''Doo-Bop'' is a

studio album An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track cartridge, 8-track or Cassette tape, cassette), or digital distribution, dig ...

by American

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

trumpeter Miles Davis. It was recorded with hip hop producer Easy Mo Bee and released posthumously on June 30, 1992, by Warner Bros. Records. The album was received unfavorably by most critics, although it won a

Grammy Award The Grammy Awards, stylized as GRAMMY, and often referred to as The Grammys, are awards presented by The Recording Academy of the United States to recognize outstanding achievements in music. They are regarded by many as the most prestigious ...

for Best R&B Instrumental Performance the following year.

Background

The project stemmed from Davis sitting in his

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apartment in the summer with the windows open, listening to the sound of the streets. He wanted to record an album of music that captured these sounds. In early 1991, Davis called up his friend Russell Simmons and asked him to find some young producers who could help create this kind of music, leading to Davis's collaboration with Easy Mo Bee. At the time of Davis's death in 1991, only six pieces for the album had been completed. Easy Mo Bee was asked by Warner Bros. to take some of the unreleased trumpet performances (stemming from the unreleased 1985 album '' Rubberband'', which was later released as an album in 2019), and build tracks that Davis "would have loved" around the recordings. The album's posthumous tracks (as stated in the liner notes) are "High Speed Chase" and "Fantasy". A reprise of the song "Mystery" rounded out the album's nine-track length.

Release and reception

The title is a play on words on the two musical genres doo-wop and

bebop Bebop or bop is a style of jazz developed in the early to mid-1940s in the United States. The style features compositions characterized by a fast tempo (usually exceeding 200 bpm), complex chord progressions with rapid chord changes and numerou ...

. ''Doo-Bop'' was released by Warner Bros. Records on June 30, 1992. By May 1993, it had sold approximately 300,000 copies worldwide. The album received negative reviews from most critics. Greg Tate called it an "inconsequential" jazz-rap record from Davis, while '' Billboard'' found the R&B-based album to not be "quite cut as deeply" as his 1970s funk recordings. In ''

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'', Greg Sandow wrote that Davis's solos were performed with "impeccable logic and wistful finesse" but accompanied by hackneyed guest raps and unadventurous hip hop beats, which reduced ''Doo-Bop'' to "elegant aural wallpaper". ''

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'' critic Don Snowden believed the album "succeeded only in fits and starts" because of Davis's first time working with hip hop tracks, "the rigidity" of which Snowden felt often reduced his "muted-laced-with-echo trumpet to just another instrumental color in the mix". Richard Williams from ''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...

'' viewed the tracks as a regression from the ambient-inflected '' Tutu'' (1986) album as they inspired trumpet improvisations from Davis which displayed "a rhythmic banality that was never remotely discernible in Miles's pre-electric playing". In a positive review, '' Q'' called ''Doo-Bop'' "a collector's piece ... as hip, sexy, open and complex as the best of his work since he elected to turn to FM airplay music in the 1980s". '' Musician'' considered it a pleasant hip hop album and an accessible introduction to Davis's music for "younger ears weaned on modern beats". In '' DownBeat'', Robin Tolleson wrote that Davis sounded less timid than on previous few records as "his phrasing and concept adapt sharply from tune to tune". ''Doo-Bop'' won the 1993

for Best R&B Instrumental Performance.

Track listing

*All tracks written by Miles Davis/ Easy Mo Bee, except where indicated:

Personnel

Credits are adapted from ''The Last Miles'' (2007) by George Cole.
Musicians * Miles Davis – trumpet * Deron Johnson – keyboards * J.R – performer * A.B. Money – performer Production * Easy Mo Bee – producer * Matt Pierson – associate producer * Gordon Meltzer – associate executive producer * Daniel Beroff – engineer * Reginald Dozier – engineer * Zane Giles – engineer * Randy Hall – engineer * John McGlain – engineer * Bruce Moore – engineer * Arthur Steuer – engineer * Kirk Yano – engineer * D'Anthony Johnson – engineer, mixing * Eric Lynch – engineer, mixing * Ted Jensen – mastering * Rodney Lucas – technical Services * Faith Newman – production services * Linda Burke – production services * Robin Lynch – art direction * Annie Leibovitz – photography * Michael Benabib – photography

Charts

Certifications and sales

References

External links

* {{Authority control 1992 albums Albums produced by Easy Mo Bee Albums published posthumously Albums recorded at Unique Recording Studios Hip-hop albums by American artists Jazz rap albums Miles Davis albums Warner Records albums