Miles Davis
Doo-Bop

Here is an example of a Great Artist who, wanting to renew his style and necessarily stay on the cutting edge (tending to have all the numbers to be able to do it), bid farewell to both artistic (and earthly) life with this album which, according to many, is considered the true misstep of a musical genius of the 20th century.

Davis, being the true artist he was, always refused, almost as if it was an ethical choice, of consistency and respect for his audience, to musically retrace his steps and repeat himself as a caricature of himself (a human and moral lesson that should be imparted to many figures in the Italian and international music business!). It might be a coincidence, but shortly after he found death waiting for him, marking his artistic and human surrender and the closure of a circle, as if his "mission" on earth had been concluded and he deserved the coveted rest. . . This recording, which can already be considered historic if evaluated with the measure of subsequent musical evolution and coherent from the point of view of intentions, is unfortunately the swan song of what Miles was and for his contribution to Music in the past century.

There's really very little jazz left in this recording, except for faint interlaces crafted by a tired and lazy trumpet on hip hop bases by a semi-unknown rapper who took advantage of the juicy opportunity to have his quarter of an hour of fame. For many, "Doo-bop" has represented one of the best Acid Jazz recordings, confirming Davis's intact abilities to still serve as a musical "catalyst" but in my humble opinion, the album is dated (many funky elements between early 80s Prince and the first Beastie Boys' Hip-hop) and musically barren with few flashes of genius and very much, I repeat very much, craftsmanship behind it. An album clearly "sacrilegious" for jazz purists, which became the lowest point in the career of the greatest jazz musician that Jazz Music (and not only) remembers. For many, instead, it was the starting point of something new that never actually happened (and maybe it's better that way!). Unless we consider this album a reference point for the hip-hop, trip-hop, down tempo scene and all the clone-derivatives of the following years, but I have my strong doubts about it because the path was only "sketched" without indications of particular importance, thus leaving the sound search open to the successors of the genre. A half misstep that does nothing to detract from the greatness of the musical Picasso of the '900.