Ledisi, John Scofield & Robert Glasper Sample Miles Davis On ‘I’m Leaving You’

Grammy-winning jazz/R&B/hip-hop musician Robert Glasper has produced Everything’s Beautiful, a tribute to the late jazz great Miles Davis that features samples of Miles’ work and is due May 27. Glasper blended a diverse group of master takes and outtakes from Davis’s Columbia catalog with contributions from a bevy of contemporary artists to create original music. Our latest taste of the LP is the track “I’m Leaving You” which features guitarist John Scofield and vocalist Ledisi.

“With ‘I’m Leaving You,’ I found a clip of Miles saying ‘wait a minute’—just that simple phrase—and it had so much of his classic swag in it, and it had such a rhythm, I decided to build that whole track around that and that’s how it started,” noted Glasper. “After that it was a real group thing: (Ledisi) wrote the lyric, my man Black Milk took a Lenny White drum pattern and chopped it up for the beat, and that’s John Scofield—who is our direct link to Miles for this project, having been in his ’80s band. That brought it full circle. I love the R&B uplift this track gives the whole project!”

Jazz guitarist John Scofield both toured and recorded with Miles Davis starting in 1982 and continuing for three and a half years. Other contributors to Everything’s Beautiful include Bilal, Erykah Badu, Haitus Kaiyote, Illa J and Stevie Wonder.

Stream “I’m Leaving You” which premiered on Essence:

Everything’s Beautiful Tracklist

• 01. “Talking Shit”
• 02. “Ghetto Walkin” featuring Bilal
• 03. “They Can’t Hold Me Down” featuring Illa J
• 04. “Maiysha (So Long)” featuring Erykah Badu
• 05. “Violets” featuring Phonte
• 06. “Little Church” featuring Hiatus Kaiyote
• 07. “Silence Is The Way” featuring Laura Mvula
• 08. “Song For Selim” featuring KING
• 09. “Milestones” featuring Georgia Ann Muldrow
• 10. “I’m Leaving You” featuring John Scofield and Ledisi
• 11. “Right On Brotha” featuring Stevie Wonder