Tutu

Unquestionably one of the most important artists in jazz music—if not music in general—Miles Davis reinvented the entire genre multiple times over the course of his career, which lasted more than 40 years. Davis played on hundreds of albums, worked with practically every great player you can think of, and influenced several generations of musicians. He won multiple GRAMMYs® and released two of the most commercially successful jazz records of all time: 1959's Kind of Blue and 1970's Bitches Brew. Released in 1986, Tutu was Davis' first effort for Warner Bros. after three decades with Columbia Records. Although it was initially supposed to be a collaboration between Miles and Prince(!), the Purple One was replaced by multi-instrumentalist Marcus Miller, who handles most of the songwriting, programming, and arrangements (though George Duke also contributes one track). While many critics and purists hated the album's modern sounds (rife with synthesizers, drum machines, and slap bass), the album remains one of Davis' most intriguing late-era works, and his unimpeachable horn playing clearly steals the show.