Marcus Miller Reaches Wider Than Ever With 'Marcus'

This comes as little surprise to those familiar with the career of the Brooklyn-born, Queens-raised Miller. As a 21-year-old, his remarkable initial breakthrough involved simultaneously playing, producing, and writing for Luther Vandross, David Sanborn, and Miles Davis. Countless sessions as a big-eared sideman, film composing, and another dozen years of enhancing his master-of-all-trades, music-mogul status finally led to his dramatic 1992 solo debut, The Sun Don’t Lie. In the years since, the multi-Grammy-winning Miller has displayed the prism-like qualities of all great jazz musicians, absorbing the popular music and culture of his time and reflecting it back through his own inimitable voice. Ever in motion, Marcus paused to offer insight into the musical world he inhabits and the making of Marcus.

Marcus seems to have a greater range than any of your previous solo CDs.
When I started, with The Sun Don’t Lie, I was determined to focus on my bass playing and composition in the same contemporary jazz vein I’d been doing with Miles. But with each successive album, I’ve tried to open it up and show a bit more of myself. Now I’ve returned to my funky side and re-entered the R&B world, where I’ve been a sideman and producer. The title refers to people knowing my name but having different ideas of who I am; this disc shows all of my musical sides. Although the trend in pop music is to have multiple singles in different formats, I still believe in the concept I grew up with, in which an album is a whole statement—almost like a concert once you press play. I felt like my sound on bass and the way I put the music together provides a through-line that holds all the songs together.

What inspired the Middle Eastern sound of the opening track, “Blast,” and what was your harmonic guideline?
I’ve been hearing people experimenting with that tonality—[producer] Timbaland uses it a lot in hip-hop, on tunes like Beyonce’s “Baby Boy.” I thought I could give it another dimension, with jazz. While we were on tour in Istanbul, I bought this silver clarinet. When I put my mouthpiece on it and played a major scale, this weird Turkish scale came out! I put it back in the case until I could ’shed on it, but it did get me to finally write “Blast.” For the track, I tuned the E string on my ’77 Jazz down to D, and I basically went back and forth between two scales: Either D, Eb, F#, G, A, Bb, C, D, or the same scale with a major 7th (C#), to get a nice minor 3rd in the middle, Bb to C#.

“Funk Joint” and “Strum” sound like throwbacks to your original template: bass features with starkly contrasting bridge sections.
“Strum” came from a bass line I found moving around intervals of major and minor 6ths in the middle of the neck. I liked it so much I played it throughout the track, except for grabbing the bridge melody. “Funk Joint” was funny because I’d moved away from the Miles/muted horn sound I was known for, and I had Patches Stewart and Gregoire Maret play the countermelody. Well, what does open trumpet and harmonica sound like together? Muted horn! The bridge is basically III-VI-II-V with different substitute chords and a simple diatonic melody that holds it together on top. That’s what a lot of the gospel cats are doing now; they’re playing all those traditional diatonic church melodies, which they can’t mess with, so they move around the harmonies underneath.

Gospel music and church-trained musicians are everywhere these days.
Gospel is a great breeding ground because it’s one of the only places where musicians can open up without worrying about commercial format restrictions. As a result, new styles have emerged that folks are embracing, personified by artists like Tye Tribbett and Israel & New Breed, whose Christmas album I got to play bass clarinet on. Plus, there are great bassists across the idiom, starting with the amazing Andrew Gouché, who plays the heck out of the instrument.

The only thing I’d like to see from some of the gospel bands at times is a little more love and support for the vocalists. When I was coming up, if I overplayed behind a singer, I’d get my ass kicked. There’d be a fight outside the venue, or a guy waiting for me with a knife! [Laughs.]

Your covers of Stevie Wonder’s “Higher Ground” and Miles Davis’s “Jean Pierre” seem live-band-focused.
“Higher Ground” and also “When I Fall in Love” were the result of having a tour before we started the album and wanting to play some new material; we pretty much called them on the spot, and they developed so well along the way, I decided to record them. “Jean Pierre” [Miles Davis’s We Want Miles, 1981] is a tune that I’ve been wanting to revisit, but I waited because everyone else was doing it after he passed. The melody and harmony are so simple you really have to work to find depth in the tune. That’s what I like about it.

There are definitely band songs on the CD. I tried to get a more natural sound on those tracks so there wouldn’t be a big difference between the CD and live shows; I can get into a whole producer headspace on songs, and then when we play them live, they’re somewhat compromised. Really, I tried to keep the live show in mind throughout the CD, having band members on most of the tracks. “Milky Way” is a good example: I did some work on it at Bobby Sparks’s studio in Dallas, and I left my hard drive there so I wouldn’t have to carry it through the airport. When Bobby sent it back, I was like, I don’t remember this track being so funky; he had put all kinds of great keyboards on it.

How has harmonica player Gregoire Maret changed the sound of the band?
Being such an outstanding soloist, Gregoire has opened us up in terms of improvisation. We’re all pushing each other more, musically. He also makes the band play with more dynamics; the harmonica is a softer-sounding instrument, and you don’t want to get too loud and bury it. Because the band is so powerful, when he comes in it’s always fresh; there’s that sudden contrast, and it makes everyone pay attention, which is always good. I’m careful about how to use him, trying to bring him in after intense sections or when it’s time to up the beauty factor. And I’m mindful not to overuse him, so people don’t develop a resistance to his harmonica sound.

How did you arrive at Corinne Bailey Rae singing a cover of Deniece Williams’s “Free”?
I was in my car and I heard Corinne singing her hit, “Put Your Records On,” and I just loved her voice; it was so different and distinctive. I pulled over and began the process of tracking her down, to see if she’d be interested in appearing on the CD. It turned out she was a fan of our music and was glad to be asked. As soon as I hung up from her, “Free” came into my head. I called her back to see if she knew it, and she said as a matter of fact she was just listening to it the week before. I put on two bass tracks: a hold-it-down track on my Jazz 5 and a lead track on my ’77 Jazz. Funnily enough, I was familiar with [Earth Wind & Fire bassist] Verdine White’s playing on the Deniece Williams version, but I didn’t know [Stevie Wonder bassist] Nate Watts co-wrote the song until I saw him at the NAMM show and he said, “Thanks for doing my tune!”

Another current pop link is your cover of Robin Thicke’s “Lost Without U.”
When I heard it, it sounded like a Brazilian tune to me. The song’s producers probably don’t know much about Jobim—they just came up with this new sound in the hip-hop realm, and because it was new to them, it sort of provides a fresh take on a samba feel, which is what drew me to it. I wanted to give the melody a different focus, so I have the female vocals and I weave in and out with the melody on my ’77 Jazz; plus there’s a track of me playing the guitar-like chordal figure on my Fender Signature 5, with a C string on top.

Your reprise of “Lost Without U,” as well as “Cause I Want You,” ventures into spoken word.
I’d done a spoken-word track with Meshell Ndegeocello in 1994 [“Rush Over,” on Tales], so when someone asked me about doing spoken word and recommended Taraji P. Henson from the movie Hustle & Flow, I thought it was a good idea. No one has been combining music and spoken word in a forceful, funky way. For “Cause I Want You,” we sent the track to various poets as a contest, and Shihan the Poet, from HBO’s Def Poetry Jam, was the best of the bunch. We got him together with Taraji, and they really delivered on their respective tracks. And of course, Lalah Hathaway does her vocal and lyrics thing on “Ooh,” which was a song I’d done for a Japanese best-of disc and always wanted to revive.

Your bass line is front-and-center on “Cause I Want You,” but it still plays a repetitive role. Have you found that to be mandatory in spoken word and rap?
I think so, because if you do any kind of improvising or development or stepping out, it turns into something else. That kind of music relies on a simple, steady sort of tribal hypnosis from the bottom. But if you think about it, that was the case on plenty of old R&B and funk songs, from James Brown right through the ’80s. When I first learned the bass part to [the Temptations’ 1972 hit] “Papa Was a Rollin’ Stone,” the hardest thing for me was not putting anything between the notes. There were a bunch of other bass lines in that same vein, like Cymande’s “Bra” [from Cymande, Collectibles, 1973, Steve Scipio on bass], Mandrill’s “Fencewalk” [Composite Truth, Collectibles, 1973, Fudgie Kae Solomon on bass], and Larry Graham on [Sly & the Family Stone’s] “Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)” [Epic, 1970].

Sonically, your bass has a different sound on “Cause I Want You,” while the whole CD features your trademark array of low-end bass, keyboard, and kick-drum colors. Do you have a regular starting point on the bottom?
It has been the drums, through the hip-hop side of my music, but I’ve been starting to fool around with bass at the bottom. You’re hearing that more and more with the return of the old school, vintage-bass-and-flatwounds sound. The challenge is you really have to convince the engineer, because they’re so locked into starting from the bass drum—but bass at the bottom can really open up the music. Ironically, what happened on “Cause I Want You” is the song started from the drums. I was on the kit, playing a groove I wanted to record—but we had only one overhead mic in the room and didn’t get a strong bass drum sound. So it was the perfect song to let the bass do the carrying. I backed off the neck pickup slightly on my ’77 Jazz, and I thought about Bernard Edwards; I always liked the way you could really hear his notes on those Chic-produced dance tracks.

The interlude track, “Pluck,” is another upfront bass groove.
That came about from finding a new way to play with my thumb and index finger, which is hard to describe. Instead of striking the string with my thumb and coming off, and popping with the index finger and coming off, I’m reaching under the strings with my thumb and index finger and plucking—but I’m keeping my hand on the strings, so I can get right back to the notes. When I came up with the bass line, I noticed the technique made the accents come out in interesting places. What I was going for was an atmospheric interlude that was all about the groove, no soloing—almost more of a feeling. I also wanted a reference to the opener, “Blast,” so I grabbed the sitar I used on that track and a played a little background melody using the same kind of Middle Eastern D scale.

What led you to cover “What Is Hip?”
I’ve been playing that song as a warmup since it came out, and eventually I arrived at the same place I did with “Teentown”: Oh, man, this sounds completely different when you play it with the thumb. That was the genesis. There was certainly no point in playing it with fingers after Rocco Prestia’s definitive part. He was a key overall influence of mine; I think I knew every note on Tower Of Power and Back to Oakland [Warner Bros., 1973 and ’74]. So I used up and down thumbstrokes, à la Larry Graham or Victor Wooten—striking through the string and coming back up with the thumbnail. It’s not a big forearm swing; it’s pretty controlled. We did the song at a faster tempo, which makes it easier to play and maintain command of the bass line. Pumping it like Rocco at the original tempo would have been much more difficult. Plus, I miked my EBS rig to fatten up the tone, along with the direct signal.

The addition of Chester Thompson on organ provides a key Tower Of Power connection.
I thought it would be cool to fly up to Oakland to see if Chester would do it; he was down, and it was a great hang and an honor. It’s always fascinating when you meet someone who played an inner part on a classic record, because you hear things that didn’t make it through the original mix—in his case, chords I didn’t even know were there. And it’s interesting how those guys played off the E dominant 9 tonality; they’re really dancing around in B minor, moving the D-F#-B shape that works so well chromatically from above or below. It also helped that Chester has been playing the song in a trio setting for a long time. That was my concept: using a quartet, with David Sanborn and Poogie [Bell], to try to create the T.O.P. sound and energy. I saw Rocco and [T.O.P. leader] Emilio Castillo in Mexico a few months ago, and they thanked me for doing the song.

What can you reveal about SMV, your band with Stanley Clarke and Victor Wooten, which has a CD and tour due in late summer?
That came about because of how well it went when we all played together at Bass Player LIVE! in 2006. We’ve been having a great time in the studio, laughing and telling stories—you’ll hear us all doing imitations of the other guy, as we try to express what we want on certain tracks. Overall, I think people will be pleasantly surprised at how musically balanced the CD is. That was important for us, as opposed to three guys flailing away at the bass—in fact, we’ve needed to remind each other to up the technique at times and really put on some bass-heavy stuff. We have a woman named Butterscotch on one track—she’s a beatboxer/ vocalist from the TV show America’s Got Talent—and we’ll probably have more vocals. Stanley came up with this amazing opening number for the shows, and I wrote a classical piece for Stanley’s bowed upright, with Vic and me doing a sort of obbligato accompaniment. Vic and I also wanted to do a Stanley cover, so we put together a combination of “Lopsy Lu” and “Silly Putty.” It’s going to be a lot of fun.

You’ve done a jazz cruise and are committed to more. What appeals to you about them?
What I love is that it’s a captive audience and captive musicians. Fans who really love music get to hang out and rub shoulders with artists they admire. And while the musicians were leery at first, because there’s no escape [laughs], they realized the people were so cool that by the end of the cruise they were like, When’s the next one? Plus, the jam sessions are incredible. Last time we had Herbie Hancock, McCoy Tyner, Roy Hargrove, John Scofield with Medeski Martin & Wood, David Sanborn, and Dee Dee Bridgewater, among others. For the next one in January ’09, we already have Herbie, Roy, Dianne Reeves, Keb’ Mo’, Poncho Sanchez, and James Carter.

What else is on the horizon?
I’m excited about all the musical talent out there, much of which has been coming together through the Internet. Andrea Braido is an Italian guitarist who wrote and asked me to check out his MySpace page. I did, and I heard some beautiful music, so I sent him “Blast” and asked him to put on a solo for me. He sent back four solos with different approaches, and I picked my favorite. There are some bad young bass cats I’ve met on MySpace or on the scene, including Brandon Rose from Detroit, Joshua Crumbly in California, and Dwayne Thomas, who I just saw at the NAMM show; they’re 15, 16, and 17, respectively. This has led me to want to seek out more talent. I’m thinking about doing a performance and clinic tour of music programs and maybe having a few of the top players we find come out on the road with us. I’m encouraged; I think it’s a good time in music.

GEAR

Basses ’77 Fender Jazz Bass; ’75 Fender Jazz Bass; Fender Marcus Miller Signature Jazz 4- and 5-strings; fretless ’66 Fender Jazz; fretless Fodera Emperor 5; fretless Marco 4-string acoustic bass guitar; late-’30s Kay upright

Strings DR Marcus Miller Signature Fat Beams; DR Hi-Beams (both sets .045, .065, .080, .105, .130)

Amps SWR Marcus Miller preamp; SWR Power 750; SWR Goliath 4x10 cabinets; EBS-410 cabinets

Effects (run through Custom Audio Electronics controllers) EBS OctaBass, EBS MultiComp, EBS MultiDrive, Line 6 Bass PODxt, Electro-Harmonix Big Muff distortion pedal, Ernie Ball stereo volume pedal, Dunlop GCB-535Q Cry Baby Multi-Wah pedal, Empirical Labs Distressor EL8 compressor/limiter, Lexicon MPX-1 multi-effect, Demeter VTDB-2 tube DI

Horns Selmer Paris extended-range bass clarinet (elongated to reach low C); Selmer Mark VI soprano sax

SELECTED DISCOGRAPHY

Solo albums/DVDs
Marcus, Concord
Master of All Trades, American Masters (DVD)
Silver Rain, Koch
The Ozell Tapes, Telarc
M2, 3 Deuces
Live & More, GRP
Tales, PRA
The Sun Don’t Lie, PRA
Marcus Miller, Warner Bros.
Suddenly, Warner Bros.

With Miles Davis
Tutu, Warner Bros.
Man With the Horn, Columbia
We Want Miles, Columbia

With Luther Vandross (both on Epic)
Power of Love
The Night I Fell in Love

With David Sanborn
Upfront, Elektra
Straight to the Heart, Warner Bros.
As We Speak, Warner Bros.
Voyeur, Warner Bros.

With Jamaica Boys
J Boys, Reprise

With Donald Fagen
The Nightfly, Warner Bros.

With Wayne Shorter
High Life, Verve

With Grover Washington Jr.
Winelight, Elektra

With Jason Miles
Love Affair: The Music of Ivan Lins, Telarc

With Lenny White
Streamline, Elektra.

With the Brecker Brothers
Straphangin’, Arista

With Don Grolnick
Hearts and Numbers,Windham Hill

With Al Jarreau
Tenderness, Warner Bros.

With Urszula Dudziak
Future Talk, Inner City

With Tom Scott
Cannon Re-Loaded, Concord

With Michel Petrucciani Dreyfus
Night in Paris, Dreyfus Jazz

With Kenn Hicks
Avanti, Decca

With the Jaco Pastorius Big Band
Word of Mouth Revisited, Heads Up

With Legends (Eric Clapton, David Sanborn, Joe Sample, and Steve Gadd)
Live at Montreux, Videoarts (DVD)

With various artists
Who Loves You/Tribute to Jaco Pastorius, Concord

Other key artists
Aretha Franklin, Chaka Khan, Roberta Flack, Herbie Hancock, George Benson, Frank Sinatra, Bill Withers (“Just the Two of Us”), Joe Sample, McCoy Tyner, Scritti Politti, Paul Simon, Bob James, Was (Not Was) (“Walk the Dinosaur”), Mariah Carey (“Vision of Love”), Kenny Garrett, Tom Browne, Boz Scaggs, Snoop Dogg, Take 6, Meshell Ndegeocello.

Seven essential film/TV scores
Everybody Hates Chris (for CW)
Head of State
Trumpet of the Swan
An American Love Story (for PBS)
Boomerang
House Party
Siesta