Marcus Miller Band@Catalina’s 05.07.08
By George W. Harris

Few artists these days can be considered to be both the most popular AND the best at their particular instrument, but bassist Marcus Miller, as he demonstrated this evening at a packed house at Catalina’s, is able to appeal to both the connoisseur of high art and the fan of catchy and accessible tunes. No wonder he was chosen by Miles Davis himself to produce the last few releases by the prince himself.

Miller and his supporting band, which rivaled Tower Of Power’s horn section in terms of crispness and energy, opened with some high octane funk from his newest disc. “Blast”, with its Middle Eastern swirl, and “Jean Pierre”, which was originally from one of Davis’ own recordings, had accessible groves which served as launching points for Miller’s “hand-quicker-than-eye” bass soloing. His rapport with Harmon-trumpeted Michael “Patches” Stewart was hauntingly reminiscent of his earlier days with Miles. Harmonica extraordinaire Gregoire Maret contributed some soul stirring solos during these hard hitting grooves. What brought the house down, however, was when Miller switched to bass clarinet, and supported by gentle synthesizer support, literally joined with the audience and delivered a stirring reading of “When I Fall In Love”. From there, the band went through a few lovely R&B pop tunes before closing with a revved up version of “What Is Hip?” that had the entire crowd rubber necking to the beat. Catalina’s was cooking on all four burners with Miller in town.