| Tales | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | May 1995 | |||
| Genre | Jazz fusion [1] | |||
| Length | 63:08 | |||
| Label | PRA [2] Dreyfus [3] | |||
| Producer | Marcus Miller | |||
| Marcus Miller chronology | ||||
| ||||
Tales is an album by the American musician Marcus Miller, released in 1995. [4] [5] He supported it with a North American tour. [6]
The album peaked at No. 7 on Billboard's Contemporary Jazz Albums chart. [7] It was nominated for a Grammy Award, in the "Best Contemporary Jazz Performance" category. [8]
The album was produced by Miller. [9] It samples the voices of several Black American musicians. [10] "Eric" is dedicated to the guitarist Eric Gale. [11] Miller wrote or cowrote nine of the album's songs; the title track was written with Allen Toussaint. [12] [13]
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [14] |
| The Encyclopedia of Popular Music | [2] |
| The Penguin Guide to Jazz on CD |  [3] |
The Independent wrote that the album "lashes its constituent parts together with stupendous playing and rigorous adherence to the principle that music is about spinning yarns, not showing off." [4] The Guardian determined that most of Miller's music "occupies a safe centre ground of funk basslines, loose-limbed drumming from Poogie Bell, and layers of beatific keyboard harmonies." [15]
The Rocky Mountain News opined that Meshell Ndegeocello "spellbinds with 'Rush Over', a ballad wrought from spoken word and singing." [11] The Oregonian praised Miller's "knack for welding groove to harmonic structure and balancing upscale polish with urban grit." [16] The Atlanta Journal-Constitution deemed Miller "a fusionaire whose slickness is cued to the marketplace, but he also knows how to round up a band." [17]
AllMusic wrote that some songs "ramble on a bit and one wishes that Marcus Miller would drop the funk now and then for variety's sake, but in general his set holds one's interest." [14]
All tracks composed by Marcus Miller except where noted.
Production
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Meshell Ndegeocello is a German-born American singer-songwriter, rapper, and bassist. She has gone by the name Meshell Suhaila Bashir-Shakur which is used as a writing credit on some of her later work. Her music incorporates a wide variety of influences, including funk, soul, jazz, hip hop, reggae and rock. She has received significant critical acclaim throughout her career, being nominated for eleven Grammy Awards, and winning one. She also has been credited for helping to "spark the neo-soul movement".
Tutu is an album by American jazz trumpeter Miles Davis, released in 1986 by Warner Bros. Records. It was recorded primarily at Capitol Studios in Los Angeles and Clinton Recording in New York, except the song "Backyard Ritual", which was recorded at Le Gonks in West Hollywood. Davis received the 1986 Best Jazz Instrumental Performance, Soloist Grammy Award for his performance on the album.
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The Spirit Music Jamia: Dance of the Infidel is the sixth album by the American multi-instrumentalist Me'shell Ndegeocello, initially released in France on Universal France on February 14, 2005, and then subsequently on the Shanachie label in the United States on June 21 of the same year.
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Peace Beyond Passion is the second studio album by American musician Me'shell Ndegeocello, released on June 25, 1996, on Maverick Records. The album peaked at No. 63 on the Billboard 200 albums chart and No. 15 on the Top R&B Albums chart in 1996. It went on to become Ndegeocello's most commercially successful album. Widely acclaimed at the time of its release, the album received numerous awards and accolades including a nomination for the Grammy Award for Best R&B Album at the 39th Grammy Awards in 1997.
Bitter is the third album by Meshell Ndegeocello. It was released on August 24, 1999, on Maverick Records. The album peaked at #105 on the Billboard Top 200 in 1999. The album also peaked at number 13 on Billboard's Top Internet Albums chart and number 40 on Billboard's R&B Albums chart.
Cookie: The Anthropological Mixtape is the fourth studio album by American soul singer and rapper Meshell Ndegeocello, released on June 4, 2002 by Maverick Records. Following the commercial underperformance of her third studio album, Bitter (1999), her label encouraged her to return to her earlier sound and record an album that sounded more "black". Ndegeocello collaborated with a number of prominent Black musicians, including Talib Kweli, Missy Elliott, and Tweet, as well as her backing band, the Conscientious Objectors, and recorded the album during the summer of 2001. The record, which Ndegeocello modeled on the mixtapes of her childhood, adopted a hip-hop and R&B-influenced sound and political lyrics similar to that of her debut album, Plantation Lullabies (1993), focusing on themes such as consumerism, revolution, religion, and same-sex attraction. Throughout the album, Ndegeocello also features samples of recorded speeches by Black activists, poets, and musicians, such as Angela Davis, Gil Scott-Heron, Countee Cullen, and Etheridge Knight.
Comfort Woman is the fifth solo album by Me'shell Ndegeocello. It was released on October 14, 2003, on Maverick Records. The album peaked at #150 on the Billboard Top 200 list that year. The album also peaked at #43 on Billboard's R&B Album chart. The LP was the final record released by Maverick, ending her ten-year contract.
Free is a studio album by jazz bassist Marcus Miller, released in 2007.
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Thunder is the debut studio album by supergroup S.M.V., consisted of bassists Stanley Clarke, Marcus Miller and Victor Wooten. It was released on August 12, 2008 via Heads Up International. Recording sessions took place at Hannibal Studio and Threshold Sound + Vision in Santa Monica, at House of Blues Studios in Encino, at Westlake Studios and Le Gonks West in Los Angeles, at VixMix Studios in Nashville, and at Ryan's Place in Topanga. The entire album was produced by Marcus Miller with co-production by Clarke and Wooten. It features contributions from Antoinette "Butterscotch" Clinton on vocals, George Duke, Ruslan Sirota, Ariel Mann, Chick Corea and Karlton Taylor on keyboards, Ronald Bruner Jr., Poogie Bell, Derico Watson and J. D. Blair on drums, Kevin Ricard on percussion, Michael "Patches" Stewart on trumpet, and Steve Baxter on trombone.
Devil's Halo is the eighth studio album by American singer-songwriter and bassist Me'Shell Ndegéocello. It was released by Downtown Records on October 6, 2009.
Live & More is a live album by Marcus Miller released in 1998.
Inside is a studio album by David Sanborn, released through Elektra Records in 1999. In 2000, the album won Sanborn the Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Jazz Performance.
Fellowship is the fourth studio album by an American singer Lizz Wright, which was released on 28 September 2010 on Verve Forecast. Guest performances on the album include Meshell Ndegeocello, Bernice Johnson Reagon, Joan as Policewoman and Angélique Kidjo. The album debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard Jazz Album chart, and has sold 17,000 copies in the United States as of August 2015.
Caché is an album by saxophonist Kirk Whalum issued in 1993 on Columbia Records. The album reached No. 1 on the Billboard Top Contemporary Jazz Albums chart and No. 39 on the Billboard Top Jazz Albums chart.
Routes is a studio album by Ramsey Lewis, released in 1980 on Columbia Records. The album reached No. 7 on the Billboard Top Jazz Albums chart.
