''Afrodeezia'' is a studio album by American bass-guitarist
Marcus Miller
William Henry Marcus Miller Jr. (born June 14, 1959) is an American musician, songwriter, and record producer. He is best known for his work as a bassist. He has worked with trumpeter Miles Davis, pianist Herbie Hancock, singer Luther Vandros ...
. The album was released on by
Blue Note Records
Blue Note Records is an American jazz record label owned by Universal Music Group and operated under Capitol Music Group. Established in 1939 by Alfred Lion and Max Margulis, it derived its name from the blue notes of jazz and the blues. Or ...
. This is his debut release for Blue Note.
Reception
Jeff Tamarkin
Jeff Tamarkin is an American editor, author and historian specializing in music and popular culture.
Career
For 15 years Tamarkin was editor of '' Goldmine'', a magazine for record and CD collectors. Prior to that, he served as the first editor ...
in his review for ''
JazzTimes
''JazzTimes'' is an American magazine devoted to jazz. Published 10 times a year, it was founded in Washington, D.C. in 1970 by Ira Sabin as the newsletter ''Radio Free Jazz'' to complement his record store.
Coverage
After a decade of growth ...
'' stated, "For ''Afrodeezia'', Marcus Miller—who mentions in his liner notes that he’s a spokesperson for UNESCO’s "Slave Route Project"—chose to incorporate musicians and instrumentation associated with various locales historically impacted by slavery. It’s a formidably funky collection-no surprise there-and some of Miller’s most ambitious work."
John Fordham
John Fordham (died 1425) was Bishop of Durham and Bishop of Ely.
Fordham was keeper of the privy seal of Prince Richard from 1376 to 1377 and Dean of Wells before being named Lord Privy Seal in June 1377. He held that office until December 1381. ...
of ''
The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
'' wrote, "Despite the seriousness of his subject, the versatile Miller’s work never altogether shakes off an air of expert slickness, but some strong themes and plenty of urgent improvising more or less neutralise that."
Walter Atkins of ''
All About Jazz
''All About Jazz'' is a website established by Michael Ricci in 1995. A volunteer staff publishes news, album reviews, articles, videos, and listings of concerts and other events having to do with jazz. Ricci maintains a related site, ''Jazz Near ...
'' commented, "Marcus Miller's ambitious continent spanning ''Afrodeezia'' follows the Atlantic slave trade routes and celebrates the historical struggles and triumph of the African people and their descendents through the healing power of music. He affirms how vital the music and rhythms are in our lives and the global community."
Track listing
Personnel
* Marcus Miller – bass guitar (1, 2, 4-8, 10, 11), party vocal (1),
gimbri
The sintir ( ar, سنتير), also known as the guembri (), gimbri or hejhouj or Garaya in Hausa language, is a three stringed skin-covered bass plucked lute used by the Gnawa people. It is approximately the size of a guitar, with a body ca ...
(2, 11),
bass clarinet
The bass clarinet is a musical instrument of the clarinet family. Like the more common soprano B clarinet, it is usually pitched in B (meaning it is a transposing instrument on which a written C sounds as B), but it plays notes an octave bel ...
(2, 3, 9, 11), acoustic piano (3, 9),
acoustic bass
The acoustic bass guitar (sometimes shortened to acoustic bass or initialized ABG) is a bass instrument with a hollow wooden body similar to, though usually larger than a steel-string acoustic guitar. Like the traditional electric bass guitar a ...
(3), horn arrangements (3), arrangements (5, 6),
fretless bass A fretless bass is a bass guitar whose neck does not have any frets. While the instrument is played in all styles of music, it is most common in pop, rock, and jazz. It first saw widespread use during the 1970s, although some players used them befo ...
(6, 9), vocals (9),
kalimba
Mbira ( ) are a family of musical instruments, traditional to the Shona people of Zimbabwe. They consist of a wooden board (often fitted with a resonator) with attached staggered metal tines, played by holding the instrument in the hands and pl ...
(9),
Fender Rhodes
The Rhodes piano (also known as the Fender Rhodes piano) is an electric piano invented by Harold Rhodes, which became popular in the 1970s. Like a conventional piano, the Rhodes generates sound with keys and hammers, but instead of strings, th ...
(11), synthesizers (11)
* Brett Williams – acoustic piano (1, 2, 4, 6, 7), Fender Rhodes (4, 8)
*
Cory Henry
Cory Alexander Henry (born February 27, 1987) is an American singer-songwriter, pianist, organist, and record producer. A former member of Snarky Puppy, Henry launched his solo artist career in 2018 with ''Art of Love'', his first independent ...
–
organ
Organ may refer to:
Biology
* Organ (biology), a part of an organism
Musical instruments
* Organ (music), a family of keyboard musical instruments characterized by sustained tone
** Electronic organ, an electronic keyboard instrument
** Hammond ...
solo (3)
*
Robert Glasper
Robert Andre Glasper (born April 6, 1978) is an American pianist, record producer, songwriter, and musical arranger with a career that bridges several different musical and artistic genres, mostly centered on jazz. To date, Glasper has won fou ...
– Fender Rhodes solo (4)
* Cliff Barnes – acoustic piano (5, 10), organ (5)
* Roddie Romero –
accordion
Accordions (from 19th-century German ''Akkordeon'', from ''Akkord''—"musical chord, concord of sounds") are a family of box-shaped musical instruments of the bellows-driven free-reed aerophone type (producing sound as air flows past a reed ...
(10)
*
Mocean Worker
Mocean Worker (pronounced "motion worker") is the recording alias of jazz musician and producer Adam Dorn.
Biography
Philadelphia native Adam Dorn is the son of renowned jazz and R'n'B producer Joel Dorn. He grew up around the jazz and R&B disc ...
– Fender Rhodes (11), guitars (11), bass guitar breakdown (11), drum programming (11)
* Adam Agati – guitars (1, 4-8, 10), electric guitar (2), guitar solo (7)
* Chérif Soumano – acoustic guitar (1), vocal chorus (1), backing vocals (1),
kora (2, 10)
* Guimba Kouyaté – lead vocals (1), acoustic guitar (2, 10)
*
Keb Mo
Kevin Roosevelt Moore (born October 3, 1951), known as Keb' Mo', is an American blues musician and five-time Grammy Award winner. He is a singer, guitarist, and songwriter, living in Nashville, Tennessee. He has been described as "a living link ...
– guitar (5)
*
Wah Wah Watson
Melvin M. Ragin (December 8, 1950 – October 24, 2018), known professionally as "Wah Wah Watson", was an American guitarist who was a member of The Funk Brothers, the studio band for Motown Records.
Career
A native of Richmond, Virginia, Melvi ...
–
wah-wah guitar (5)
*
Louis Cato
Louis Cato is the bandleader for The Late Show Band, the house band for ''The Late Show with Stephen Colbert''. Cato is a multi-instrumentalist who plays bass, guitar, percussion, low brass, and others, in addition to vocals. He is also a song ...
– drums (1-3, 5-7, 9, 10), vocal fills (1), alto saxophone (4),
djembe
A djembe or jembe ( ; from Maninka language, Malinke ''jembe'' , N'Ko script, N'Ko: ) is a rope-tuned skin-covered goblet drum played with bare hands, originally from West Africa.
According to the Bambara people in Mali, the name of the djembe ...
(6),
drum machine (8)
* Adama Bilorou Dembele – percussion (1, 2, 10), backing vocals (1)
* Marco Lobo – percussion (4)
* Munyungo Jackson – African percussion (5)
* Lamumba Henry – percussion (6), djembe (9)
*
Robert Greenidge
Robert Greenidge (born 28 April 1950 in Success Village, Laventille, Trinidad) is a steelpan player. He is a member of popular music singer Jimmy Buffett's Coral Reefer Band and the instrumental group Club Trini. Greenidge has also collaborated ...
–
steelpans
The steelpan (also known as a pan, steel drum, and sometimes, collectively with other musicians, as a steelband or steel orchestra) is a musical instrument originating in Trinidad and Tobago. Steelpan musicians are called pannists.
Descriptio ...
(7)
* Alex Han – alto saxophone (1, 2, 5, 7-10), soprano saxophone (6)
* Lee Hogans – trumpet (1, 4, 6, 8, 9)
* Etienne Charles – trumpet (2, 7), percussion (7)
* Michael "Patches" Stewart – trumpet (5)
*
Ambrose Akinmusire
Ambrose Akinmusire ( born May 1, 1982) is an American avant-garde jazz composer and trumpeter.
Biography
Born and raised in Oakland, California, Akinmusire was a member of the Berkeley High School Jazz Ensemble, where he caught the attention of ...
– trumpet (10)
* Ben Hong – cello (6)
*
Michael Doucet
Michael Louis Doucet (born February 14, 1951) is an American singer-songwriter and musician best known as the founder of the Cajun band BeauSoleil.
Early life
Doucet was born in Scott, Louisiana, to a Cajun family. Family parties in the 1950s ...
– violin (10)
* Alune Wade – vocal chorus (1), backing vocals (1), choir vocals (3), musical suggestions (10)
*
Lalah Hathaway
Eulaulah Donyll "Lalah" Hathaway (born December 16, 1968) is an American singer.
In 1990 Hathaway released her first album titled ''Lalah Hathaway''. After releasing another album, titled '' A Moment'' (1994), it debuted at number 34 on the To ...
– vocals (3), scat vocals (4)
*
Alvin Chea
Take 6 is an American a cappella gospel sextet formed in 1980 on the campus of Oakwood College in Huntsville, Alabama. The group integrates jazz with spiritual and inspirational lyrics. Take 6 has received several Grammy Awards as well as Do ...
– choir vocals (3)
*
Julia Sarr
Julia Sarr is a Mezzo-soprano born in Dakar (Senegal) from the Serer ethnic group. As one of the most sought after backing vocalists, she has worked with several prominent artists over the years including Youssou N'Dour, Lokua Kanza and Patrice La ...
– choir vocals (3)
* Alina Cabral – backing vocals (4)
* Andrea Dutra – backing vocals (4)
* Kika Tristão – backing vocals (4)
*
Chuck D
Carlton Douglas Ridenhour (born August 1, 1960), known professionally as Chuck D, is an American rapper, best known as the leader and frontman of the hip hop group Public Enemy, which he co-founded in 1985 with Flavor Flav. Chuck D helped creat ...
– rap (11)
Production
*
Don Was
Don Edward Fagenson (born September 13, 1952), known professionally as Don Was, is an American musician, record producer and record executive. Primarily a bass player, Was co-founded the funk-rock band Was (Not Was). In later years he produced s ...
– A&R
* Nicolas Pflug – A&R
* Harold Goode – executive producer, associate producer
* Harry Martin – executive producer
* Marcus Miller – producer
* Taka Honda – recording, engineer, mixing (1, 7, 10), management
* André Cavalante – recording
* Glenn Brown – recording
* Serge Glansberg – recording
* Hollis Greathouse – recording
* JP Hesser – recording
* Ken Rich – recording
* John Roods – recording
* Justin Tocket – recording
* Guian Wright – recording
* Pierce Bossley – assistant engineer
* Kevin de Longeril – assistant engineer
* Gustavo Essinger – assistant engineer
* Carlos Louerio – assistant engineer
* Paul Quantin – assistant engineer
* David Rideau – mixing (2, 6, 9)
* David Isaac – mixing (3-5)
* Marcus Blackberry – mixing (8)
* James Saez – mixing (11)
* Louie Teran – mastering at
Marcussen Mastering (Hollywood, California)
* Bibi Green – project coordinator, artist management
* Bernard Dulau – artist management
* Rebecca Meek – package design
* Cathrin Cammet – photography
References
External links
*
{{Authority control
2015 albums
Albums produced by Marcus Miller
Blue Note Records albums
Marcus Miller albums