Tutu has appeared in various formats including standard CD (top row) and Deluxe, Super Audio CD (SACD) and DVD-Audio (DVD-A) formats (bottom row).
Background: In the summer of 1985, Miles ended a 30-year association with Columbia Records and signed with Warner Bros. Warner’s head of jazz was the acclaimed record producer Tommy LiPuma, and his role was to guide Miles on his first album for the label.
It’s fair to say that at this stage, neither Miles nor LiPuma had a clear idea on what direction to take. In September, Miles went into the studio with his band and recorded a couple of tracks that were a continuation of his You’re Under Arrest album (one of the tracks was ‘Maze’ a jazz-funk tune, and another was the pop hit ‘Broken Wings’ from the band Mr. Mister).
Miles also asked a number of musical associates to contribute potential songs, including Paul Buckmaster, Bill Laswell, Steve Porcaro of Toto (Miles had already recorded his tune ‘Human Nature’) and George Duke. Prince, who was also on the Warner Bros label, recorded a track for Miles. Miles also contacted guitarist/composer Randy Hall – they had worked together on The Man With The Horn. Hall and associate Zane Giles recorded around a dozen tunes with Miles, and the plan was to release an album called Rubberband.
Rubberband mixed jazz with pop and street-funk, but LiPuma did not think this was the direction for Miles to take. Around this time, Miles’s ex-bassist Marcus Miller (who was also a Warner Bros. artist) contacted LiPuma about the possibility of writing some material for Miles’s new album. LiPuma jumped at the chance and sent Miller a track they had already recorded, ‘Backyard Ritual,’ by George Duke.
This track was a mix of drum machines, samples and synths, with Miles adding his trumpet sound. On hearing the song, Miller realised that Miles was interested in moving in a new musical direction, one which embraced synthesisers, samplers, sequencers and drum machines. Back in New York, Miller contacted his long-time musical associate, keyboardist and programmer Jason Miles, who was working at the cutting-edge of synthesiser technology.
The two musicians crafted three demo tracks which combined rich, lush electronic soundscapes with Miller’s electric bass. Miller flew to Los Angeles to play the demos to LiPuma and Miles. Both men liked the music, and what’s more, Miles wanted to record his trumpet over the soundscapes Miller and Miles had created.
After completing the three tracks, Miller flew back to New York, assuming his work was done. Soon after, he was contacted by LiPuma, who told him that Miles wanted Miller to compose more songs for his new album. In New York, five more tunes (three of them composed by Miller) were recorded, and Tutu was completed.
Front cover of the standard CD. The autograph is Marcus Miller’s!
Back of the CD case.
The standard CD silver CD and booklet. The autograph is Jason Miles’!
The CD booklet folded out to reveal track and credits information.
Tunes:
- Tutu
- Tomaas
- Portia
- Splatch
- Backyard Ritual
- Perfect Way
- Don’t Lose Your Mind
- Full Nelson
Producer: Tommy LiPuma, Marcus Miller, George Duke (track 5).
Recorded: February-March 1986.
Released: 1986.
Sony Music released Tutu as part of its Masters series, with a cardboard digipak in place of a CD jewel case, and with new liner notes.
The CD booklet and label for the Masters release.
Front and back covers of the Masters Digipak.
The liner notes were written by Chrissie Murray, who was editor of Jazzwise magazine at the time.
Musicians:
- Miles plays trumpet on all tracks.
- Marcus Miller plays fretted and fretless electric bass, bass clarinet, soprano sax, guitar, keyboards, and additional drums (on track 1).
- Synthesiser programming: Jason Miles, Marcus Miller, Adam Holzman (track 4).
- George Duke plays all instruments, except trumpet and bass on track 5.
- Synthesisers: Adam Holzman (track 4), Bernard Wright (tracks 2 and 7).
- Drums: Omar Hakim (track 2).
- Percussion: Paulinho da Costa (tracks 1, 3, 4, 5); Steve Reid (track 4), Omar Hakim (track 2).
- Electric violin: Michal Urbaniak (track 7).
To mark the 25th anniversary of Tutu’s release in 2011, a double CD Deluxe version was released. It included the original CD plus a live concert from Nice in 1986. This shows the front and back covers.
The Tutu Deluxe digipak folded out twice – these are the outer covers.
The inside covers, including the green and mauve CD labels.
A close-up of the Tutu Deluxe CD labels.
One panel provided information about the studio CD.
The other panel gave information about the Nice concert, including the two songs from Tutu.
The CD booklet cover.
The Tutu Deluxe liner notes were written by writer Ashley Kahn.
The booklet also included a miniature facsimile of the Nice concert poster.
A dozen facts about Tutu:
- Several of the tracks were named after people. The title track was named in honour of Archbishop Desmond Tutu, a leading anti-apartheid and human rights activist. ‘Tomaas’ was the name Miles used to call Tommy LiPuma. ‘Full Nelson’ is a tribute to both Nelson Mandela – the first black South African President and leading anti-apartheid activist – and Prince, whose full name was Prince Rogers Nelson.
- George Duke created his tune ‘Backyard Ritual’ using a synclavier, a combined drum machine, sampler and multi-track recorder. He included trumpet and saxophone samples on the demo he sent to Miles. Miles overdubbed his horn, but kept the saxophone sample in place, much to Duke’s disappointment, who referred to it as a ‘silly little saxophone sample.’ Many years later, Marcus Miller had saxophonist Alex Han play on the tune during his 2009/2010 Tutu Revisited tour. In 2011, Duke, Miller and saxophonist David Sanborn toured the US as a trio called DMS. In concert, Sanborn played the sax part on ‘Backyard Ritual.’ One presumes George Duke was happy about that!
- Miles played songs from Tutu extensively in concert throughout his remaining years. In some concerts, half a dozen songs would be from Tutu. In his final concert on 25 August 1991 at the Hollywood Bowl, ‘Perfect Way’ was the concert opener.
- The only song from Tutu that Miles never played live was ‘Backyard Ritual.’ ‘Tutu’ was played live more than 260 times, while ‘Don’t Lose Your Mind was only played four times in concert (statistics courtesy of miles-davis.de).
- Marcus Miller included a handful of guest musicians on Tutu, including drummer Omar Hakim and keyboardist Bernard Wright. Both were childhood friends of Miller from Jamaica, Queens, in New York. That area was a hot-bed of musical talent and drummer Lenny White also grew up there!
- Omar Hakim also played on the other two albums that Miles and Marcus Miller worked together on: Siesta and Amandla.
- Commenting on the music on Tutu, keyboardist Kei Akagi – who played with Miles in 1989–90 – and later became professor of music at the University of Los Angeles, says: “This music has influenced a generation of younger musicians, who now treat Tutu as having the same significance as ‘So What.’”
- Prince submitted a track, ‘Can I Play With U,’ for Miles, who overdubbed his trumpet part (Miller and Holzman also added bass and keyboard parts respectively). But Miles and Prince weren’t happy with the resulting track, and so it was left off Tutu. ‘Can I Play With U’ was finally officially released in 2020 on Prince’s Sign O‘ The Times Super Deluxe Edition boxed set.
- The stunning cover shot of Miles was taken by celebrated American portrait and fashion photographer Irving Penn, whose previous subjects had included Alfred Hitchcock, Picasso and the Duchess of Windsor. Writer Steve Fairclough has written an excellent feature on the background to the shooting of the Tutu cover.
- Tutu won two Grammys in 1987: for best jazz instrumental performance and best recording package.
- The beautiful ensemble ending on ‘Portia’ was not part of the original composition. It was Miles who suggested it to Miller whilst they were in the studio, stating that it would complete the song.
- The only cover song on the album is Scritti Politti’s ‘Perfect Way,’ which was Miles’s suggestion. In fact, he was considering making it the title track. Miles later developed a good friendship with the band’s singer Green Gartside. Miles played on Scritti Politti’s ‘Oh Patti (Don’t Feel Sorry For Loverboy)’ from the 1988 album Provision, and even appeared on the song’s video. The album had a strong Tutu connection – it also featured contributions from Marcus Miller and Jason Miles.
Cover of the SACD version of Tutu.
Cover and back – the release has a very large OBI strip with covers the back of the case.
Front and back with OBI strip removed.
Inside the cover is the unusually coloured CD and booklet, which is attached to the CD case.
The liner notes by Tadashi Narita are informative and he makes a point of praising the work done by Jason Miles on the album.
Close-up of the rear OBI strip.
Tutu was also released in the now defunct DVD-Audio format. More on the format and this release here. The release comes with both multi-channel and stereo mixes. The stereo mix is created by down-mixing the multi-channel mix, and as a result, there are some differences in sound from the standard CD mix. The link also provides details on this.
The disc comes in a strong, Super Jewel Box CD case, which is larger than a standard CD. This is the inside, with disc and booklet.
The DVD-A case has a nice inlay image of Miles’s hand from the Tutu back cover.
Front and back case covers.
It offers the same information as the original CD release, with additional information available to be read on a TV screen.
The booklet folds out to reveal three striking images, all taken by Irving Penn.
Tutu LP Editions:
There are various LP versions of Tutu including (left to right), the standard album release; The Deluxe version, released in 2015, and the High Fidelity version, released in 2024.
The back covers of the various LP releases.
The standard version cover shows the stunning portrait of Miles by photographer Irving Penn. The red sticker was added to identify the album and artist.
The back cover of the standard version. This also included a sticker with track and time information, but it is missing here.
One side of the paper inner sleeve contains track and credit information.
The other side of the inner sleeve has a striking close-up of Miles’s left hand.
Side A of the disc has a light green label.
Side B has a mauve label.
Tutu Deluxe was originally only released on CD, but the rebirth of the vinyl record saw an LP version emerge in 2015, which has two discs pressed in high quality 180g vinyl. It contains the original studio version of Tutu, and a live concert from Nice in 1986.
The back sticker gives the track listings for the four sides.
The inner sleeve for the studio album is the same as for the standard release. The sleeve for the Nice concert gives track and personnel information.
The other sides of the inner sleeves. The Nice album sleeve has a facsimile of the concert poster.
The labels for sides 1 and 3.
The labels for sides 2 and 4.
In 2024, Warner Bros. subsidiary Rhino released a High Fidelity version of Tutu. It is pressed in 180g vinyl and cut from the original analogue master tapes. The pressing is limited to 5000 copies and each album is numbered.
The back cover of the High Fidelity version.
The LP has an OBI strip, normally seen on Japanese CD releases.
The back of the OBI strip.
Album front cover with OBI strip removed.
Album back cover without OBI strip.
Each High Fidelity release in individually numbered.
The High Fidelity comes in a special gatefold sleeve. These are the front and back covers.
The inside covers show both sides of the original album inner sleeve.
The album comes with a special four-page insert. The front cover shows the original studio master tape box documentation, with track, time and track running order for Side A, written by engineer Eddie Garcia on 13 April 1986.
The back of the insert shows the documentation for Side B and it contains some interesting information. First, it reveals that the original analogue master tapes were baked in order to preserve them. Over time, humidity causes magnetic tape binder to break down, and when the tape is played, it leaves a sticky residue on the tape heads. This gunge can damage the master tape. The remedy is to bake the master tape for around eight hours and then transfer the recording onto another medium. This process can only be carried out once. The notes also show that Side Two of Tutu was originally planned to include five tracks rather than the four on the eventual release. The original track running order was: ‘Backyard Ritual’/’Perfect Way’/’Don’t Lose Your Mind’/‘Can I Play With U?’ [written as ‘Can I Play With You’]/ ‘Full Nelson.’ ‘Can I Play With U?’ was the song Prince had written and recorded for Miles. But both artists weren’t happy with the resulting track and it was pulled. It was eventually released in 2020 on the Sign ‘O Times Deluxe boxed set. That version runs for 6.39, but the version originally planned for Tutu was edited down to 4:10. Various bootleg versions of ‘Can I Play With U’ have emerged, each with varying running times. The bootleg album series The Work Volume 2 (Disc 2) (released in 2001) has a 4:09 version of ‘Can I Play With U?’ but whether this is the same as the 4:10 edit selected for Tutu is unclear. It’s also unclear whether Prince or someone else edited the track.
The inside of the insert includes a previously unused photograph taken by Irving Penn during the Tutu photo session, and liner notes by writer Ashley Kahn.
The label for Side 1 of the High Fidelity release.
Close-up of Side 1 label.
Side 2 record label.
Close-up of Side 2 label.
There’s lot more information about Tutu in the Interviews section:
- Marcus Miller talks about Tutu.
- There’s a profile of Jason Miles.
- Peter Doell, who engineered the Los Angeles sessions, recalls his time in the studio with Miles, Marcus Miller and Tommy LiPuma.
- Eric Calvi, who engineered the New York sessions, and mixed five of the tracks, talks about working with Miles, Marcus Miller, Jason Miles and Tommy LiPuma.
- Recording engineer Eric Calvi revisits Tutu.
- Producer and mixing engineer Bill Schnee describes how he mixed the Los Angeles recordings.
- Green Gartside talks about Miles.
- For details of how Prince and Miles worked on ‘Can I Play With U’, interviews with Alan Leeds, Prince’s tour manager at the time, and his brother Eric, who was in Prince’s band and also recorded some saxophone on the track, can be found here: part one and part two.
