Cassandra Wilson - Traveling Miles

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Free Music Notes for Traveling Miles

Free Music Review: A remarkable disk
Hit: 5 Stars

Wilson has come up with an interesting approach that works - cover some of the covers that Miles did ("Someday My Prince Will Come," "Time After Time"; - do some Miles-inspired originals; and try adding lyrics to enough of the rest of his catalog so that you can cull the best for disk ("Sea and Sky/Blue and Green," "Miles Chases the Voodoo Down." (OK, the last is a guess, but the mind reels at the thought of all the possible experiments that ended up on the cutting room floor -- Brandon Ross recruits his old running buddy Vernon Reid for a scat version of "Agartha"...you get my drift).

At the same time Wilson takes a page from Davis' career and uses diverse sonic settings keep the disk it from getting bogged down - and while the core of the sound is Lonnie Plaxico's acoustic bass, at various times marimbas, harmonicas, dobros, and Regina Carter's violin make appearances. (Just what you would expect on a Miles tribute album, right?) The folk instruments give the album an undeniable texture, but the anchor of Wilson and Plaxico's deep jazz roots prevents it from becoming precious or fey.

The piece de resistance is "Miles Chases the Voodoo Down" off of the path-breaking 1970 album "Bitches Brew" which both starts the album and is reprised at the end as an energetic duet with the wonderful Beninois singer Anjelique Kidjo. Lyrically Wilson locates it in that spot where the Mississippi and Niger Rivers intersect in East St. Louis. Dave Holland, the Funkiest British Bass Player Ever, is brought back to lay down the classic bass line. Too bad Bennie Maupin wasn't available for a bass clarinet solo. Great disk.

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