Marcus Miller Renaissance album review

Hi!

Thanks to the wonders of Ebay I managed to get Renaissance album before it is released here in Europe. If you are thinking in doing the same thing just go ahead and buy it from there, totally a trustworthy seller.  Marcus Miller last studio album (Free) was released five years ago in 2007. Personally I had no idea of what to expect from this new one but I have to say that it totally exceeded my expectations. Let's finish the trash talk and get to the important thing.

Get a look at the cover and the track list. In this album Marcus Miller plays bass, fretless bass, bass clarinet and acoustic bass. With the collaboration of his band and other artists he managed to make a wonderful album that you must hear.

Marcus Miller Renaissance Album Review

Tracklist

1. Detroit 

2. Redemption 

3. February 

4. Slippin' Into Darkness 

5. Setembro (Brazilian Wedding Song) 

6. Jekyll & Hyde 

7. Interlude: Nocturnal Mist 

8. Revelation 

9. Mr. Clean 

10. Goree (Go-ray) 

11. CEE-TEE-EYE 

12. Tightrope 

13. I'll Be There


Listening to Renaissance for the first time you feel all the jazzy power that comes from Marcus. We start with some funky jazz grooves in Detroit, Redemption, February ans Sleeping into Darkness. Then we get some rocky jazz in Jekell & Hyde, Interlude - Nocturnal Mist and Revelation. At last we get some sentimental musics, Goreé (Go Ray) and I'll Be There. Putting labels in all this songs can be a bit exaggerated but i think this album shows all the versatility that Marcus has in his composition capabilities.
Now lets talk of specific musics. My favorite it's without any doubt Revelation. Marcus Miller does an excellent performance playing the bass clarinet followed by some very good distortion guitar solos. There's no doubt that this music has it all. Talking about distortion I have to mention Jekell & Hyde where there's a distortion bass in the end. That's not very common in Marcus but I have to say that it sounds very good. Another music that i want to talk about it's Mr. Clean. At some point we hear a very funky bass groove that just remembers me of the beginnings of Stanley Clarke in "We Suplly". Another influence is Jaco Pastorious. Tell me, do you "hear" him in Revelation and Goreé? At last the album ends with I'll be There, a very good solo bass music.
In conclusion, I think that Marcus went to his origins where he were extremely influenced by Jaco Pastorious and Stanley Clarke, as every bassist of that time. This time we can't blame him, he did it very well and included his own style perfectly in every music. Well done Marcus!

Pay attention to the podcast at the top right side of this blog, you wont regret it.

Stay tuned,
Eremita.

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Victor Wooten

Victor Wooten - Best bass player alive (think i said that to various artists already. No problem they probably are the best indeed... they all are... they are bassists!). I see Victor as a very humble person that does what he loves and makes money with it. I'm not saying he wants money, just saying that if people make profit with what they love, they achieved a important goal in life. Back to what really matters, Victor born in 1964 and started playing at the age of two. I ask myself, could i walk when i was two? Probably yes, but i certainly fell a few times at this age. Well Victor already played at this age and started performing at the age of six. Well i wont keep embarrassing us all... Visit his website and his myspace and listen to a few songs of this music genius.

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Stanley Clarke

Stanley Clarke - Stanley Clarke is an American jazz musician and composer.He is known for his innovative  work on double bass and electric bass. He is best known for his work with the fusion band Return to Forever, and his role as a bandleader in several trios and ensembles. He also made numerous films and television scores. Check his official website.

Stanley Clarke playing an acoustic bass

Stanley Clarke playing a double bass

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Rhonda Smith

Rhonda Smith - Bass player, singer and songwriter we have here a beautiful girl that plays that thing that we all love. Performing now with Jeff Beck she is a extremely good bass player. She has in her career collaborations with musicians like Prince, Larry Graham and Justin Timberlake. Check her website and see what she's been doing.

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Renaud Garcia Fons

Renaud Garcia Fons - A French double bass player. In is music you can find fusion between Jazz, Classical and Flamenco. He has some live shows just with a classical guitar that you will certainly love. Check his official website.

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Pete Turner

Pete Turner - Bassist of the English band Elbow. He is responsible for the good sound that comes from this band! Check its website.

Pete Turner

Pete Turner - Elbow

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Marcus Miller

Marcus Miller - Born in 1959, known for the unmistakable slap technique and for the acts with Miles Davis, Marcus Miller is one of the best bassists still living. Support this musician, and don't just download his music.

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Jaco Pastorius

Jaco Pastorius - Born in 1951, for many people the greatest bass player that ever lived. No more argue about that. Known for his electric fretless bass grooves and for his band project "Weather Report". Died prematurely in 1987. Check his official website

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Colin Edwin

Colin Edwin - Australian bassist known for his work in the progressive rock area. You can find him playing very good bass lines at Porcupine Tree. Don't miss the chance to know him better. Check his myspace, his solo album official site and Porcupine Tree official site.

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Stick Men - Chapman Stick Band

Hi!

Well, this time it's not bass that I'm going to talk about. There's a band that I've been listening to in the last weak. They are Stick Men and they are very good (with Tony Levin, Pat Mastelotto and Michael Bernier in the band they obviously are). I already talked about Tony Levin in one previous post but it's never to much. He is a master of bass and a master of Chapman stick. This is an incredible instrument that offers the musician a very large range of  tones. You just have to have the geniality to get the most from it.

Stick Men - A Chapman stick focused band

In case you are interested to know more about it just check the links bellow:

http://www.myspace.com/stickmensounds First things first. Check their myspace to know more about Stick Men

http://www.stick.com/ A very nice site. You can learn much here and if you get really interested just go ahead and buy one Chapman Stick.

http://www.learn-chapman-stick.com/ Everything you need to know to learn to play Chapman stick It's here,. Books, videos, CD's, DVD's, software, etc., absolutely everything.

At last, I'll let you with a video from Stick Men where you can see the full potential of this awesome musical instrument.

Stay tuned,

Eremita

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Best bass songs - Part 3

Hi,

Marcus Miller

This time i will talk about a bassist for the second time in this blog. He is a multi-instrumentalist that in the end found that the bass was the best way to express his thoughts and feelings through music. He has a very large work portfolio that goes from simple (or not that simple) covers from other renowned musicians to elaborated original musics that you can hear in his vast discography. And the featured best bassist of this best bass song post is... Marcus Miller.

Personally I feel that he has to much cover musics and does not have sufficient original ones. The next music kinda makes me feel that he has the potential to do more original stuff. However, he is also a producer, and with that in mind i can understand why he does more covers than original stuff. This is just an opinion, please correct me if I'm wrong.

Now lets talk about the bass song that we will hear. I will choose Power. That's an awesome music that is totally made by him, I obviously had to chose one that had this property. This music is form the album M^2, a Grammy award winning album that catapulted Marcus Miller to big stage.

Lets watch this video and listen to this awesome music. The very good news are coming next.

As promised I'm providing you some fresh news about Marcus Miller. He is releasing a new album this month. The album is entitled Renaissance and obviously is a must buy for a bass and jazz lover. The release date for Europe is May 28 as long as Amazon is right. I will write a personal album review of Renaissance as soon as I lay my hands on it. It is already purchased it and i cant wait to hear it.

Marcus Miller - Renaissance Album Cover

Best,

Eremita

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Best bass songs - Part 2

Hello!

Today I'll post the second part of the "Best bass songs" series of posts. It's difficult to me to choose from a list of songs that i like. I always feel that one is better than other...

Well, this time will be Schism from Tool. I really like this music and it has some cool bass lines. You probably know Tool as good as me so i'm not telling you who they are. If you don't know them check their website. Sadly they didn't release any album since 10000 days. 

The song is Schism form the album Lateralus, one of the most known musics from Tool. This music is known for its fabulous bass line and for its complex time signature changes. Some people say that Schism  has more than 40 time signatures changes.

Justin Chancellor is our featured bassist of this post. He started playing guitar as a child but quickly moved to bass. For more information about him, check bassists directory.

Justin Chancellor

Dont't forget to comment, and you are always welcome to suggest a Best bass song of your own.

Best,

Eremite

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