While racing to catch up to the 1980s pop-funk scene, Miles Davis abandoned the 1985-’86 Rubberband sessions and started over with Tutu (1986). His musical pivot was an unsurprising development, given Davis’ determination since Bitches Brew (1970) to engage with trends occurring outside of jazz.
Over 30 years later, Davis’ nephew, Vince Wilburn Jr., decided to resuscitate Rubberband. Wilbur played on the original sessions and might be expected to understand what his uncle had in mind. He “finished” Rubberband, adding vocals by contemporary R&B singers Ledisi and Lalah Hathaway (Davis hoped to invite Al Jarreau and Chaka Khan). The bass is deep and wall-shaking (was the mix tweaked?), and some of the results, despite Wilbur’s professed desire to put a 2019 spin on it, sound mired in ’80s mainstream R&B.
One suspects Davis had good reason to abandon Rubberband—its worst moments sound too eager to jump on someone else’s bandwagon as well as less assured than his later fusions with electronica and hip-hop. Still, it’s Davis, unwilling to sit still, his cool, sketchy trumpet leaving room for sublime silence between notes.
