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Miles Davis - Rubberband of Life


GA Russell

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cover

 

MILES DAVIS
RUBBERBAND OF LIFE FEATURING LEDISI

From The Lost 1985 Miles Davis Rubberband Sessions With Newly Recorded Vocals By Ledisi

 

Featured On Rubberband EP Available Digitally Now


 

 

In 1985, Miles Davis shocked the music world by moving from Columbia Records to Warner Bros. Records and started recording Rubberband. This album marked a radical departure for him, with funk and soul grooves, and was to include vocals by Al Jarreau and Chaka Khan.  Produced by Davis, Randy Hall and Zane Giles, the line-up boasted Davis on trumpet and keyboards, keyboardists Adam Holzman, Neil Larsen and Wayne Linsey, percussionist Steve Reid, saxophonist Glen Burris, and Davis’s nephew Vince Wilburn Jr., on drums. Engineered by Reggie Dozier (brother of Lamont Dozier, part of the legendary Motown songwriting team), the Rubberband sessions took place at Ameraycan Studios in Los Angeles from October 1985 to January 1986.
 

The album was subsequently shelved and Davis went on to record Tutu.
 

“It was fat grooves, really funky, Miles talking. It was street and funky and dirty. We didn’t go after writing a great jazz song, Miles wanted the street thing; he wanted the chord changes he wanted to play. The basis was to take it to the street like On The Corner, it was Miles taking more chances,” said  Hall.  Giles added, “Miles kept saying ‘I don’t wanna do my usual stuff. I wanna do something different.’”
 

32 years after Rubberband was recorded, the original producers, Hall and Giles, teamed up with Davis’ nephew, Vince Wilburn, Jr., to finish and update the title track. In September 2017, they invited the 12-time Grammy nominee soulful singer Ledisi, appearing courtesy of Verve Label Group, to guest on vocals at the Village Studios in Los Angeles. The sessions, co-produced by Anthony "Mac Nass" Loffman and Arthur Haynes for SmashSound Syndicate, together with the original title track, were released as a 45rpm vinyl 12” EP on Record Store Day 2018, and are now available as a 5-track digital EP, including a new remix by Amerigo Gazaway.  
 

The cover artwork is a painting by Davis, courtesy of Miles Davis Properties L.L.C.  

For more information on Miles Davis, please visit www.milesdavis.com

 

 

Edited by GA Russell
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I'd be interested in giving it a (free) listen, but wish the Khan/Jarreau vocals were present.  I don't know anything about Ledisi, despite all her grammy nominations.  And I fear it having a creepiness quotient like those Beatles "re-unions" with dead John Lennon.

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http://www.jazzviews.net/miles-davis---rubberband-ndash-a-new-direction-for-miles.html

The album Hall and Giles produced for Miles was certainly diverse, including funk, Latin and Caribbean tracks, and there were plans to have Chaka Khan and Al Jarreau sing on the album too. There was also a ballad and an ambient-like track, “See I See.” The first session was on 17 October 1985, when the title track, “Rubberband” was recorded (featuring some blistering guitar from Mike Stern, who was then a member of Miles’ band). Miles evidently liked this funk track a lot, because within two weeks, he was playing it live. Miles and Stern can be seen playing “Rubberband” in Berlin on 1 November 1985 here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=M_loxKAAhnk (10 minutes in)

A number of musicians joined Miles, Hall and Giles (who played guitar, bass and keyboards) on the Rubberband album including, keyboardists Wayne Linsey, Neil Larsen and Adam Holzman (Holzman would join Miles’ band soon after); saxophonists Glenn Burris and Michael Paulo; bassists Felton Crews and Cornelius Mims; percussionist Steve Reid and Wilburn Jr on drums. The engineer was Reggie Dozier, brother of songwriter Lamont Dozier. Those at the sessions state that Miles was happy and spent a lot of his spare time sketching. The Rubberband sessions ended in January 1986 and Miles, Hall and Giles felt they had an album that was almost ready to go. But there was one obstacle in the way – Tommy LiPuma. LiPuma didn’t like what he heard, “I didn’t hear anything,” he said, “to me, it didn’t sound like nothing was going on.” The rough, edgy, street sound of Rubberband was a world away from the sleek, polished productions LiPuma was famed for, so it’s probably no surprise that he was underwhelmed by the results.

In early 1986, bassist/producer Marcus Miller and programmer Jason Miles began working on music for Miles’ first Warner Bros. album. The result was Tutu, a critically acclaimed and commercially successful album that took Miles in a very different direction from Rubberband, with its sleek, synthesised soundscapes. The decision to drop Rubberband shocked Hall and Giles, who felt that LiPuma wanted greater control over Miles. “The music industry is political,” says Hall, “people will smile in your face while they stab you in the back.” Parker Jr says, “I'm not surprised when record companies do anything! They do some crazy things!”

So...whatever we get now will inevitably what Miles did and/or originally had in mind.

In other words, a remix of something that never got released in the first place.

I am generally, encouraging of remixes, at least the idea of them, but that irks me, just on principle.

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I see that this 5 track EP consists of the original cut, 3 remixes, and one radio edit of one of the remixes. Hardly a compelling package for this potential purchaser.

Nobody's really saying how "finished" the record really was. "Almost ready to go"...hmmmm..... It might be that some more work was needed then, and would still be needed now.

Sooooo.....where's Alan Douglas now that you need him? :g

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Wasn't there some previous rubber band related record store day release six months ago or sometime in the last year? Or am I misremembering early hypefor this one?

Also, weren't there several rubber band tracks released on the aborted six CD set of complete Warner Bros. recordings? I think it got all the way to the promo stage, and CD-R's of the six CD version were sent out. But then when it came out in stores, it was only a four CD set.

In other words, what are the total number of rubber band tracks, or rubber band related (updated/remixed) tracks, that have been either issued, or send out as promos for something never (or not yet) issued?

 

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Losin has little detail. Just the stuff that has been let out.

I think a Prince-related track has surfaced?

Now, what's interesting to me is the recollection of Marcus Miller (or was it Branford?) of how Miles was completely inexperienced in the way that they "make records today", the total piecing together of elements, not in post-production like he was used to having Teo do, but actually planning sessions like that from the beginning. So the question there for me is, if Rubberband was already/almost in the can, what triggered Marcus Miller and Tutu? Was that one already planned by WB?

This kinda has me thinking that Maybe Rubberband is Miles' Smile - almost finished, but a really ginormous "almost". And coming as it seems to have come on the heels of You're Under Arrest (not at all a favorite of mine), what are we really missing?

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15 hours ago, JSngry said:

  1. Maze (Remastered Album Version) 9:10

  2. See I See (Remastered Album Version) 5:20
  3. Rubber Band (Remastered Album Version) 5:10
  4. Digg That (Remastered Album Version) 4:42

If I remember right, Miles included "Maze" also in his life performances and since most material was also available on then current albums (You are under Arrest, Tutu) those few tunes that didn´t appear on albums, were unknown to us, since "Rubberband" still was in the shelves....

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