2001 · Album
m²
Telarc Records · Released: 2001 · Award: 2002 Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Jazz Album
When M2 Arrived, Critics Were Ready
M2 won the Grammy immediately because it sounded like Miller at full command of his own vision.
M2 didn't build slowly or surprise anyone. When it dropped in 2001, the jazz world was paying attention, and within months it had won the 2002 Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Jazz Album. That kind of immediate recognition doesn't happen by accident—the album arrived fully formed and confident, the work of a musician who knew exactly what he wanted to say.
By this point in his career, Miller had spent years in studios, on stages, and inside the working machinery of jazz and R&B. M2 sounds like someone who had earned the right to stop proving anything and just play. The album has the feel of a session where every choice was deliberate: the grooves land with precision, the arrangements breathe, and there's space for things to happen without sounding thin or uncertain. This is Miller as bandleader and composer, not Miller the hired hand, and the difference matters.
If you're new to his work, this is actually a solid entry point—it's accessible without being diluted, and it shows what he cares about. If you already knew Miller from his work elsewhere, M2 clarifies his voice as a solo artist. The Grammy wasn't a fluke or an awards-season mystery. The album earned it.
Who's playing
Marcus Millerbass, bass guitar, synthesizer, turntable, vocoder, Wurlitzer electric piano
Leroy "Scooter" Taylorbass synthesizer
Bernard Wrightelectric piano
Herbie Hancockpiano
Paul Jackson, Jr.acoustic guitar
Kenny Garrettalto saxophone
Branford Marsalissolo, soprano saxophone
Michael “Patches” Stewarttrumpet
Hubert Lawsflute, solo
Lenny Whitepercussion
Mino Cinelupercussion
Larry Corbettcello
Joel Derouinviolin
Matt Funesviola
Where next?
The musicians on this record
Gershwin's World 1998
Herbie Hancock
plays piano here
plays piano here
Eternal 2004
Branford Marsalis
plays solo here
plays solo here
The Adventures of Astral Pirates 1978
Lenny White
plays percussion here
plays percussion here
