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A review by saareman
Bitches Brew by George Grella Jr.
5.0
Miles and Miles to Go
Review of the Bloomsbury Academic 33 and 1/3 paperback (October 22, 2015), released simultaneously with the eBook.
The full gate-fold cover for the original double LP edition of Miles Davis’ “Bitches Brew.” Painting by Mati Klarwein. Image sourced from Wikipedia.
With its rather stunning album cover, compelling liner notes and its mysterious, sometimes abstract sometimes funky music driving it along, the Bitches Brew album was a complete immersion into the future worlds of ambient and fusion music that were yet to come after its release in 1970.
George Grella Jr. provides a complete background to the assembly of the musicians by Miles Davis, the recording process in the studio and a track-by-track examination of the results. The value added element is the analysis of the amount of post-recording production work that was done by Teo Macero in piecing together huge amounts of the recording out of spliced fragments and edits. The opening track Pharoah's Dance has 19 edits for instance, something which I was completely oblivious to when I first heard it, imagining it as being played live in the studio as were most jazz albums back in the day.
Almost all of the musicians from this recording would go on to lead their own prominent jazz-rock or improv jazz ensembles: Wayne Shorter and Joe Zaminul with Weather Report, Chick Corea with Return to Forever, Herbie Hancock with the Headhunters, John McLaughlin with Mahavishnu Orchestra, Keith Jarrett with his solo concerts & the European Quartet & Standards Trio, Dave Holland and his various Quartets & Quintets, etc. But Miles had them all first together in the studio in August 1969 where magic was born.
Footnote
* Read the complete original liner notes by Ralph J. Gleason and the additional liner notes by Bob Belden for The Complete Bitches Brew Sessions at Album Liner Notes.com.
Soundtrack
Listen to the expanded (1 hour 45:54 minutes) Sony Columbia Legacy Edition 7-track edition (which includes 1 bonus track) of the Bitches Brew album on YouTube here or on Spotify here.
Listen to the 21-track edition of The Complete Bitches Brew Sessions (4 hours 24 minutes) at a YouTube playlist which begins here or on Spotify here.
Trivia and Links
Miles Davis’ Bitches Brew is part of the Bloomsbury Academic 33 1/3 series of books surveying significant record albums, primarily in the rock and pop genres with a few that are jazz and classical related. The GR Listopia for the 33 1/3 series is incomplete with only 38 books listed as of May 2024. For an up-to-date list see Bloomsbury Publishing with 193 books listed as of May 2024.
Bonus Tracks
I don't think this is a story from the Bitches Brew sessions, but pianist Keith Jarrett tells a funny story and performs an excellent mimic of Miles Davis' raspy voice in Miles Davis and the Very Slow Beat.
Wayne Shorter talks about first performing and then recording with Miles Davis on the "E.S.P." album , again imitating Miles' voice at Wayne Shorter recalls recording with Miles Davis.
John McLaughlin talks about recording the album "In A Silent Way" and tells the now infamous story of Miles telling him to play as if "he doesn't know how to play the guitar" at Miles and In A Silent Way.
Review of the Bloomsbury Academic 33 and 1/3 paperback (October 22, 2015), released simultaneously with the eBook.
The full gate-fold cover for the original double LP edition of Miles Davis’ “Bitches Brew.” Painting by Mati Klarwein. Image sourced from Wikipedia.
it will never be the same again now, after in a silent way and after BITCHES BREW. listen to this. how can it ever be the same? i don't mean you can't listen to ben. how silly. we can always listen to ben play funny valentine, until the end of the world it will be beautiful and how can anything be more beautiful than hodges playing passion flower? he never made a mistake in 40 years. it's not more beautiful, just different. a new beauty. a different beauty. the other beauty is still beauty. this is new and right now it has the edge of newness and that snapping fire you sense when you go out there from the spaceship where nobody has ever been before. - excerpted from Ralph J. Gleason’s liner notes* for the original double LP edition of Bitches Brew. These were intentionally written in lower case letters.
With its rather stunning album cover, compelling liner notes and its mysterious, sometimes abstract sometimes funky music driving it along, the Bitches Brew album was a complete immersion into the future worlds of ambient and fusion music that were yet to come after its release in 1970.
George Grella Jr. provides a complete background to the assembly of the musicians by Miles Davis, the recording process in the studio and a track-by-track examination of the results. The value added element is the analysis of the amount of post-recording production work that was done by Teo Macero in piecing together huge amounts of the recording out of spliced fragments and edits. The opening track Pharoah's Dance has 19 edits for instance, something which I was completely oblivious to when I first heard it, imagining it as being played live in the studio as were most jazz albums back in the day.
Almost all of the musicians from this recording would go on to lead their own prominent jazz-rock or improv jazz ensembles: Wayne Shorter and Joe Zaminul with Weather Report, Chick Corea with Return to Forever, Herbie Hancock with the Headhunters, John McLaughlin with Mahavishnu Orchestra, Keith Jarrett with his solo concerts & the European Quartet & Standards Trio, Dave Holland and his various Quartets & Quintets, etc. But Miles had them all first together in the studio in August 1969 where magic was born.
Footnote
* Read the complete original liner notes by Ralph J. Gleason and the additional liner notes by Bob Belden for The Complete Bitches Brew Sessions at Album Liner Notes.com.
Soundtrack
Listen to the expanded (1 hour 45:54 minutes) Sony Columbia Legacy Edition 7-track edition (which includes 1 bonus track) of the Bitches Brew album on YouTube here or on Spotify here.
Listen to the 21-track edition of The Complete Bitches Brew Sessions (4 hours 24 minutes) at a YouTube playlist which begins here or on Spotify here.
Trivia and Links
Miles Davis’ Bitches Brew is part of the Bloomsbury Academic 33 1/3 series of books surveying significant record albums, primarily in the rock and pop genres with a few that are jazz and classical related. The GR Listopia for the 33 1/3 series is incomplete with only 38 books listed as of May 2024. For an up-to-date list see Bloomsbury Publishing with 193 books listed as of May 2024.
Bonus Tracks
I don't think this is a story from the Bitches Brew sessions, but pianist Keith Jarrett tells a funny story and performs an excellent mimic of Miles Davis' raspy voice in Miles Davis and the Very Slow Beat.
Wayne Shorter talks about first performing and then recording with Miles Davis on the "E.S.P." album , again imitating Miles' voice at Wayne Shorter recalls recording with Miles Davis.
John McLaughlin talks about recording the album "In A Silent Way" and tells the now infamous story of Miles telling him to play as if "he doesn't know how to play the guitar" at Miles and In A Silent Way.