Madlib, one of rap’s most voracious jazz heads and a vinyl collector who once claimed to own four tons of records, was given free rein over Blue Note’s entire physical backlog to cover and rearrange as he saw fit. This was the beginning of Shades of Blue, an album that both embraces and bucks tradition. Even though it’s known as a remix album, Madlib’s work came from recontextualizing personal favorites through sampling and live-band interpolation. Sometimes, he’d change the drum pattern on a song or just add new ones. Other times, he would add flourishes from cohorts like the Morgan Adams Quartet Plus Two — another fake band for Madlib to add to his jazzy extended universe. And with no sample clearance issues looming over his head, Madlib had unprecedented control over how de...
