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Miles Davis: Bitches Brew(The Complete Sessions)
People within music and in the know have always talked
about this album. It seems if you are into "jam", then
this is where to look to learn how to jam and how to do it right.
1969 was a tumultuous time in America. Eighteen and nineteen
year olds were being slaughtered in a jungle for reasons they could
not comprehend, Woodstock was about to go off, and riots were running
rampant. Jazz at this time was dead. Hendrix, Joplin, the Dead, were
all household names, while Coltrane, Monk and even Miles Davis were
thrown in the dustbin. It wasn't their fault really (or anyone’s for
that matter), it was the world at that time.
Well Miles didn't just sit pat. In this boxsets 146-page book, we
find out that Miles was listening to alot of different music. He was
listening to Sly and the Family Stone, and even the Dead. Yet, Miles
being the consummate musician and even a bit of an elitist was appalled
at these rock bands. He felt that jazz musicians could take the music
farther because they knew not only what they were doing, but also how to
get there. The one thing holding these jazz musicians back was jazz itself.
See the idiom was full of tightlipped conservatives that didn't want change.
They wanted jazz like how it had been made in 1959. That's it.
Miles, said "the hell with that", and set out to prove to these rock
musicians and the jazz community alike what he was capable of accomplishing.
Not only did he enlist the best talent (a.k.a. John McLaughlin on guitar, Wayne Shorter,
Chick Corea and Herbie Hancock), but a plethora of them.
With the personnel in place, the group spent three days recording. What
came out of those sessions was something so fresh and new, that till this day
it can't be categorized. Blues, funk, rock, Middle Eastern, Indian, African
and jazz are all mixed together to form a remarkable cohesive whole. Or as is
often said of Miles "the human sponge got what he could and then regurgitated
it all."
THIS IS NOT EASY LISTENING. I place those words in caps because you should
not expect "normal" jazz here. This is spacey. A majority of the songs are
longer that 25 minutes, and the whole boxset is four CDs, with 20 songs
littered over all the discs combined. What becomes evident is that within
one given song are actually many songs. There are pieces that are wholly groovy.
Some of the moments get crazier than many a Dead show.
A few songs are remarkable. For example, "Spanish Key" is a treat, and takes
little heavy thought and never gets truly out there. The same could be said
about "Guineverre"(the David Crosby tune, yes...) and the rainbow like jams
of "Recollections". "The Little Blue Frog" is a true ass shaker, with McLaughlin
adding some funky lines and Miles blowing his trumpet like a streetcar horn.
After listening for a while, you begin to hear pieces that sound familiar;
a jam here, a jam there that reminds you of some of The Allman Brothers jamming
and even to a certain extent Pure Noodle's. While these bands may not consciously
be trying to do this, it nevertheless points to the fact that Miles was ahead
of his time and could jam better than anyone. Possibly it shows the power of
this album and that it was on to something. Whatever the case may be, it is
a startling realization nevertheless
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Miles Davis: Bitches Brew |
This is a 4 CD set, containing every noise made
during the period of 1969-1971. It includes the
original Bitches Brew, outtakes, jams, and other
odds and ends.
Buy it at CDnow.com
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