I discovered Doo-Bop long after its release, in fact about 12 years. At the time I was listening to Pete Rock, De la Soul, J Dilla and a lot of other 90’s era Hip Hop. I wouldn’t go so far as to say it was Miles Davis’s best album ever because I would be at risk of being flogged in sixteen four time by a flugel horn wielding hipster but this album is solid. If you haven’t heard it, it is time to lay back and give it a spin.
I’d previously known Miles Davis, my dad was obsessed, I knew he was a jazz legend, had a killer trumpet tone and was the coolest cat on the horn but to me he was the Kind Of Blue dude. That was until I stumbled across Doo Bop, an album that married my obsession with Hip Hop and force fed interest in jazz. I was blown away.
Boom bap drums, soulful samples and smooth trumpet licks, what more could you ask for? I had this on repeat and it is still a regular feature on my playlist for the beach, chilling at home or even in the club (Although I have only heard it in the club once in Queenstown, but it was amazing none the less).
The title track Doo Bop Song with the baritone raps of Easy Mo Bee contrasted with the thin but full tone of a laid back Miles going blow for blow works amazingly well. It’s as if the trumpet is singing alongside Easy Mo Bee, there is no need for singing on this record, for the most part the horn has got it covered.
Fantasy is a killer track and my personal favourite. The hypnotic sample and sporadic silky trumpet phrases keep you guessing as to where the track will take you, not to mention the beat and production reminds me of Pete Rock’s Petestrumentals, another album I have a lot of time for. The album delivers slap after boom bap and does a great job of portraying the ideas behind the record whilst also making for great laid back listening.
It may insult the jazz sensibilities of the purists’ but I don’t care. Doo Bop was Miles’s shot at staying relevant in a time where Hip Hop was prevalent and the new sound of the streets. It was completed and released post humously by Producer and Rapper Easy Mo Bee who features throughout the album. Six of the tracks were finished before Miles passed away, the rest were built from trumpet performances that were a part of the ‘Rubberband Sessions’. How they did this so seamlessly is beyond me but the fact they did it so well makes the record that much sweeter.
If this was the new direction of Miles Davis it begs to wonder what would have come next, at least we have this taste of ‘what could have been’ to savour. Doo Bop, in my opinion never got the ears it deserved so get your hands on a copy and blast it like Miles did, a high B flat.
-Tom Mee
