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Image via Erykah Badu on Facebook
The soundtrack for Miles Ahead, the Don Cheadle-starring and -directed Miles Davis biopic, has been receiving a lot of attention thanks to Co-Producer Robert Glasper. Now, after spending so much time with Davis’ music, Glasper (who also appeared on Kendrick Lamar’s To Pimp A Butterfly) is set to release an album of his own that combines original songs by Miles Davis with additional arrangements by Glasper. One of the highlights on Everything’s Beautiful is his and Erykah Badu’s bossa nova version of Davis’ “Maiysha,” which originally appeared on 1974’s Get Up With It.
With Badu on the vocals, “Maiysha (So Long)” apparently came to life after Glasper and Badu bounced some ideas around. Glasper spoke to Rolling Stone about the recording: “We sat down for a few days before she came up with the idea of a bossa nova, and Vincent [Wilburn Jr., Davis’ nephew and Eighties-era drummer] recommended using ‘Maiysha,’ which comes from the mid-Seventies and has this beautiful trumpet solo by Miles.”
According to Glasper, Badu wrote the original lyrics and sang her part, and the entire song was written and recorded within two days.
Everything’s Beautiful will arrive May 27. Listen to Robert Glasper and Erykah Badu’s version of “Maiysha” and compare it to the original below.
