The Man with the Horn is an album

Album

An album is a collection of recordings, released as a single package on gramophone record, cassette, compact disc, or via digital distribution. The word derives from the Latin word for list .Vinyl LP records have two sides, each comprising one half of the album...

 released by Miles Davis

Miles Davis

Miles Dewey Davis III was an American jazz musician, trumpeter, bandleader, and composer. Widely considered one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century, Miles Davis was, with his musical groups, at the forefront of several major developments in jazz music, including bebop, cool jazz,...

 in 1981, featuring drummer Al Foster

Al Foster

Al Foster is an American jazz drummer. Foster played with Miles Davis's large funk fusion group in the 70s, was one of the few people to have contact with Miles during his retirement, and was also part of his comeback album The Man With the Horn of 1981...

, saxophonist Bill Evans

Bill Evans (saxophonist)

Bill Evans is an American jazz saxophonist. His father was a classical piano prodigy and until junior high school Evans studied classical clarinet. Early in his studies he was able to hear such artists as Sonny Stitt and Stan Getz live at the Jazz Showcase in Chicago...

, guitarists Mike Stern

Mike Stern

Mike Stern is an American jazz guitarist. After playing for a few years with Blood, Sweat & Tears, he landed a gig with Billy Cobham and then broke through with Miles Davis' comeback band from 1981 to 1983, and again in 1985. Since then, he launched a solo career, releasing more than a dozen albums...

 and Barry Finnerty

Barry Finnerty

Michael Barry Finnerty is an American jazz guitarist, keyboardist, and bassist, best known for his work as a session musician for artists like Miles Davis and the Crusaders...

, and others. It was Davis's first new release since 1975, following a six-year reclusive retirement.

Rock-oriented in nature, the music fuses 80's pop with improvisational funk

Funk

Funk is a music genre that originated in the mid-late 1960s when African American musicians blended soul music, jazz and R&B into a rhythmic, danceable new form of music. Funk de-emphasizes melody and harmony and brings a strong rhythmic groove of electric bass and drums to the foreground...

 and fusion

Jazz fusion

Jazz fusion is a musical fusion genre that developed from mixing funk and R&B rhythms and the amplification and electronic effects of rock, complex time signatures derived from non-Western music and extended, typically instrumental compositions with a jazz approach to lengthy group improvisations,...

 styles. The album marked Davis' return to his more traditional trumpet

Trumpet

The trumpet is the musical instrument with the highest register in the brass family. Trumpets are among the oldest musical instruments, dating back to at least 1500 BCE. They are played by blowing air through closed lips, producing a "buzzing" sound which starts a standing wave vibration in the air...

 playing, although the title song "The Man with the Horn" features wah-wah improvisation along with vocals.

Track listing

All tracks composed by Miles Davis; except where indicated

1. "Fat Time" - 9:56
2. "Back Seat Betty" - 11:16
3. "Shout" (Glenn Burris, Randy Hall
   Randy Hall
   Randy Hall was co-arranger with Miles Davis of the gold album, The Man With The Horn. The title track featured the lead vocals of Randy Hall, who also played guitar, synthesizer and celesta on the track....
   
   , Robert Irving III
   Robert Irving III
   Robert Irving III is an American pianist, composer, arranger and music educator.A native of Chicago, Irving was one of a group of young Chicago musicians that in the late '70s and early '80s formed the nucleus of Miles Davis' recording and touring bands...
   
   ) - 5:51
4. "Aïda" - 8:12
5. "The Man With The Horn" (Hall, Irving) - 6:35
6. "Ursula" - 10:46

Personnel

Miles Davis - trumpet, arrangements

• Robert Irving III
  Robert Irving III
  Robert Irving III is an American pianist, composer, arranger and music educator.A native of Chicago, Irving was one of a group of young Chicago musicians that in the late '70s and early '80s formed the nucleus of Miles Davis' recording and touring bands...
  
   - synthesizer, piano, arranger
• Mike Stern
  Mike Stern
  Mike Stern is an American jazz guitarist. After playing for a few years with Blood, Sweat & Tears, he landed a gig with Billy Cobham and then broke through with Miles Davis' comeback band from 1981 to 1983, and again in 1985. Since then, he launched a solo career, releasing more than a dozen albums...
  
   - guitar
• Bill Evans
  Bill Evans (saxophonist)
  Bill Evans is an American jazz saxophonist. His father was a classical piano prodigy and until junior high school Evans studied classical clarinet. Early in his studies he was able to hear such artists as Sonny Stitt and Stan Getz live at the Jazz Showcase in Chicago...
  
   - soprano saxophone
• Felton Crews - bass
• Sammy Figueroa
  Sammy Figueroa
  Sammy Figueroa is an American percussionist born in The Bronx, New York. At 18 he joined the band of bassist Bobby Valentín and also co-led the Brazilian/Latin fusion group Raices....
  
   - percussion
• Barry Finnerty
  Barry Finnerty
  Michael Barry Finnerty is an American jazz guitarist, keyboardist, and bassist, best known for his work as a session musician for artists like Miles Davis and the Crusaders...
  
   - guitar
• Al Foster
  Al Foster
  Al Foster is an American jazz drummer. Foster played with Miles Davis's large funk fusion group in the 70s, was one of the few people to have contact with Miles during his retirement, and was also part of his comeback album The Man With the Horn of 1981...
  
   - drums
• Randy Hall
  Randy Hall
  Randy Hall was co-arranger with Miles Davis of the gold album, The Man With The Horn. The title track featured the lead vocals of Randy Hall, who also played guitar, synthesizer and celesta on the track....
  
   - synthesizer, guitar, arranger, celeste, Moog synthesizer, lead vocals on title track, The Man With The Horn
• Marcus Miller
  Marcus Miller
  Marcus Miller is an American jazz composer, producer, and multi-instrumentalist. Miller is best known as a bassist, working with trumpeter Miles Davis, singer Luther Vandross, and saxophonist David Sanborn, as well as maintaining a prolific solo career...
  
  - bass