M²

ASIN: B00005JH7D

Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
If you have any pop, soul, or jazz CDs, the ubiquitous bassist and multi-instrumentalist Marcus Miller is probably on some of them. From Luther Vandross and David Sanborn to Miles Davis, Miller has been making cutting-edge music with the greatest stars of the past three decades. On M2, which includes a stellar array of musicians from Wayne Shorter to Maceo Parker, Miller unveils the full range of his eclectic musicality. On the funky, uptempo "Power," the Talking Heads's "Burning Down the House" (featuring alto saxophonist Kenny Garrett), and "Nikki's Groove," Miller displays his powerful thumb-plucking Larry Graham-derived licks. On Charles Mingus's moody tribute to Lester Young, "Goodbye Pork Pie Hat," Herbie Hancock tickles the ivories in his trademarked impressionistic style, which complements Miller's Jaco Pastorius-like bass lines. Miller's arranging genius transforms John Coltrane's ballad "Lonnie's Lament" into a head-bopping hip-hop groove Dr. Dre would like, thanks to his soul-searing bass clarinet, and Branford Marsalis's and Hubert Laws's soprano sax and flute lines. Raphael Saadiq, the Brazilian superstar Djavan, and the legendary Chaka Khan lend their distinct vocals to the quiet-storm vehicles "Boomerang," "It's Me Again," and the spiritual "Your Amazing Grace." With a firm grasp of the jazz tradition and a broad knowledge of popular musical idioms, Marcus Miller is in the center of everything, laying down the groove. --Eugene Holley Jr.

Tracks:

Power
Lonnie's Lament
Boomerang (featuring Raphael Saddiq)
Nikki's Groove
Goodbye Pork Pie Hat
Ozell (interlude 1)
Burning Down The House
It's Me Again
Cousin John
Pzell (interlude 2)
3 Deuces
Red Baron
Ozell (interlude 3)
Your Amazing Grace

Amazon.com

If you have any pop, soul, or jazz CDs, the ubiquitous bassist and multi-instrumentalist Marcus Miller is probably on some of them. From Luther Vandross and David Sanborn to Miles Davis, Miller has been making cutting-edge music with the greatest stars of the past three decades. On M2, which includes a stellar array of musicians from Wayne Shorter to Maceo Parker, Miller unveils the full range of his eclectic musicality. On the funky, uptempo "Power," the Talking Heads's "Burning Down the House" (featuring alto saxophonist Kenny Garrett), and "Nikki's Groove," Miller displays his powerful thumb-plucking Larry Graham-derived licks. On Charles Mingus's moody tribute to Lester Young, "Goodbye Pork Pie Hat," Herbie Hancock tickles the ivories in his trademarked impressionistic style, which complements Miller's Jaco Pastorius-like bass lines. Miller's arranging genius transforms John Coltrane's ballad "Lonnie's Lament" into a head-bopping hip-hop groove Dr. Dre would like, thanks to his soul-searing bass clarinet, and Branford Marsalis's and Hubert Laws's soprano sax and flute lines. Raphael Saadiq, the Brazilian superstar Djavan, and the legendary Chaka Khan lend their distinct vocals to the quiet-storm vehicles "Boomerang," "It's Me Again," and the spiritual "Your Amazing Grace." With a firm grasp of the jazz tradition and a broad knowledge of popular musical idioms, Marcus Miller is in the center of everything, laying down the groove. --Eugene Holley Jr.

Customer Reviews:

Funky and Refreshing.......2007-01-11

I was introduced to Marcus Miller by accident. I was in Iraq back in 2003 shopping at the makeshift PX, and looking for some new Jazz CD's that were available. Well behold, I am lucky I found this one. The first few chords of MM's bass just pulsated through my ears as funky-jazzy joy. What a refreshing sound from the normal standards of music.
I give it four stars for the production. A little too much bass at times, but nothing an equalizer couldn't remedy. This is well worth the money, enjoy!!!

Good, if a little overlong record........2005-04-25

Marcus Miller's "M2" was a highly regarded album, and rightfully so, upon its release-- generally known as one of the true masters of the bass guitar, Miller shows off his skills on the instrument in this series of bass-driven songs-- Miller's schtick is to state the use the bass in a melody role, and why not? No one ever expects a sax player or guitarist to be confined to playing certain lines after all. The bass is mixed way in front, and is the primary solo voice on most pieces, but to me what makes Marcus so special as a bassist is his ability to seemlessly step back when soemone else solos and play in a more standard bassline role. Musically speaking, the album is hard driven electric jazz-- I hesitate to title it either fusion or smooth jazz, it is most clearly influenced by Miles' records with Marcus in the late '80s.

The song selection features a good number of covers on this record, incuding jazz masters Coltrane ("Lonnie's Lament"), Mingus ("Goodbye Pork Pie Hat") and Billy Cobham ("Red Baron") and new wave rock legends Talking Heads ("Burning Down the House"). Remarkably, its the pieces that Miller pulls way out of their original idiom, namely the Trane and the Mingus song, that succeed best-- "Lonnie's Lament" gets a really deep r&b arrangement that so stunningly reinterprets the song as to bury the original and "Goodbye Pork Pie Hat" is one of those songs for bassist, they all eventually pursue it. "Burning Down the House" really fails miserably in my book, it just sounds kind of goofy.

The remainder of the album is largely bass-driven instruments, some succeed better than others (opener "Power", "Nikki's Groove") and a couple great r&b vocal tunes ("Boomerang", with just some monster bass playing, "Your Amazing Grace")-- if there's a complaint, its that the album is really quite long and gets a little repetitive now and again, but there's so much good material on the record that its easy to overlook this. I'd recommend "The Sun Don't Lie" over this one, but its definitely a great record.

Still waiting for that classic..........2005-02-05

Marcus Miller is probably the first musician I fell in love with. I first got turned onto him through his work with David Sandborn...in particular his "Straight to the Heart" album from 84. When a live studio video of that performance was released I ran out and got it. It has some of the best Marcus bass playing I've ever heard...plus I got to SEE him do it. I started running out and buy everything I could find him playing on:
Luther Vandros, Grover, Grusin, Sample, Benson, Miles, Tom Scott...and I was rarely disappointed.

Unfortunetely Marcus appears to be one of many outstanding musicians who's best work will always be on other peoples albums (think Larry Carlton). There are some very nice moments here...particulary on Cousin John and Lonnie's Lament but his over use of synth, drum loops and his strange obsession with the bass clarinet drags his albums down. His song writing is outstanding, but would be better realized with a tighter, more focused band(Omar Hakim? Joe Sample?). I'm not sure if Poogie Bell once saved him from a burning building before...that's the only reason I can see him not going out and getting a more accomplished drummer. He's not in Marcus' league. Dean Brown does appear worthy however.

Alas I'm sure I will still continue to buy Marcus CD's on the day that they are released hoping that he will put together that classic that I know he has inside him. Where is your "School Days" Marcus?

Overproduced garbage.......2004-02-23

I can not believe how many people liked this album. All the soloing is overdubed and uninspired. It is simply not jazz.

inevitably the bass is mixed too high!!.......2004-02-18

If only Marcus Miller could let the engineers mix his, admittedly gorgeous, bass lines a little lower the thing would gel into one of the most perfect jazz-funk albums on the market.
also it really picks up towards the middle from Nikki's Groove onwards it rocks. And Herbie Hancock's piano on Gooodbye Pork Pie hat is sublime.
Well worth hearing but not five-star.

Average customer rating:

M²
Marcus Miller
Manufacturer: Import [Generic]
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

Bebop General | Bebop | Jazz | Styles | Music

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ASIN: B00005ATMR
Release Date: 2001-09-25

Tracks:

Power
Lonnie's Lament
Boomerang
Nikki's Groove
Goodbye Pork Pie Hat
Ozell (Interlude 1)
Burning Down The House
It's Me Again
Cousin John
Ozell (Interlude 2)
3 Deuces
Red Baron
Ozell (Interlude 3)
Your Amazing Grace
Bonus Track

Album Description

2001 album for the R&B producer/multi-instrumentalist who's played with everybody. Most notably Miles Davis, Aztec Camera, Bee Gees, Aretha Franklin, David Sanborn, Grover Washington Jr., Luther Vandross and Joe Sample. Tracks include covers of 'Burning Down The House' (Talking Heads), 'Lonnie's Lament' (Coltrane), 'Goodbye Pork Pie Hat' (Mingus) & a hidden track. Packaged in a limited edition four fold digipak with a 20 page booklet.

Average customer rating:

Another great album
Marcus Makes The Connection (Easy)

M²
Marcus Miller
Manufacturer: Jvc Japan
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Country | Styles | Music

Contemporary | Bluegrass | Country | Styles | Music

Bebop General | Bebop | Jazz | Styles | Music

General | Jazz | Styles | Music

Modern Postbebop | Jazz | Styles | Music

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Smooth Jazz | Jazz | Styles | Music

Jazz Funk | Funk | R&B | Styles | Music

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Jazz | Imports | Stores | Music
ASIN: B00005HWCN
Release Date: 2001-05-08

Tracks:

Power
Lonnie's Lament
Boomerang - Marcus Miller, Raphael Saadiq
Nikki's Groove
Goodbye Pork Pie Hat
Ozell (Interlude 1)
Burning Down the House
It's Me Again
Cousin John
Ozell (Interlude 2)
3 Deuces
Red Baron
Ozell (Interlude 3)
Your Amazing Grace

Album Details

Japanese version featuring a bonus track: 'Paradiso'.

Customer Reviews:

Another great album.......2001-06-27

This is yet another great album from Marcus. Less jazzy but more funky and soulful than his previous studio albums. However, I purchased the import version but I did not get the extra track "Paradiso". It did contain a reprise of "Boomarang" at the end lasting less than 2 minutes. What's that about?

Marcus Makes The Connection (Easy).......2001-05-06

Already some years ago I read in an interview with Marcus that he wasn't entirely happy with the result of one of his albums, I think it was "The Sun Don't Lie", because it did not sound like Marcus Miller. After the first listening of this album I have one conclusion: This definitely sounds like Marcus, this is his voice, a voice that sets him apart from any other musician. All his signature licks and arrangements are on this album (and more). Cool!, but is it enough? Yes and no. Yes, because all compositions sound great on this album with some deep in the pocket grooves, some great thumping and fretless playing. And no, because the expectations for a new Miller album are so high. You always hope that somebody like Marcus surprises you, like Miles, Wayne and Herbie with a new "journey".

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