Tutu [Warner Bros., 1986]Miles's endgame at Columbia was true fusion--improvised jazz-rock, pretty good of its sort, but what a sort. This is more like pop-funk Sketches of Spain, with the starperson's trumpet glancing smartly off an up-to-date panoply of catchy little tunes, beats, and rhythm effects. I cried fraud at first, and if you have no use for catchy little anythings you'll agree, but I changed my mind. Marcus Miller acquits himself in the Gil Evans role, George Duke gets off a nice lick, and Scritti Politti provides a snappier cover than Cyndi Lauper. Minor, and his best in a decade. B+
Comparing Tutu to Sketches of Spain has got to be in Christgau's top 5 worst takes.
>>130291223besides, wasn't that literally the album that filtered him from jazz for 4 years?
>>130291777Yeah. It’s also one of Hunter S Thompson’s favorite jazz album along with the works of Roland Kirk
