There could've been another masterpiece to come, given the right time and partners. Easy Mo Bee circa 1994 might have been able to get him there, too. In 1991, he was too green, and maybe Miles was too old and frail, and they just made a fairly entertaining album marred by terrible, corny rapping.
You're killing me! I'd never thought before about what might've been had Miles lived to collaborate with artists in all the '90s sub-genres that were inspired by his work in the mid-70s.
Could it have been: Miles Davis San Juan Capistrano, Ca @ Coach House 1989-06-15 SugarMegs -- a concert streaming site -- has a somewhat decent recording of it.
Listenes to Doo Bop yesterday for the 5th time probably. The album starts out nice. Great grooves from Miles with the hip hop drum beat, but as soon as Eash Mo Dee starts out rapping i lose interest. Someone mentioned before on the thread that had Miles lived a little longer he might have done something with/like a Tribe Called Quest, which i agree, maybe something like Us3.
There might be a great album from the DOO BOP sessions somewhere in the vaults. I still can’t believe Russell Simmons recommended that producer. Can you imagine what the Bomb Squad could’ve done with him?
I have yet to find one I dislike. I even like Quiet Nights! It's one of his weaker efforts but it's really short so it's easy to get through, and 6 minutes of it is 'Summer Night'!
Doo Bop was controversial for another reason. Miles died before the end of the recording sessions so tracks that he'd laid down as part of the then unreleased Rubberband sessions were wiped of the backing musicians & stuck on top of the tracks created by Easy Mo Bee.
Sadly, no unreleased stuff from that session in the vaults. Miles and Easy Mo Bee only managed to knock out 6 tracks before Miles had to go back out on tour in Europe and by the time he came back to the States he did that final show at Hollywood Bowl in Ca, then got sick, went in the hospital, and died. This is why Easy Mo Bee had to finish the album by mining the tapes from the mid 80’s Rubberband sessions and building two new tracks around Miles’s trumpet parts.
To your point, I would have loved to hear what a Bomb Squad or a Pete Rock could’ve did with Miles...
Maybe Miles was reluctant to work with a big name that might overshadow him. I've wondered if that's why his collaborations with Jimi Hendrix and Prince came to nothing.
One could only speculate how Miles would’ve felt about working with a big name who might overshadow him... Regarding Miles collaborating with Jimi, Miles wanted more money than what Jimi’s people were willing to shell out, and before any negotiations could be made, Jimi died. As for Miles and Prince, they worked on this track for potential inclusion on Miles’s Tutu album in 1986 but Prince himself decided to pull it as it was too different from the rest of the music on the album: Despite that not working out Miles and Prince did remain close and even jammed together at Prince’s NYE bash of Dec 31, 1987: https://youtu.be/8U4Seqd_ERU And from 1988 up til his death Miles also played some of Prince’s tunes live in concert with his working band: Movie Star (1988) https://youtu.be/-r4CKMHSTt4 Penetration (1991) https://youtu.be/bYtgS2QwXAs And finally, Miles originally conceived Doo Bop as a double album that was to feature hip hop tracks with Easy Mo Bee as well as collaborations with Prince. Miles just ran out of time...
I listened to Doo-Bop yesterday and was surprised at how uplifting it was. I love a lot of Miles' music but uplifting is not his main force. I was expecting to cringe at the rapping but I thought it was ok. Not great, not awful but ok. It is far from one of my favorites but I think he kind of ended on a high with this one. Would like to know how close/far it was to how he imagined the album. With us having reached the final studio album Miles worked on in his lifetime, I would like to say a few words about this thread. After the false start in 2008, the thread started properly early fall of 2013 under @crispi 's supervision. It was a bit more frequent in the beginning but since then the thread have had a cool and easy pace of one album every 2-3 months or so. I decided from the start that I would use the opportunity to listen to every release (apart from a few box sets) along with the thread. This is something I would not manage on my own. I managed it with The Rolling Stones over a summer two years ago, but Miles Davis and jazz requires a bit of a push to get into (at least for me) and this pace was perfect to keep me interested without feeling pushed into anything. Life have happened during these 7 years and I have specific memories of where I was and how I felt while listening to many of these albums. I understand that @rxcory will post another live album later but I will use the opportunity to properly thank him and crispi for having the patience of running this thread. Also everyone else participating in making this my favorite thread on the forum. I haven't listened a lot to Miles Davis outside of this thread. In the future I will dig deeper into my favorite parts of his discography. Some eras that stood out to me: Birth Of The Cool and early 50's: This era had a certain charm that is very enjoyable. First Quintet: Just solid great stuff. Particulary the last 4 Prestige albums. Late 50's/Early 60's: Apart from Kind Of Blue/Sketches Of Spain I tend to forget these but here are some really nice treats. Second Quintet: Maybe the era that peaked my interest the most. Good memories from listening to Miles Smiles etc. Late 60's to 70's: Apart from In A Silent Way, this era still feels a bit of a chore to me. Complex/interesting stuff but sometimes hard to get through. When I'm in the mood. Early 80's: Was surprised at the freshness of this phase. Later 80's to Doo-Bop still feels to recent, so it might take some time before I revisit those.
Nice sum-up, LarsO. I joined late, and have fallen behind a little-I’m up to Agharta now, but this thread is the single most best resource for me when I’m listening, or planning to listen to Miles. thanks crispi et al!
I am well behind in this thread and pondering which Live-Evil édition to get. I've never heard of Tom Ruff remastering but you can get the 2010 édition, with his mastering, for 13$ at Amazon. Will it ruin the experience?
The Legacy version is fine, but if you're not on a tight budget, you might consider the 2020 Sony Japan SACD-hybrid in the 7" LP-replica packaging that comes with the Quad mix, too.
I m hunting first press of directions from japan 1990, CSCS 5135~6 On Discogs they say on the description that it s Compilation, Remastered Same for mastersound series red one is listed as compilation, reissue, remastered and same for black obi mastersound my question : is the first fatbox cd ( CSCS 5135~6) have another mastering than mastersounds one It really seems they share the same one i didn t found on the forum the answer anyone could help me so I can buy the less expensive one
