Miles Davis - Amandla

Miles Davis — Amandla

Part of the Rhino Reserve Audiophile Series

Lacquers cut from the original master tape by Matthew Lutthans at The Mastering Lab

Pressed on 180-gram premium quality vinyl at Fidelity Record Pressing

Amandla is an album by jazz musician Miles Davis, released in 1989. The word Amandla holds significance in various Nguni languages, including Zulu and Xhosa, where it translates to "power."

That Miles and Warner Music VP Tommy LiPuma would desire to repeat past success holds little surprise. Amandla — in approach, sound, and even title ("amandla" means power in Zulu and was the rallying cry of the South African anti-apartheid movement) — is the child to Tutu, with one notable exception. Whereas Tutu had been a variety pack of beats, melodies and textures, Miles' final collaboration with bassist/producer Marcus Miller holds together as a more consistent endeavor, the rhythmic influences (rock, go-go, zouk, funk, even old-school swing) flowing together into a more balanced, and satisfying whole.

"If I could have one album," Miller later told George Cole for his book Last Miles, "I would take the song ‘Tutu' and put it at the front of Amandla and I think it would be a very good representation of where I started and what I wanted to achieve."

Much of it had to do with a more reductive approach than Tutu: allowing Miles' trumpet to glow brighter in the open space around him. The Washington Post, typical of the media reception, wrote: "This is the most successful Miller/Davis project yet, because there's more room for Davis' tender, personal solo voice on the trumpet to express itself and because Miller has learned to do more with less."

Other critics, for much the same reason, were pleased to hear echoes from Miles' rich legacy. "From the perspective of his past, Amandla is the most traditional Miles Davis record in years," went the review in The Guardian. "The opening ‘Catembe' would slot into a Miles Smiles or Nefertiti session."

 

Side A

Catembe

Cobra

Big Time

Hannibal

Side B

Jo-Jo

Amandla

Jilli

Mr. Pastorius

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