Hot Stamper Pressings of the Music of Miles Davis Available Now
The staff may or may not like these kinds of records, but I sure don’t. To be honest, Bitches Brew fits just fine into a section I like to call “albums I can live without.” The world is full of them. Music is deeply personal. If you don’t feel the need to like what other people like, you and I should get along just fine.
I remember buying this record when I was in college and having a devil of a time trying to make any sense of it. Columbia records felt the same way and almost refused to release it.
I had bought the first two Weather Report albums around the same time and had had a hell of a time with those too. But then Sweetnighter came out, which was angular but still accessible, and the scales fell from my eyes, the heavens opened up and the music finally started to make sense to me. Soon enough I was a big fan of that album, but never did warm to Bitches Brew I have to say.
This is music for those who want to be challenged. That’s as true today as it was 50+ years ago when the record came out.
I still don’t care for it though. In my defense, allow me to fall back on the wisdom of de gustibus non est disputandum.
AMG 5 Star Rave Review
Thought by many to be the most revolutionary album in jazz history, having virtually created the genre known as jazz-rock fusion (for better or worse) and being the jazz album to most influence rock and funk musicians, Bitches Brew is, by its very nature, mercurial. The original double LP included only six cuts and featured up to 12 musicians at any given time, most of whom would go on to be high-level players in their own right: Joe Zawinul, Wayne Shorter, Airto, John McLaughlin, Chick Corea, Jack DeJohnette, Dave Holland, Don Alias, Benny Maupin, Larry Young, Lenny White, and others. Originally thought to be a series of long jams locked into grooves around one or two keyboard, bass, or guitar figures, Bitches Brew is anything but. Producer Teo Macero had as much to do with the end product on Bitches Brew as Davis. Macero and Davis assembled, from splice to splice, section to section, much of the music recorded over three days in August 1969…
… Bitches Brew retains its freshness and mystery long after its original issue.
Further Reading