Marcus Miller – Renaissance (2012) / Fusion, Jazz-Funk

Marcus Miller last studio album (Free) was released five years ago in 2007. Personally I had no idea of what to expect from this new one but I have to say that it totally exceeded my expectations. Let's finish the trash talk and get to the important thing.
Get a look at the cover and the track list. In this album Marcus Miller plays bass, fretless bass, bass clarinet and acoustic bass. With the collaboration of his band and other artists he managed to make a wonderful album that you must hear.
Listening to Renaissance for the first time you feel all the jazzy power that comes from Marcus. We start with some funky jazz grooves in Detroit, Redemption, February ans Sleeping into Darkness. Then we get some rocky jazz in Jekell & Hyde, Interlude - Nocturnal Mist and Revelation. At last we get some sentimental musics, Goreé (Go Ray) and I'll Be There. Putting labels in all this songs can be a bit exaggerated but i think this album shows all the versatility that Marcus has in his composition capabilities.
Now lets talk of specific musics. My favorite it's without any doubt Revelation. Marcus Miller does an excellent performance playing the bass clarinet followed by some very good distortion guitar solos. There's no doubt that this music has it all. Talking about distortion I have to mention Jekell & Hyde where there's a distortion bass in the end. That's not very common in Marcus but I have to say that it sounds very good. Another music that i want to talk about it's Mr. Clean. At some point we hear a very funky bass groove that just remembers me of the beginnings of Stanley Clarke in "We Suplly". Another influence is Jaco Pastorious. Tell me, do you "hear" him in Revelation and Goreé? At last the album ends with I'll be There, a very good solo bass music.
In conclusion, I think that Marcus went to his origins where he were extremely influenced by Jaco Pastorious and Stanley Clarke, as every bassist of that time. This time we can't blame him, he did it very well and included his own style perfectly in every music. Well done Marcus!