Uncut UK – October 2019

OCTOBER 2019 • UNCUT• 93

he was an incredible bandleader. Part of his power

was that he was intimidating. When he entered the

studio there was a cosmic shift in the room. He

commanded a presence. Just him being there seemed

to influence the music being made – everyone shoots

right to the top of their game.”

All bandmembers are quick to scotch the myth that

Miles was hostile to white musicians. “I think all these

stories date back to the Bill Evans days,” says Holzman.

“I never noticed any animosity. There’s that story about

guys criticising Miles for hiring John McLaughlin in

the late ’60s. ‘Why don’t you get a black guitarist?’

Miles replied, ‘Listen, motherfucker, you find me a

black guitarist who can play like John McLaughlin and

I’ll hire him. AND I’ll keep John McLaughlin!’”

Miles retained a soft spot for the music he made in the 1970s,

which had yet to be reappraised in the 1980s. “There wasone

gig in 1987 where we brought in a substitute guitarist from

Chicago, Alan Burroughs,” says Holzman. “He had

a wah-wah pedal, something that wasn’t very cool

in the mid-1980s. But Miles loved Alan playing that

wah-wah. So ‘old’ from the ’70s was still OK for Miles!

“He also loved heavy metal guitar solos – he loved

that clean, crunchy, metallic distorted guitar sound.

Also, although Miles loved synths that screamed

‘NEW’, he was sceptical about writing whole songs

around synth voicings. ‘The voicing is like squeezing

lemon on some grilled fish,’ he’d say. ‘Don’t wanna

use too much lemon!’ He didn’t want synths to

dominate a tune.”

N

OT everyone embraced Miles’s change in direction.

“For some reason, Tommy LiPuma wasn’t feeling

the album,” says Zane. LiPuma instead suggested

that Miles team up with the producer, bassist and clarinet

player Marcus Miller, to record a series of tracks that

ended up as 1986’s Tutu. “I’mnotgoing

to diss Marcus,” saysWilburn.“He’sa

funky-ass cat from Jamaica,Queens,

and he made great musiconTutu. But

it’s not the raw, streetmusicthatMiles

made with us.”

“Tutu is a more cohesivealbumthan

Rubberband,” says Holzman.“It’sinthe

same mood throughout.ButI think

Miles’s playing is much,muchstronger

on Rubberband. AndRubberbandis

much more varied, stylistically.”Thisis

certainly true – alongsidethestreet-

influenced R&B grooves,thealbum

features vocal balladslike“Love

What We Make Together”and“So

Emotional”, trancey low-slungfunklike

“See I See”, the reggaeton-influenced

“Paradise”, and an ambientpiece

called “Echoes In Time”.

Miles’s 1990 autobiography,written

with Quincy Troupe,alludestothe

Rubberband sessions.“Tommy

LiPuma’s a great producerforthekinds

of things he wants to hearona record,”

wrote Miles. “But I likerawshit,live,

raunchy, get-down, get-back-to-the-

alley shit, and that isn’treallywhathe

likes or understands.”

So why did an uncompromisingfigure

like Miles seem to caveintorecord

company pressure? “Icanonlyguess

that Miles chose to pickhisbattles,”

says Hall. The end of theRubberband

sessions also markedtheendofhis

association with much of the core bandwhoplayedon

it. “Miles had the ability to cut off friendshipsfor

professional reasons,” says Wilburn.“He’dsay,‘Music

ain’t got no friends.’” While WilburnandHolzman

continued to perform in his touring banduntiltheend

of the 1980s, Miles barely spoke to HallandZaneagain.

Hall, Zane and Wilburn have bothspentmuchofthe

past three years working on the Rubberbandtapes,

replacing some of the drum loops thatsoundeda little

dated, and overdubbing voices thatwerenever

recorded. “There was one track thatwewrotefor

Al Jarreau,” says Zane. “Miles lovedAl’svoice,and

Al loved Miles, but when the project wasjunkedthe

collaboration was cancelled. Sadly Alpassed.Sowe’ve

got Randy doing his best Al Jarreau impression!”

Becauseofthe quality of tape stock used in the 1980s,themaster

tapeshadstarted to deteriorate. “The tapes stretchwhenyou

startedtotransfer them,” says Zane. “It meant thatwehadto

re-playa lot by hand. It was three years of tediousand

laborious work! We had to get drummersand

percussionists in to play along and beefupthe

sound. The main concern was that wewantedit to

be something that Miles liked.”

Randy Hall concurs. “We wantedtomake

something that was true to Miles,” hesays.“The

guy was a musical sponge. He wasalwaysgrowing,

musically, taking in new music thatheheard,

exploring different cultures. ‘Musicis something

you can never conquer,’ he’d say. ‘Yougottostudy

cultures, and then you understandwhatthose

cultures are looking for.’ And it’s true.It’sinfinite.It’s

growing. That’s the sound of Rubberband– it’sthe

soundofa manexpandingindifferentdirections.”

Rubberbandis releasedSeptember6 by

Rhino/WarnerBros

MIL E S D AV IS

DAVID

REDFERN/REDFERNS; RICHARD ROTHMAN

“ ‘ WATC H

MY HAND

SIGNALS,’

H E ’ D SAY ”

ADAM

HOLZMAN

On stage –

where setlists

were “ just

road maps” –

in New York

City, 1988

You’re under-

dressed: Miles

the fashion plate