Product Description

Among the most controversial recordings in the history of jazz, BITCHES BREW was Miles Davis' shot across the bow of jazz insularity, a bold statement about jazz's ability to drawupon elements of popular culture, without mitigating its spirit of spontaneous invention. Much as Ornette Coleman's THESHAPE OF JAZZ TO COME set a new standard for harmonic and melodic freedom a decade before, BITCHES BREW signaled a sea change in jazz.
Davis became a lightning rod for jazz's transformation, by mixing the best elements of '60s free jazzwith dancing funk rhythms, electric rock textures, blues phrasing and his own breakthroughs in harmony and modality. Davis employed the Electric Flag's Harvey Brooks to double up with upright bassist Dave Holland on the Fender bass, and heis the modal heartbeat of every tune, freeing up the multiple drummers and keyboardists to weave a complex polytonal/polyrhythmic web of volatile chords and colliding rhythms.
Joe Zawinul's "Pharaoh's Dance" and Davis' "Bitches Brew" treat their multiple themes in a ritualistic manner, as several strata of voices engage the lead melody in exciting exchanges. "Spanish Key" offers a thrilling sense of tension and release, as the trumpeter navigates a "Sex Machine"-styled vamp with a terse, brilliantly constructed solo, revelling in his new guitar-like phrasing. "John McLaughlin" is Davis' tribute to the innovative guitarist; "Miles Runs The Voodoo Down" is a spooky, visceral melange of funk, blues and third world sources; and Shorter's "Sanctuary" is a moody ballad that builds to a fever pitch. The savage emotional power of BITCHES BREW and Davis' subsequent recordings cries out for a fresh critical reassessment.

Track Listing

Disc 1:

1. Pharaoh's Dance
2. Bitches Brew

Disc 2:

1. Spanish Key
2. John McLaughlin
3. Miles Runs The Voodoo Down
4. Sanctuary
5. Feio

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1935 in Music
• Released on: 1999-07-12
• Number of discs: 2

Amazon.co.uk Review
The revolution was recorded: in 1969 Bitches Brew sent a shiver through a country already quaking. It was a recording whose very sound, production methods, album-cover art, and two-LP length all signalled that jazz could never be the same. Over three days anger, confusion, and exhilaration had reigned in the studio, and the sonic themes, scraps, grooves, and sheer will and emotion that resulted were percolated and edited into an astonishingly organic work. This Miles Davis wasn't merely presenting a simple hybrid like jazz-rock, but a new way of thinking about improvisation and the studio. And with this two-CD reissue (actually, this set is a reissue of the original set plus one track, perfect for the fan who's not so overwhelmed as to need the four-CD Complete Bitches Brew box), the murk of the original recording is lifted. The instruments newly defined and brightened, the dark energy of the original comes through as if it were all fresh. Joe Zawinul and Bennie Maupin's roles in the mix have been especially clarified. With a bonus track of "Feio"--a Wayne Shorter composition recorded five months later that serves both as a warm-down for Bitches Brew and a promise of Weather Report to come--this is crucial listening. --John F. Szwed

Customer Reviews

This is the question
The question isn't whether this is a weird branch that Miles Davis wandered off into in the 70's, and do only pseuds like it.

The question is whether this is the best album ever made.

Pharoah's dance knocks most modern orchestral music into a much-needed hole in the ground - its atonal genius - only Stockhausen could even get close to this match of mood and insane key combinations - is unsurpassed.

Bitches brew has a groove so deep that when you really hear it (maybe second listen, maybe third) you almost salute it - its dark, african and american - city and jungle - jesus its superb.

And if you don't like Spanish Key you are very likely dead.

Magisterial Miles
I'd be some kind of pretentious idiot if I tried to give any kind of in depth review of this album, so I'll keep it short. I have just come back to this particular album after a 23 year absence: it's incredible, quite incredible. The sound quality over my original vinyl copy is breathtaking and within minutes of hearing Pharoah's Dance, I am caught and off and running. Bitches Brew rewards the listener on so many levels;complexity, drive and sublime intelligence.

Columbia/Legacy are to be highly praised with the packaging; the sleeve notes are copious and very detailed

Hey, you know that Desert Island disc thing? Well, it'd be a toss up here between Bitches Brew and Trout Mask Replica.............

Finally, an open question: how come every time I listen to Miles Davis, it makes me want to cook for my friends?

Answers on a postcard to the usual address.............

one of the several excellent miles davis discs.
this is a very good album from miles davis and i think it is one of his best works besides kind of blue even though b^$tches is a bad word, every song on this disc is a masterpiece on this 2 disc set. i'm so sad that he is dead because i would love to see him in concert. anyways, this cd is highy recommended.