Miles Davis: Amandla [WARNER RECORDS]

Why you'll love it

Back on vinyl from Warner Records, Amandla is the third and final album Miles Davis made with bassist and producer Marcus Miller, after Tutu and Music from Siesta. It mixes jazz with go-go, zouk and funk, closes with the tribute "Mr. Pastorius," and was nominated for a Grammy.

This edition

• Warner Records reissue
• Eight tracks, four a side

About the album

Amandla means "power" in Zulu and Xhosa, and it was a fitting title for the closing chapter of Miles Davis's partnership with Marcus Miller. Miller wrote, arranged and played a great deal of it himself, on bass, keyboards and bass clarinet, and built tracks around a rotating cast that included Kenny Garrett on alto, Joe Sample on piano, George Duke, Al Foster and Omar Hakim.

Where Tutu leaned on drum machines, Amandla brings more live players into the room, and the grooves draw on Washington go-go and Caribbean zouk as much as funk. "Catémbe" is named after a Mozambican and Angolan drink of red wine and cola; "Mr. Pastorius," with Foster on drums, is a tender tribute to the late Jaco Pastorius. DownBeat praised its "precise and consistent sound" that lingers after the music has stopped, and Miles' muted trumpet is as eloquent as ever. Late Miles, in other words, and lovely company.

Tracklist

Listen

Out June 12, 2026 on Warner Records (cat# 1804405), a reissue of the 1989 album.