Marcus Miller returns to the UK this month for a string of high profile concerts as his latest album Renaissance is released. As at home with jazz as he is with funk and soul Miller’s musical vision runs the whole gamut of black music as electric bassist extraordinaire, bass clarinettist, producer and bandleader. With Renaissance he digs deep into, even for him, adventurous territory. Exclusive Interview :: Kevin Le Gendre

Popular culture is, or at least, should be, what happens when creativity meets democracy. In music, one manifestation of this ideal is that all youngsters, regardless of their socio-economic circumstances, will be able to pick up an instrument and form a band. The storybook vision is that whole streets will have dozens of cute adolescent combos noise-festing in a garage, an unprepossessing place that, with a symbolism not to be played down, has leant its name to a genre in its own right.

To garage rock one can add basement funk. As Marcus Miller tells it, the dark, dusty chamber at the bottom of a house was the rehearsal space of choice for junior players in the borough of Brooklyn, New York in the 1970s. The then teenager heard untold groups underground.

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