The fusion between R&B/hip-hop and jazz will undergo another creative jolt via several projects involving jazz visionary Miles Davis.

During a recent meeting at Hollywood's storied Chateau Marmont, rapper Q-Tip and Davis' nephew, Vince Wilburn Jr., talked about collaborating on various projects, including a tribute CD in the vein of GRP's Forever, for Always, for Luther. That 2004 album features various artists reinterpreting classic Luther Vandross tracks.

In addition to Q-Tip, Wilburn hopes to involve producers and artists like Dr. Dre, Mike Elizondo, Jay-Z, and Kanye West.

"I have a lot of respect for hip-hop in its positive sense," says Wilburn, a drummer who operates Los Angeles-based production company Nefdrum. He is also a coadministrator of Miles Davis Properties along with his dad, Vince Wilburn Sr., and Davis' daughter Cheryl and son Erin. "So I went to Tip first. We're going to go into the vault and then see how we're going to evolve this into also being a tribute to cool hip-hop cats."

JAZZ ROOTS

That the family would approach Q-Tip is not surprising. In various interviews, Jonathan "Q-Tip" Davis--who first made a name for himself as a member of A Tribe Called Quest--has acknowledged that his early musical influences include Davis (no relation) and Herbie Hancock. Tribe's creative fusion of hip-hop and jazz resulted in such seminal albums as 1991's The Low End Theory, featuring bassist Ron Carter on the track "Verses From the Abstract."

Others with deeper memories will recall Q-Tip's more extensive jazz explorations on the Arista album Kamaal the Abstract. Though never commercially released, the 2001 album nevertheless drew critical plaudits for Q-Tip's teaming with such jazz players as saxophonists Kenny Garrett and Gary Thomas and guitarist Kurt Rosenwinkel.

Q-Tip was even supposed to collaborate with Davis on the latter's last album, 1992's Doo-Bop. Scheduling issues, however, prevented the pair from consummating that plan.

Q-Tip isn't the only rapper making a Davis connection. Fellow rapper Nas and his dad, noted jazz musician Olu Dara, will be among the featured guests on the forthcoming Evolution of the Groove, a Sony Legacy project also shepherded by Wilburn and the other administrators. It is due in stores this fall to tie in with the 15th anniversary of the jazz great's death on September 28, 1991.

Also appearing on Groove will be Lenny White and Carlos Santana. Santana also contributes a remix of "It's About That Time" on yet another Sony Legacy Davis project, Cool & Collected. That CD is due August 29.

And preparations continue for the announced Davis biopic starring Don Cheadle under the direction of Antoine Fuqua. Wilburn says the script is in development and that he and coexecutive producer Darryl Porter are looking at other options after a deal with Sony Pictures fell through.

"Don and Antoine are both into it," says Wilburn, whose mother is Davis' sister. "I want this movie to show how Miles evolved to change the course of music over several decades. It's got to be gritty but real. You can't fake Miles."